Travelling to St Brides, Dale and Marloes - Day 2

 Today began with a visit at our hotel with Alan, Des’ nephew, he hadn’t seen in about 10 years. Alan had a busy day ahead but fortunately was able to drop in for a quick catch up on how he and his growing family are doing and hearing how we all are.

Soon after Alan left, we hit the roads again to revisit St. Brides Beach where Des used to go out in a small fishing boat with his cousins. The red rock is quite impressive.

They're everywhere, they're everywhere!!

Hydrangea bush common around the area

St Bridget's Church and cemetery at St Brides - dating back to 1675

D at St Brides beach 

St. Brides beach

St Brides Castle.  Built first half of the 1800's for the Allen-Phillips Family - a Baronial Mansion
Later rented to Lord Kensington the 4th Baron, later to become a TB hospital -1923 to 1945.
Now 50 apartments and cottages, holiday accommodation open for visitors year round..

A Lime Kiln - many around this area. 
The calcified limestone was fired in these kilns, became quick lime, used to make mortar for construction.

Our next stop after following the narrow roads was on to Dale where the Griffin was always a place we’ve stopped in at the pub for a pint. Today we gave that a miss because we had an appointment elsewhere. There was a place for sale right next to the pub which Des suggested might make an excellent B&B. We gave this some thought very briefly, maybe a nanosecond! We did watch a windsurfer work at maneuvering his board back and forth in the bay, but it looked like very hard work tacking back and forth with a strong offshore wind.

Beach side cottages in Dale

Dale Castle

Dale beach

Boat activity preparing to go SCUBA diving

One of the houses on the left in Dale was Des' mother's birthplace

E at a 'kissing gate'
A type of gate that allows people to pass through but not livestock

It was soon time to head to Marloes where arrangements had been made with a friend of Des’ to reconnect with some old school chums who had in some cases not been seen in maybe 60 years. Ira had suggested she’d get a couple people together and one by one they arrived, totaling six old time, old friends and one cousin from Marloes and Dale connections. Reminiscing continued for about three hours, recalling escapades and learning about who had now passed. Promises were made to do this again soon!

Des' friends who came to the gathering arranged by Ira

This is a reunion Des will not soon forget!

As we made our way back to Milford Haven we continued recalling the good times and people, places and days gone by.

Oh, and by the way, it's raining again/still.😧