The beautiful Pembrokeshire coastline was gorgeous, and there were a few significant ancient monuments too…

With thanks… Tuesday October 18…
When we get home we’ll laugh about today, and how awful it was. I hope. People think travelling is so glamorous, so fun all the time, but there are bad days, and frustrating days, and “why did we come?” and “I want to go home” days. We left our sweet London apartment at 8.30 this morning, and fought morning rush hour on the tube to Heathrow, astounded by people’s lack of consideration – thank god someone was kind just before the second train – I didn’t accept his help, but his offer made such a difference. Picking up the rental car was also beyond frustrating – I got bamboozled and talked up to a bigger car than I wanted, which became an issue many hours later… And then we headed off to Pembrokeshire in Wales – and ended up on the wrong motorway, then hit a traffic diversion which sent us further off course, then made it across the Severn Bridge that marks the start of Wales – and into another diversion…
And blah blah blah, it’s a boring story of badly signposted off ramps and closed roads with traffic diversions, and taking the… scenic route, shall we say, so that we didn’t make it to Fishguard til darkness had fallen, after being in transit for twelve hours. Luckily the sweet couple we’re renting our cottage from greeted us with Welsh cakes, cos nothing was open unless we wanted kebabs for dinner, and the bed was comfy…

With thanks… Wednesday October 19…
Today I am grateful for a beautiful day with Juz.
I’m grateful for the beauty of the pre-dawn dark, and the waning moon peeking through the clouds, through our pretty window…
We started by winding our way along the single-lane road to Lower Fishguard, and north to Newport, where we wandered down to Carreg Coetan: Arthur’s Burial Chamber, the tiny cromlech situated within the village, which is so cute, then up past the castle, then into a café for breakfast.
And then we summoned up our courage and drove cautiously along the tiny country lane to Pentre Ifan, breath held at times when another car came towards us. But finally we made it, and a little sprinkle of rain did nothing to dampen our spirits as we headed across to the burial mound. It’s situated in such a beautiful spot, towards the top of Carn Ingli, the hill of the angels, and overlooking the estuary at Newport down on the coast.
Then it was a hike further up the hill so we could walk through the Witch’s Wood, Ty Canol, home to ancient oaks and glossy holly bushes and yummy blackberry vines and four hundred different types of lichen. It was beautifully atmospheric, and the rain thankfully held off so the muddy bits didn’t get any worse – I promised Juz no more bogs last time we were away, and would have hated to have led him into another one!
It was a long but gorgeous walk, and when we finally made it back to the car we headed down to Nevern, home of the bleeding yew tree, and the stone steps out the front of the church which gentlemen used to use to mount and dismount from their horses with dignity.
Then we headed back to Newport for a wander along the estuary (so many steps every day!), then an early dinner in a pub before we returned home to Slate Cottage, and the discovery of a stone circle in town – the Gorsedd Circle, constructed in 1986 as part of a druidic eisteddford ritual – I was fascinated by this modern ritual, and found a few more across Wales too 🙂 …

With thanks… Thursday October 20…
Today I am grateful for the beauty of the mists in the valleys as we headed south in the early morning sunlight.
I’ve been waking up at 6.45 every morning, so we figured we may as well get started. Our first stop was Tenby, a sweet little town recommended to us by the couple who own our cottage, where we wandered through the walled Old Town and along the harbour, had brekkie and soaked up the sunshine (I’ve been hot several times already, but not cold yet!)…
Then we headed off along another highway (read: oft-times single-lane “road”) to Manorbier, a cute little village with the ruins of a castle down near the surfer-filled but waves-lacking beach, and a walk out to the headland, where another cromlech is located, King’s Quoit Cromlech, a small Neolithic chambered tomb. My knee is bugging me, but I wasn’t going to let that, or a steep, rocky, muddy obstacle-course track stop me!
And then it was off to Pembroke, and the partially restored castle there, which was gorgeous against the blue skies and sunshine. Some of Me Before You was shot there, and King Henry VII was born there in 1457, but mostly it held within it the cruel history of wars and starvation and incredible hardship since it was built as a Norman fort in 1093CE. It was fun to climb the tiny steep stone spiral staircases, but I can’t even imagine having to do it every day! There was also a dungeon (rare apparently), and an impressive keep, and so many cold and draughty stone rooms and tiny viewing slits in the walls. It was all so bleak and such a stark reminder of how blessed we are to be alive today.
Then we made our way home in the golden early evening sunshine, ate salad (bliss) and accidentally watched a bit of the US presidential debate. Yikes!

With thanks… Friday October 21…
Today I am grateful for another fun adventure with Juz, and grateful for blue skies and sunshine, and for all the pumpkins and witches and bats and other Samhain displays in all the stores, from clothes shops to sweet emporiums to supermarkets…
We began the day with an early morning walk down to Goodwick, then back along the ocean, part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Trail, which was so beautiful with the sunshine sparkling on the water and piercing down in golden rays through the branches of the trees lining the path. My knee has been so sore, but I’m determined not to miss anything, I’m just hobbling a little slower than usual…
Then, after more tea, we drove down to St David’s, the smallest city in Britain, to wander through the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace, and the very impressive and still functioning Cathedral, where I lit a candle for a friend…
But my favourite was our hike down to the coast to find the ruins of St Non’s Chapel, and her healing well and spring, and the beautiful scent of wildflowers that permeated the village. After cream tea for lunch (well, we are on holiday!), we set out to try to find Carreg Samson, a burial chamber overlooking the ocean, somewhere between St David’s and Fishguard. It was a bit of a mission, but after a few spooky one-lane-road encounters, we found it, and it really was amazing, set in a field of sheep on an isolated headland – and covered in tiny black spiders, which I discovered after I leaned against it for a photo, then suddenly noticed a bunch of them crawling all over me. All part of the adventure though, right?!?
We almost called it quits after that, but there was one more monument I wanted to revisit, Gors Fawr stone circle in the Preseli Hills, where Stonehenge’s bluestones came from, so we pushed ourselves onwards… I almost gave up a few times – these single-lane roads make going even five miles feel like forever. We felt a bit lost a few times, but we discovered a gorgeous standing stone – which was a memorial to Welsh writer and poet Waldo Goronwy Williams, which was quite moving. It was also very cold – after almost a week I finally busted out the gloves and beanie…
Then, just as we were about to admit defeat, since night was falling and darkness closing in, we decided to trust our instincts, and turned down an unmarked lane (“highway”) – and finally found it. It was a little less… impressive… in size, but I still loved it, and loved the adorable horses grazing in the field amongst the stones. The sky was gorgeous, as the sun set in the west, and despite the freezing cold, and the ordeal in finding it, I’m so glad we did…
And I’m grateful for a sweet night with Juz at the Royal Oak Hotel, once the location of the last uprising…

With thanks… Saturday October 22…
Today I am grateful for the beauty of Fishguard (or Fishhook, as Juz dubbed it) in the dazzling late autumn sunshine, and the cool air that is just starting to have a real bite to it – 9am felt like 7am back home, all soft golden light and low sun.
We packed up then went for one last wander, down to the other gorgeous Gorsedd Stone Circle (Fishguard has two), which was erected in 1936 to mark the National Eisteddfod, Wales’ national celebration of music, literature and art. It’s in a stunning position, overlooking Fishguard’s old harbour, and the early morning light against the green of the sea and the blue of the sky was gorgeous. I love the story behind these modern stone circles – especially this one. It was raining, so most of the druids went to the pub, and only one remained to consecrate the circle. So much for the druidic love of the elements 🙂
After a last walk past the Royal Oak (where the Last Invasion Peace Treaty was signed) and St Margaret’s Church, where hero Jemima Nichols was buried, we sadly left Pembrokeshire and headed north. We stopped for brekkie in Cardigan, then powered on (as much as is possible on narrow, windy roads) to the Snowdonia National Park. We stopped in beautiful Dolgellau for lunch – a place guidebooks describe as stern, but which I loved – all olde worlde charm and cobbled streets.
Then we continued onward, driving up the coast, and the ocean seemed to be aflame, the horizon all boiling gold fire on the edge of the smooth-as-glass sea. Such stunning scenery around every turn in the road. We made it to the Britannia Bridge and crossed over to Ynys Môn (the Druid’s Isle, aka Anglesey) just before five, and found our sweet apartment, situated over the Little Chilli Shop, and just back from the water front – which was so beautiful with the sunset turning the sky pink as we gazed across Menai Strait at the Mainland… There was a bit of a mix-up with the keys, but we finally made it in, and settled in for the night…
And some other, poetic, names for Anglesey include the Old Welsh Ynys Dywyll (“Shady” or “Dark Isle”) for its former groves, and Ynys y Cedairn (“Isle of the Brave”) for its royal courts; Gerald of Wales’ Môn Mam Cymru (“Môn, Mother of Wales”) for its productivity; and Y fêl Ynys (“Honey Isle”).