August 30 and 31: I am writing this in Corfu, Greece and the WiFi is pretty sketchy. Depending on how well the electronics work here, whether I get a SIM card and how good the service is on the boat, I may or may not be able to continue the blog. I will do my best.
Yesterday, we rode over to the Portabella Market area of London, which is in Notting Hill. The market has changed some from what we remember of our first visit in 1987. There are less antiques and quirky shops and a lot more tourist souvenir shops and restaurants. Also, the business owners were cleaning up after the previous day's conclusion to "Carnival." The amount of trash on the streets along what looked like a parade route was significant. Workmen were also dismantling 6-foot high wire barriers erected to protect front yards and presumably to keep visitors out.
We walked to our hotel passing through Bayswater, Paddington and University College London. We did a small load of laundry and re-checked our packing for the trip to Greece. I was able to check-in and have the hotel print our boarding passes for the direct flights to Corfu.
For dinner we headed for a CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ales) pub, the Bree Louise near Euston Station. On the way we stopped in the station to check on how frequent the underground trains ran to Heathrow, Terminal 5 - we were told every 15 minutes. The pub was the CAMRA Pub of the Year for 2015/2016. It had a great 'real ale' selection and was a very relaxed place to enjoy a beer. I had my first porter-style, dark colored ale since coming to the UK. We had dinner here, I tried one of their "famous pies" and Betsy had a salad with chicken. We retired to the hotel and watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on TV.
Today we got up early, walked to the Russell Street Station to catch the Underground (Piccadilly Line) to Heathrow, Terminal 5. We arrived, checked our luggage and passed through security with efficient dispatch. This terminal is a rather new one for Heathrow and it shows. We had time for a leisurely breakfast (at Giraffe), and walked around the terminal looking at the duty-free items for sale before having the gate assigned for our flight. We boarded and the nearly 4-hour flight was uneventful, though the pilot "stuck the landing," to use an Olympic gymnastic phrase. Afterwards, he called it "firm;" most of us would have called it "hard and abrupt." A cell phone slide down the length of the aisle after presumably getting bounced out of someone's hand.
We passed passport control (I think we were the only US travelers) without any delay. The EU travelers just had to show their passport to an agent; we got ours inspected and stamped by another agent. We retrieved our bags, taxied to the Govina Bay Hotel and were escorted to Building 30, Villa 304. Jan, Ron, Varis, Karen were here and we have begun our last big adventure for this trip.
We walked out to dinner after catching up some. After dinner and more tales of our past few months, we all walked back to the villa. In route, Betsy and I bought some breakfast supplies. When we arrived in Corfu the temperature was in the 30 + C range with clear skies - what a change from the past 2 months.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
London Day 2
August 29: Today was spent walking the Regent's Canal Loop, a side trip described in our guide book for the Thames River Path. This canal was built in early 1800's, was named for the Prince Regent at the time, and provided a shortcut to the Thames, without tidal factors. It is still in operation with hand-operated locks, though it is decrepit-looking in many places, with lots of trash and duck weed on the water. The users are mostly rented narrow boats, although some canal boats seem to have permanent moorings.
We began by walking to the Bank Station (by the Bank of England building) and catching the Docklands Light Railroad (DLR) from there to Limehouse on the east side. The route was a loop around the canal system, starting and ending at Limehouse Basin next to the Thames.
We saw a variety of canal boats, most of which appeared to be either in disrepair or for sale. Several were labeled with for sale signs with an asking price of 30,000 £. There also a number of folks working on their boats. It reminded me of the saying "a boat is hole in the water that you pour money into."
We went by a variety of new multistory housing units, both occupied and under construction, as well as industrial sites and old warehouses. The route passed by the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and the swimming pool which were built for the 2012 summer Olympics. There were lots of people out enjoying the path, including bicyclists who sometimes tried to run over us. With the weeds and bushes encroaching on the path, it got narrow in places. Still it was an interesting tour of a part of the city that few tourists visit (and we did not have to dodge cars).
We returned to the hotel for a brief rest before venturing out to find dinner and then to attend the theatre to see A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. We rode to Leicester Square and joined mobs of people who were partying, etc. We walked toward the theatre by way of Chinatown and stopped into a restaurant serving Chinese and Malaysian food. I had seafood fried rice and Betsy had spicy rice noodles.
We arrived at the Gielgud Theatre in plenty of time to collect our tickets - Grand Circle, row B - a fancy name for way up in a balcony. We had a good view looking down on the high-tech stage that was basically a cube with graph paper on the floor and three walls. The play was excellent and won Tony Awards in 2015 (probably with an American adaptation). The lead role (a teenager named Christopher) discovers a dead dog and learns to grapple with unfaithful and lying parents and their partners. Christopher is a literal person who cannot tell a lie, deals with truths, avoids all metaphors, and is a math wizard. He is probably a high-functioning autistic who cannot stand being touched (although the play never labels him as such) and is easily overwhelmed by too much sensory input (there are a couple of great scenes with stylized train and Underground subway stations). He ultimately takes his A-level math test and scores an "A-star," presumably the highest possible score. One of the play's morals or lessons is that 'you can became anything you want to be.' However, it also empathizes with the pain and stress that Christopher creates for his parents, since he really cannot function in modern society without an extensive support system (and it would be unbearable not to be able to hug your own child).
After the ovation, Christopher came back out on the stage to explain how he answered a math question involving Pythagorean theorem on the A-level test. He had to prove, using quadratics, that a triangle with certain mathematical characteristics, has a right angle. For you math-inclined, the quadratic equation includes these three sides of the right triangle: (n2-1), (n2), and (n2+1). Square the two sides and add to get the square of the hypotenuse (i.e., A2 + B2 = C2.) Note, all of the twos are superscripted - I don't know how to format that in this blog. Hint, if you use n=2, you get a 3 by 4 by 5 triangle, the most basic of right triangles.
We walked back to our hotel, enjoying a cool starry evening.
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| The 'Old Bailey', Criminal Courts |
We saw a variety of canal boats, most of which appeared to be either in disrepair or for sale. Several were labeled with for sale signs with an asking price of 30,000 £. There also a number of folks working on their boats. It reminded me of the saying "a boat is hole in the water that you pour money into."
We went by a variety of new multistory housing units, both occupied and under construction, as well as industrial sites and old warehouses. The route passed by the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and the swimming pool which were built for the 2012 summer Olympics. There were lots of people out enjoying the path, including bicyclists who sometimes tried to run over us. With the weeds and bushes encroaching on the path, it got narrow in places. Still it was an interesting tour of a part of the city that few tourists visit (and we did not have to dodge cars).
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| The Three Mills, old windmills |
We arrived at the Gielgud Theatre in plenty of time to collect our tickets - Grand Circle, row B - a fancy name for way up in a balcony. We had a good view looking down on the high-tech stage that was basically a cube with graph paper on the floor and three walls. The play was excellent and won Tony Awards in 2015 (probably with an American adaptation). The lead role (a teenager named Christopher) discovers a dead dog and learns to grapple with unfaithful and lying parents and their partners. Christopher is a literal person who cannot tell a lie, deals with truths, avoids all metaphors, and is a math wizard. He is probably a high-functioning autistic who cannot stand being touched (although the play never labels him as such) and is easily overwhelmed by too much sensory input (there are a couple of great scenes with stylized train and Underground subway stations). He ultimately takes his A-level math test and scores an "A-star," presumably the highest possible score. One of the play's morals or lessons is that 'you can became anything you want to be.' However, it also empathizes with the pain and stress that Christopher creates for his parents, since he really cannot function in modern society without an extensive support system (and it would be unbearable not to be able to hug your own child).
After the ovation, Christopher came back out on the stage to explain how he answered a math question involving Pythagorean theorem on the A-level test. He had to prove, using quadratics, that a triangle with certain mathematical characteristics, has a right angle. For you math-inclined, the quadratic equation includes these three sides of the right triangle: (n2-1), (n2), and (n2+1). Square the two sides and add to get the square of the hypotenuse (i.e., A2 + B2 = C2.) Note, all of the twos are superscripted - I don't know how to format that in this blog. Hint, if you use n=2, you get a 3 by 4 by 5 triangle, the most basic of right triangles.
We walked back to our hotel, enjoying a cool starry evening.
London Day 1
August 28: Sunday was spent visiting Kew Gardens and walking the Thames River Path from Kew to Putney Bridge. We covered over 11 miles in all. After breakfast at the hotel, we caught the Underground from King's Cross Station, changed at South Kensington and continued to Kew Bridge. We walked through an attractive suburb, following lots of other people to the Victoria Gate to Kew Gardens. We queued up, bought tickets, and entered the gardens.
Our first destination was past the Palm House, to a hear a talk on the newly designed and planted Broad Walk. It rained for about ten minutes before the talk was to begin. There were to be many more brief downpours over several hours while we were in the garden. It seemed that once we had the umbrella out, the rain quit. But it didn't stop the next shower from rolling in. We used our umbrellas, stood under large trees with others without umbrellas, and once escaped indoors to a greenhouse.
Anyway, back to the talk; it was given by 2 of the gardeners who helped create the plantings that border the newly redesigned Broad Walk, a formal path that runs between the Orangery and the Palm House. The foot path itself is composed of porous stone and resin beads, that allows rain water to pass through, a useful idea. On each side of the path, there are semicircular-shaped plantings with a mirrored twin opposite. Each pair is a theme of plant types, such as shade plants, monocotyledons (grasses, etc. that shoot out only a single leaf when they first sprout), daisy family, etc. The first in the sequence is the hardy, traditional, flowering plants that provide good color for long periods. The gardeners told us about the design process and execution of the plan, described each 'pod' of plantings, and explained what they are now doing to maintain the plan. The border was planted beginning last October and replaced what had to have been less interesting hedges.
We next walked around the Bee Hive (part of a park educational scheme about bees), seeing some of the huge, old trees in the garden, going to a bed of different ornamental grasses, visiting the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which includes collections of cacti, tropical plants, orchids, and arctic plants. We dodged a few rain showers during this period.
We walked back by the Palm House, the most recognizable feature of the garden, and onto the Treetop Walkway. It is a circular walkway among some trees, notably chestnuts, about 100 feet in the air. With others on it, the walkway has a nice sway to it, sort of like being on a moving train or ship. After this stop, we walked toward the Thames River and curved around to exit at the Elizabeth Gate.
We stopped for a break at The Cricketeers Pub, which was across the street from a cricket pitch and an ongoing match. We enjoyed a beer/cider and prepared to tackle another segment of the Thames River Path.
Just before crossing the Putney Bridge, we stopped for Sunday dinner at the Dukes Head, a headquarters hotel for crewing events such as the annual Oxford-Cambridge race that runs in this stretch of the river. I tried a chicken roast with vegetables and Yorkshire pudding; Betsy had a vegetarian tart with distinctive Ogleshield cheese. We caught the tube back to our hotel.
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| The Palm House at Kew Gardens |
Anyway, back to the talk; it was given by 2 of the gardeners who helped create the plantings that border the newly redesigned Broad Walk, a formal path that runs between the Orangery and the Palm House. The foot path itself is composed of porous stone and resin beads, that allows rain water to pass through, a useful idea. On each side of the path, there are semicircular-shaped plantings with a mirrored twin opposite. Each pair is a theme of plant types, such as shade plants, monocotyledons (grasses, etc. that shoot out only a single leaf when they first sprout), daisy family, etc. The first in the sequence is the hardy, traditional, flowering plants that provide good color for long periods. The gardeners told us about the design process and execution of the plan, described each 'pod' of plantings, and explained what they are now doing to maintain the plan. The border was planted beginning last October and replaced what had to have been less interesting hedges.
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| The largest of the border plantings with hardy plants |
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| The Bee Hive |
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| Lotus flowers and seed pod |
We stopped for a break at The Cricketeers Pub, which was across the street from a cricket pitch and an ongoing match. We enjoyed a beer/cider and prepared to tackle another segment of the Thames River Path.
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| The Cricketeer deck |
We walked on the south side of the Thames from Kew to Putney Bridge following our written guide. This route was 5 1/2 miles; the north side was a mile longer because of inland detours. We passed a number of rowing boathouses, an old brewery, now owned by Budweizer, some nature parks, the Hammersmith Bridge, and some of the usual wildlife.
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| Hammersmith Bridge, designed by Bazalgette (engineer of the London sewer system) |
Monday, August 29, 2016
Travel Day - Tenby to London
August 27: A short report for this day - we traveled from Tenby, Wales to London, England.
As typical for a travel day, we were up and out of bed promptly. After a quick breakfast, we completed the last minute packing and cleaned the flat. By 9 am we were ready to walk to the train station with all of our luggage. We took our time and arrived by 9:30, giving us about an hour wait for the train to Paddington Station, no changes. The train ride took about 6 hours, the first half getting out of Wales was very slow, stopping at many local stations and the the second half, across southern England, was much faster. We arrived at Paddington about 4:15, hopped the Underground to Euston Square, and walked to the Mentone Hotel, our home for the next 4 nights.
We walked to the Islington area for dinner, finding Canas y Tapas, a Spanish tapas place which was having an "all you can eat" and a "two for one" drink specials. The restaurant would only allow three dishes at a time. We ordered by writing numbers on a chalk board at our table. The waitress came and noted the numbers, put our order into the computer and a few minutes later someone would bring the dishes. We enjoyed 8 very tasty tapas plates and 2 glasses of white wine Sangrias.
As typical for a travel day, we were up and out of bed promptly. After a quick breakfast, we completed the last minute packing and cleaned the flat. By 9 am we were ready to walk to the train station with all of our luggage. We took our time and arrived by 9:30, giving us about an hour wait for the train to Paddington Station, no changes. The train ride took about 6 hours, the first half getting out of Wales was very slow, stopping at many local stations and the the second half, across southern England, was much faster. We arrived at Paddington about 4:15, hopped the Underground to Euston Square, and walked to the Mentone Hotel, our home for the next 4 nights.
We walked to the Islington area for dinner, finding Canas y Tapas, a Spanish tapas place which was having an "all you can eat" and a "two for one" drink specials. The restaurant would only allow three dishes at a time. We ordered by writing numbers on a chalk board at our table. The waitress came and noted the numbers, put our order into the computer and a few minutes later someone would bring the dishes. We enjoyed 8 very tasty tapas plates and 2 glasses of white wine Sangrias.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Tenby Day 12 & 13
August 25 and 26: Yesterday was a quiet, windless day with some amount of rain in the afternoon. We walked around town in the morning with no particular objective. We watched waterfront activities in the harbor, including tour and fishing boats taking on customers and families fishing for small crabs. The crabs were so little, we could not imagine how they were to be used. We went into the local market and found a family butcher; we purchased 3 pork, apple and sage sausages for our last dinner. We also found a local charity shop that will take our worn-out hiking boots and Betsy's bike helmet, so we don't have to carry them home. Every town and village in England has a multiplicity of shops selling used goods to support different charities, from the Red Cross to cancer research to animal welfare. This particular shop supports Air Wales, an air ambulance service.
We came back to the flat and did a successful test packing for the last leg of our adventure - Greece. We separated clothes into two piles, one that we will take to Greece and one that will stay behind in London. The test was to see whether the Greece gear would fit into the soft-sided bags we need for the sailboat. We left things mostly packed in anticipation for the trip to London on Saturday.
We went out for dinner to a Greek restaurant, set into a part of the Tenby City Wall. Betsy had mousaka and I had chicken guvena with rice and a Greek salad. We timed dinner to finish in time to attend a charity concert by the Tenby Male Choir at the local parish church, St Mary's. The men, all but one elderly, sang 3 sets of songs from a long song list that was handed out at the beginning. The songs ranged from pop tunes to religious pieces, as well as an number of songs in Welch. They were accompanied by a pianist.
During the first interval, two young sisters (age 14 and 9) each played a couple of piano pieces. They were quite good, given that the planned guest artist for this concert was taken suddenly ill in the morning. That artist, Hannah, who is the granddaughter of the owner of the apartment building we are staying in, has played violin with the choir for 10 years. This means the two sisters had only a few hours notice before playing in front of an audience of a couple hundred. During the second break, a single member of the choir sang 2 solos - a piece from Les Miserables and an Italian song entitled Sorrento.
The concert raised money for the local chapter of the Sea Cadets (a type of "scouting" for teenagers) and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). We enjoyed it and were the only Americans in attendance; the MC asked early in the concert and promised us a song. It is a tradition to end every concert with something called The American Trilogy, made famous by Elvis Presley. It turns out to be a medley of Dixie, followed All My Trials (a Bahamian lullaby), and then The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The concert ended with the British and Welch national anthems, sung by everyone present.
Today, we took our charity items to the shop and waved goodbye (Betsy's boots, in particular, had served her well). We then caught a bus for Saundersfoot and walked a section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to just past the town of Amroth, the official start/finish for the path. We passed several small villages nestled in cracks between the headlands, some nice beaches that were full of families (it being a fine day and the start of a 3- day Bank Holiday weekend), and three tunnels originally used by coal mine trains to move coal to the docks. The path at this latter point is a rails-to-trail conversion and part of the off-road section of bikeway NCN #4.
We made it to end of the trail and returned to Saundersfoot. We stopped at the pub in The Old Chemist Inn for ciders. Betsy chose to walk the path back to Tenby, instead of repeating the inland route we followed last week. We went up and down, but the elevation changes were not large, we knew what to expect, and the views were splendid today. We could see east to the Gower peninsula and southeast possibly to Devon, and along the coast around Tenby. We arrived back to the flat by 5:30 pm, covering 10.2 miles for the day. A nice way to end our Welch retreat.
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| The view from the Harbor to North Beach |
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| Our apartment building is the beige/white one |
We came back to the flat and did a successful test packing for the last leg of our adventure - Greece. We separated clothes into two piles, one that we will take to Greece and one that will stay behind in London. The test was to see whether the Greece gear would fit into the soft-sided bags we need for the sailboat. We left things mostly packed in anticipation for the trip to London on Saturday.
We went out for dinner to a Greek restaurant, set into a part of the Tenby City Wall. Betsy had mousaka and I had chicken guvena with rice and a Greek salad. We timed dinner to finish in time to attend a charity concert by the Tenby Male Choir at the local parish church, St Mary's. The men, all but one elderly, sang 3 sets of songs from a long song list that was handed out at the beginning. The songs ranged from pop tunes to religious pieces, as well as an number of songs in Welch. They were accompanied by a pianist.
During the first interval, two young sisters (age 14 and 9) each played a couple of piano pieces. They were quite good, given that the planned guest artist for this concert was taken suddenly ill in the morning. That artist, Hannah, who is the granddaughter of the owner of the apartment building we are staying in, has played violin with the choir for 10 years. This means the two sisters had only a few hours notice before playing in front of an audience of a couple hundred. During the second break, a single member of the choir sang 2 solos - a piece from Les Miserables and an Italian song entitled Sorrento.
The concert raised money for the local chapter of the Sea Cadets (a type of "scouting" for teenagers) and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). We enjoyed it and were the only Americans in attendance; the MC asked early in the concert and promised us a song. It is a tradition to end every concert with something called The American Trilogy, made famous by Elvis Presley. It turns out to be a medley of Dixie, followed All My Trials (a Bahamian lullaby), and then The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The concert ended with the British and Welch national anthems, sung by everyone present.
Today, we took our charity items to the shop and waved goodbye (Betsy's boots, in particular, had served her well). We then caught a bus for Saundersfoot and walked a section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to just past the town of Amroth, the official start/finish for the path. We passed several small villages nestled in cracks between the headlands, some nice beaches that were full of families (it being a fine day and the start of a 3- day Bank Holiday weekend), and three tunnels originally used by coal mine trains to move coal to the docks. The path at this latter point is a rails-to-trail conversion and part of the off-road section of bikeway NCN #4.
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| Tunnel |
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| The Path down to Amroth |
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| The Plaque marking the start/finish of the Coast path (we are at 4 o'clock on the map) |
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| 186 miles to the other end |
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| Tenby from the North |
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Tenby Day 11
August 24: Today, we journeyed by boat to Caldey Island, which is about 3 miles to the south of Tenby. We paid 10 pounds each for the round trip ride both and queued up with many others at the beach who had the same idea as us. The weather promised a nice day with sunshine, calm seas (i.e., little wind) and warm temps.
After about a 30 minute wait, we boarded an open boat with seats along the gunwale. We sat in the center on a hatch cover, since the operators were packing in them in and catching up with pent-up demand from the bad weather. We arrived with little excitement about 20 minutes after leaving the Tenby beach.
Caldey Island is both part of the National Park and a 'monastic island.' Every structure on the island except the lighthouse is owned by the Cistercian Order, as is presumably all of the land. The island has been inhabited since the Stone Age. It has a 1920's Abbey building, an 'old Priory,' tourist shops, and farm buildings. The monks produce perfume and chocolates, and probably share in the tourist visitation business. According to a 20 minute video we watched, there are about 15 monks and 25 non-monks living on the island. The non-monks were either employees or volunteers who worked in the tourist shops, etc. There was also a guesthouse and 6 cottages that could be leased from the abbey.
We walked around all of the trails open to the public, one that took us up to the lighthouse,and out along the south cliff side and another through the forest with a view back to Tenby. While on the first walk, we paused at an overlook and spotted 2 grey seals in the water far below.
On the ride back we again loaded into another boat similar in design, but the ride took about 15 minutes longer, as we were heading into the wind. I was able to get a couple of photos as we approached Tenby - South Beach and the current Rescue Boat House, the third or fourth one in Tenby's history.
We stopped at a town cafe for 'cream tea' - a big pot of tea and 2 scones with creamy butter and fresh jam. Since the afternoon was pleasant, we dropped our stuff off at the flat and went to sit on the beach in the sun. We waded down to one end of the beach. It was low tide and we saw various creatures on the sand - shells that push their way over the sand, worms that would spout a tube of sand out of a hole, a seagull who caught a crab and then lost it in a succeeding wave (I think it didn't know how to eat it), and an odd looking jellyfish (horizontal c-shaped).
We had drinks on the guest house veranda overlooking the beach, and later ate in on salmon steaks, with onions, mushrooms and pesto, and a salad.
After about a 30 minute wait, we boarded an open boat with seats along the gunwale. We sat in the center on a hatch cover, since the operators were packing in them in and catching up with pent-up demand from the bad weather. We arrived with little excitement about 20 minutes after leaving the Tenby beach.
Caldey Island is both part of the National Park and a 'monastic island.' Every structure on the island except the lighthouse is owned by the Cistercian Order, as is presumably all of the land. The island has been inhabited since the Stone Age. It has a 1920's Abbey building, an 'old Priory,' tourist shops, and farm buildings. The monks produce perfume and chocolates, and probably share in the tourist visitation business. According to a 20 minute video we watched, there are about 15 monks and 25 non-monks living on the island. The non-monks were either employees or volunteers who worked in the tourist shops, etc. There was also a guesthouse and 6 cottages that could be leased from the abbey.
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| Caldey Island Abbey |
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| Lighthouse, still in use |
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| Old Priory |
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| See the seals?? |
On the ride back we again loaded into another boat similar in design, but the ride took about 15 minutes longer, as we were heading into the wind. I was able to get a couple of photos as we approached Tenby - South Beach and the current Rescue Boat House, the third or fourth one in Tenby's history.
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| Tenby's Castle Hill (bandstand, castle tower, lighthouse, Prince Albert statue and museum) |
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| Rescue Boathouse |
We had drinks on the guest house veranda overlooking the beach, and later ate in on salmon steaks, with onions, mushrooms and pesto, and a salad.
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| Sunset |
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Tenby Day 8 & 9
August 21 and 22: Gale force winds, rain, often heavy, and in the lulls, almost always mist. As a result, we have done very little these two days. We watched the closing day of the Olympics and a replay of the closing ceremony today. We watched several movies on TV in between Olympics. The movie channels have long commercial breaks; the BBC Olympics have none. We got out for a short walk around town late afternoon yesterday and today, we went out to the store mid-afternoon in heavy mist with light rain. All of the tourists in town are probably going stir crazy as we are.
We dared to look at the weather forecast this morning. It should improve by Tuesday, with Wednesday the best day, before turning back to unstable weather.
We bought train tickets for our trip to London on Saturday. And we bought theatre tickets for Monday night to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night when we get to London.
Today, we broke out a picture puzzle (a scene of Tenby harbor) and have put most of it together.
Life is relaxed.
We dared to look at the weather forecast this morning. It should improve by Tuesday, with Wednesday the best day, before turning back to unstable weather.
We bought train tickets for our trip to London on Saturday. And we bought theatre tickets for Monday night to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night when we get to London.
Today, we broke out a picture puzzle (a scene of Tenby harbor) and have put most of it together.
Life is relaxed.
Tenby Day 10
August 23: Today, the weather was much better with sunshine all day with high, thin clouds and no wind! We walked about 11 miles loop, going northwest roughly along the B4318 to Gumfreston, to the Activities Park, to St Florence, along the National Cycle Network #4 track back to Tenby's South Beach, and through Tenby to our flat.
We started out early for us, found a walking path that left from a nearby residential area, and walked through some forest and farm pastures before joining the B4318, a secondary road leading to Pembroke, thus lots of traffic. The farm tracks were a bit mushy and muddy, so the road was drier and cleaner. Our first notable sight was the 11th Century Gumfreston Church and Holy Well, an ancient pilgrimage site. The Well is actually a spring just downhill from the church. The church was open, provided a good explanation of its history, and has a nice timber framed roof.
On leaving the church, we nearly stepped on a brown snake, which we think is actually a 'Slow Worm.' It is a legless lizard, often mistaken for a snake and does not lay eggs.
We started out early for us, found a walking path that left from a nearby residential area, and walked through some forest and farm pastures before joining the B4318, a secondary road leading to Pembroke, thus lots of traffic. The farm tracks were a bit mushy and muddy, so the road was drier and cleaner. Our first notable sight was the 11th Century Gumfreston Church and Holy Well, an ancient pilgrimage site. The Well is actually a spring just downhill from the church. The church was open, provided a good explanation of its history, and has a nice timber framed roof.
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| The entry on the left side is the original 11th century part (pre-Norman); the rest is Norman and built in the 12th century |
We walked on the verge of the road, arriving at the Heatherston Activities Park, a family-oriented amusement park with a variety of activities such as go karts, ziplines, mazes, shooting ranges, miniature golf, bumper boats, and the like. We stopped in to use the bathroom and decided to play a round of miniature golf on a course with pirate themes. We played 18 holes and were neck and neck, but Betsy won by a stroke on number 18. She shot par and I was one over. We both enjoyed the sand traps and went into the water hazards several times. We celebrated our round with cups of ice cream (mint c-chip and honey comb/vanilla).
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| "Walking on Water" activity for youngsters at the Park, a lesson in 'center of gravity' |
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| The winner on 14 |
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| The loser |
We turned the corner of our walk, heading south into the pretty, well tended village of St Florence. After commenting on how nice and neat it was, we saw a plaque that proclaimed it 'village of the year' and 'nicest village of 2004.'
We joined a cycle way in St. Florence, and except for a short detour on a farm path, we walked the one-lane, quiet back road all the way to Tenby. We went through another large caravan park, on the site of an old limestone kiln. We even went inside a 'show caravan.' It had a nice big great room, but tiny bedrooms. For just 45,000 pounds, one can have a year round vacation home near the beach with all utilities. The caravan park connected with South Beach and we wandered out on the sand, watching swimmers and dogs and sand diggers. We then climbed up into Tenby for drinks and snacks at the Tenby Harbor Brewery.
We stopped briefly at our flat and then walked down to North Beach. It was about 4:30 by this time and the tide was far out, although the day was still sunny and warm. We dropped off our sandals and walked out to wade in the sea, as therapy for our tired feet. The sand is clean and stone-free all the way out, which makes wading a joy. We saw one guy hunting for sand worms by sticking a tube into the sand, pulling out a wad of sand that he shot out of his tube, making a strange pattern. For every hole, he seemed to suck out one or two worms, presumably for bait.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Tenby Day 6 & 7
August 19 and 20: Another 2-day blog post and two days of hiking for us. On Friday, we had our appointment to drop off the rental car in Pembroke Dock (the industrial/dock lands for the city of Pembroke, NW of the main downtown). We managed to get to the Europcar office by going the wrong way around, on narrow, frustrating roads and passing an overturned car in the ditch (if one can say ditch when they really don't have any space on the side of the roads here). The road was twisting and slick, and we guess that too much speed was involved. The Europcar representative inspected our car, recorded the mileage, etc., pronounced it "brilliant" and gave us a receipt. I had driven just over 2,000 miles without a scratch (though with a lot of cursing at near misses).
It was raining hard, but we had no option other than to walk to Pembroke-proper, about 2 1/2 miles away, along a bikepath luckily. We reached downtown via the Mill Bridge that leads up to several parallel streets running along the top of a small rise with the Castle at one end. The mill pond (and what once was tidal water) is on three sides of the castle. We walked around the castle but decided to not pay to enter - after Hampton Court in London, we don't need to pay to visit any more castles. Instead we found The Cake and Tea Shop and stopped for tea/coffee and scones. We also dried out mostly. We had plenty of time to wait - we had a single bus to catch at 1:15 pm that would take us to Bosherton, south and nearly at the coast and the path we were walking for the remainder of the day.
It stopped raining while we were in the tea shop and we still had an hour, so we walked along the city's Mill Pond Trail. It is a small wildlife area with ducks, swans, otters, frogs, birds, etc. created when Mill Bridge was built and a railroad embankment isolated the upper part in the mid-1800s. The Upper Pond silted up and is mostly marsh now and frankly, the main area was shallow and had lots of water plants and algae. It is a good nursery for swans - we saw six cygnets still in their gray plumage but with long necks.
We walked back to the bus stop by way of the main road. Pembroke was the seat of power in western Wales and is the birthplace for Henry VII. "Reforms, etc." by son Henry VIII, diminished the importance of the town for this area and the power shifted elsewhere, though shipbuilding remained an important business, thereby creating Pembroke Dock. It has access to the ocean.
We caught a small bus that drove south past the towns of Freshwater East, Stakepole Quay, and Stackpole to Bosherton where we got off (just short of St. Govan's Point). About 2 pm, we began a 7+ mile hike, first around some lily ponds and then along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path (186-mile trail that follows the Welsh Coast from near Cardigan (on the west) to just past Saundersfoot (in the east)). We went by and crossed over 3 lily ponds in the shape of a trident, formed by a dam at the mouth of Broad Haven, just inland from the beach. The ponds were constructed by local gentry many years ago (1800s). Two of the legs are spring-fed and support lilies. The third and largest leg/pond receives surface runoff, and with the fertilizers and nutrients in the runoff, is free of lilies. The area hosts a variety of wildlife, with herons and otters being the big 2.
We reached the Coast Path at Broad Haven Beach and started up onto the headlands, zigzagging along the edge of dramatic sandstone and limestone cliff edges. We had mostly good weather, but a couple of brief rain showers skidded by, momentarily wetting us with sideways rain. The wind was constant and "fresh," but mostly behind us.
We walked by Stakepole Quay, reportedly the smallest harbor in Wales, where limestone was shipped out of for use as building blocks, and a couple of fine, protected beaches with people playing in the waves. We arrived at Freshwater East, our overnight stopping point, around 5:30 pm. I had arranged a room in a B&B at Thorntrees, which turned out to be a private home in which the owners, a retired couple, rented out a single bedroom. It was quite nice but a bit uphill from the Coast Path. They had a large golden retriever named Darcy, who greeted us every time we came to the front door.
We had tea, cleaned up, and walked into town for dinner at the one and only place. We had drinks while we waited for the kitchen to catch up before taking our dinner order. We both had chicken, leek, and ham (bacon, really) pies with peas. We returned to Thorntrees for a brief conversation with the owners and the youngest of their four children (all grown). They were intent on the Olympics, particularly show jumping and women's field hockey, which Team GB won. (I bet you didn't see either event on NBC.) They had all walked the entire Coast Path at least once.
We had a pleasant sleep, though the wind was fierce outside, rattling the windows with some occasional rain. We got up and were served a hearty breakfast in the main room of the house. We walked back down to the beach to pick up the path and again zigzagged along the cliff edges, down to beaches or low points and then back up to the headlands. The climbs were never above 300 feet, but in a stretch of about 7 miles we gained a total of 1,600+ feet in cumulative altitude. The wind blew hard all day, but fortunately from the seaside inland, so we were pushed landward,as opposed to toward the cliff edges. There were places where the edge was within a few feet of the trail. The trail is well groomed/worn and in the British tradition, goes straight down and straight up, though we had a couple of switchbacks on the very steepest parts. With the roaring wind, raging surf, thorny hedgerows, and jagged rocks, it felt like a very hostile environment.
We detoured off the path slightly at Manorbier to get out of the wind and to cut off a bit of the headlands, which we had seen plenty of. We cut off Lystep Point also but had to walk through the largest caravan resort/park ever imagined. It extended along a 3/4-mile long beach front, known as Lydstep Haven. Not a single person was on the beach, with the winds and high tide We arrived at the Army's rifle range at Penally, and concluded our walk back to Tenby along the railroad, as we had previously done on a walk earlier in the week. Total distance for two days was 21 miles.
We had dinner out, since we were tired and didn't have any food in the flat, at a small bistro with photos of Tom Jones on the wall. The owner had had his picture taken with Tom and we shared with him our "levitating bandanas" competition (see photos below).
It was raining hard, but we had no option other than to walk to Pembroke-proper, about 2 1/2 miles away, along a bikepath luckily. We reached downtown via the Mill Bridge that leads up to several parallel streets running along the top of a small rise with the Castle at one end. The mill pond (and what once was tidal water) is on three sides of the castle. We walked around the castle but decided to not pay to enter - after Hampton Court in London, we don't need to pay to visit any more castles. Instead we found The Cake and Tea Shop and stopped for tea/coffee and scones. We also dried out mostly. We had plenty of time to wait - we had a single bus to catch at 1:15 pm that would take us to Bosherton, south and nearly at the coast and the path we were walking for the remainder of the day.
 |
| Pembroke Castle |
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| Mill Pond, with Castle in back |
We walked back to the bus stop by way of the main road. Pembroke was the seat of power in western Wales and is the birthplace for Henry VII. "Reforms, etc." by son Henry VIII, diminished the importance of the town for this area and the power shifted elsewhere, though shipbuilding remained an important business, thereby creating Pembroke Dock. It has access to the ocean.
We caught a small bus that drove south past the towns of Freshwater East, Stakepole Quay, and Stackpole to Bosherton where we got off (just short of St. Govan's Point). About 2 pm, we began a 7+ mile hike, first around some lily ponds and then along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path (186-mile trail that follows the Welsh Coast from near Cardigan (on the west) to just past Saundersfoot (in the east)). We went by and crossed over 3 lily ponds in the shape of a trident, formed by a dam at the mouth of Broad Haven, just inland from the beach. The ponds were constructed by local gentry many years ago (1800s). Two of the legs are spring-fed and support lilies. The third and largest leg/pond receives surface runoff, and with the fertilizers and nutrients in the runoff, is free of lilies. The area hosts a variety of wildlife, with herons and otters being the big 2.
 |
| Lily Pond |
 |
| Broad Haven, with Lily Pond behind |
We reached the Coast Path at Broad Haven Beach and started up onto the headlands, zigzagging along the edge of dramatic sandstone and limestone cliff edges. We had mostly good weather, but a couple of brief rain showers skidded by, momentarily wetting us with sideways rain. The wind was constant and "fresh," but mostly behind us.
 |
| 'Old Red Sandstone' |
We had tea, cleaned up, and walked into town for dinner at the one and only place. We had drinks while we waited for the kitchen to catch up before taking our dinner order. We both had chicken, leek, and ham (bacon, really) pies with peas. We returned to Thorntrees for a brief conversation with the owners and the youngest of their four children (all grown). They were intent on the Olympics, particularly show jumping and women's field hockey, which Team GB won. (I bet you didn't see either event on NBC.) They had all walked the entire Coast Path at least once.
We had a pleasant sleep, though the wind was fierce outside, rattling the windows with some occasional rain. We got up and were served a hearty breakfast in the main room of the house. We walked back down to the beach to pick up the path and again zigzagged along the cliff edges, down to beaches or low points and then back up to the headlands. The climbs were never above 300 feet, but in a stretch of about 7 miles we gained a total of 1,600+ feet in cumulative altitude. The wind blew hard all day, but fortunately from the seaside inland, so we were pushed landward,as opposed to toward the cliff edges. There were places where the edge was within a few feet of the trail. The trail is well groomed/worn and in the British tradition, goes straight down and straight up, though we had a couple of switchbacks on the very steepest parts. With the roaring wind, raging surf, thorny hedgerows, and jagged rocks, it felt like a very hostile environment.
 |
| The wind is blowing upslope left to right |
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| Vertical limestone, called Church Doors |
We had dinner out, since we were tired and didn't have any food in the flat, at a small bistro with photos of Tom Jones on the wall. The owner had had his picture taken with Tom and we shared with him our "levitating bandanas" competition (see photos below).
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| Actual wind, or what I call my levitating bandana trick |
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| Levitating bandana trick one by Varis in Portland (hot and I bet no wind); Varis wins the "best looking bandana" prize |
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| Levitating bandana trick two by Ron in Colorado (looks hot and I don't know what the wind is doing) |
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