Chester to Aberyswyth to Tenby

August 12 and 13:  Two travel days to finally arrive in Tenby, our home for the next 2 weeks.  We left Chester for Aberystwyth, Wales and made two stops - the first was at Llangollen and the second was at Dolgellau.   Billboards advertising horse drawn canal boat rides attracted our attention to Llangollen so we stopped to stroll around town, along with many other tourists.  There was a pretty river, a historic steam train, and cute shops.  The canal proved to be uphill from the river and we watched a trio of canal horses being fed scones, which they seemed to like.  We then wandered along the canal and found the pavilion for the Eisteddfod,  a world-renowned Welsh choir festival held in early July.  We returned back across the bridge to our car.  We next drove up and over several low ranges, past a reservoir or two and down into a broad valley to the town of Dolgellau.  It is a small, compact town full of stone buildings.  Because the day was chilly, we had coffee and snacks at Y Siop (Welsh for 'Tea Shop', we guessed), and then walked around town.

Note Thomas the Train on the left

The entrance to the Eisteddfod

We reached Aberystwyth, a sea-side town and after some driving around found our hotel for the night off a modern retail strip.  I did some computer work, namely publishing 5 days worth of travel posts.  Then we walked into the town center and to the seafront. On one end is a high hill with a electric railway running up the side and on the other is a castle ruin.  In between was an entertainment pier and a long beach with enough wave action for surfing (with wet suits, naturally).   We picked out a Greek restaurant for dinner (The Olive Branch), which gave us some tasty small plates and a nice Greek white wine (in practice for the sailing trip next month).

Old College

The Olive Branch, a Greek cafe

On our second day of driving, we went southwest along the Welsh coast to Cardigan,  Fishguard, and then to St. David.  We stopped for a break at St. David.  It is one of the most western points on the coast of Wales and is the location where the patron saint of Wales first landed, in the 5th century.  There is a famous 11th century cathedral erected here and named St David.

Inside the cathedral

Front view of the cathedral

Behind the cathedral, there is a ruin of an "Earl's Palace" with very nice modern entry gates.   A father and daughter were admiring the gates as we walked up.  They were finding the small hidden animals, a bird's nest with tiny eggs, cobwebs, and the like, crafted into the gate.  It turns out the father was one of the creators of the gate, which was donated to the palace earlier in the year.

Earl's Palace with wedding pictures being taken in front

A new metal gate, with the maker shown on the left

We arrived in Tenby and after some wandering, finally found the building in which our flat is located.  The building is called Croft House, it has 11 apartments on three levels, and is across the street from the cliffside that goes down to North Beach.  We are in number 10 with a view inland to the west, and not to the beach.  Looking south from outside the front door of Croft House, one sees this.  The small boat harbor in the distance, is empty of water twice a day for about 6 hours (3 hours either side of low tide). Because of the vast tidal swings, the boats sit fully exposed on the sand.

There is brewery in downtown Tenby that brews very good beers.  This is an IPA  named for a ship - Caldey Lollipop.

North Beach at nearly high tide