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.

The entry on the left side is the original 11th century part (pre-Norman); the rest is Norman and built in the 12th century

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 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).

"Walking on Water" activity for youngsters at the Park, a lesson in 'center of gravity'

The winner on 14

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.