Wetness and wildlife (but no pics of the wildlife)

After a fun time by the coast over Saturday and Sunday, Monday saw us heading home, and the weather looked suitably depressed with light rain from early morning just getting worse as the day wore on.

We didn't want to jump in the car and just drive back. First we returned to Abereiddi, for one last look at the (not so) Blue Lagoon. This is a huge hole scooped out of the cliffs and now flooded; one of many remnants of slate quarrying in the area.

It's normally a sheltered spot, with calm blue waters (hence its name) but not this particular day; it was wild and forbidding.





















There were a couple of folks out doing the coasteering thing, and looking like they were having fun despite the rough sea, and elsewhere in a more sheltered spot were seals - an adult and a couple of pups.










My husband claimed he saw another seal surfing on the waves on the main beach, but I'm not so sure.

Our route home took us north following the coast, with a brief stop at Newport Parrog, before heading to New Quay for lunch.

Fish and chips by the beach seemed like a good idea, but the rain started to fall again while we were eating. Somewhere out to sea was a fishing/crabbing boat and not particularly close to it but the same distance out were dolphins! Well, I assume they were dolphins as at that distance all we could see were dark shapes jumping out of the water.










I was determined to see at least a little of New Quay but by the time we'd walked to the end of the pier, the rain was heavier, so after a very brief look at the boats in the harbour (and an encounter with a seagull, the only wildlife I managed to photograph) we headed back to the car.

I've been in summer when New Quay's a busy bustling place, with the sheltered beach an excellent place to swim, but even the pretty painted houses looked drab in the rain.

 Heading up to Aberystwyth then inland towards home we pass the Forestry Commision's visitor centre at Bwlch Nant yr Arian. We always stop. Sometimes to just see the sea from the viewpoint. Sometimes to catch the regular red kite feeding. Previously we've seen dozens of kites, but not this day. The food was spread out for them, and a dozen or so came and circled the lake, but they didn't seem interested in eating. We sat and watched a live-screen in the cafe for a while, and a couple of kites investigated the food, but in comparison to other visits it was a disappointment. Not the best end to our weekend, but the other days had been good.

Saturday by the sea

Last weekend was spent by the seaside in Pembrokeshire. I've already talked about Sunday as Get Outside Day  but obviously when you're by the sea every day is a day for getting outside.

Saturday didn't start out too bad, weather wise - there's even some blue sky in the photos - so we headed to Solva, on the south coast of St Davids peninsula, for a walk around the village, calling in at the Window On Wales shop (because it's a holiday tradition), then walking to the sea.






Today Solva's a pretty tourist village, but the limekilns point to a past when the harbour was filled with more commercial craft than yachts.















Arrive in Solva at low tide and you might actually wonder where the sea is. There's sand, mud, and seaweed, and boats ready to float away on the tide, but no signs of the sea.

It's there - just hiding round the corner. As Solva's valley works its way to the sea it goes through a sharp almost right-angled bend!








And even then, small islands hide the entrance.












At low tide you can walk round to the next bay and back over the dividing ridge, but this day it would have required paddling









 - and I was the only one prepared to do that, so we headed back the sensible way.















Time to head for the North coast, and Abereiddi. Once the site of a slate quarry, today there's little here beyond a few ruins, some holiday cottages, and, probably its most famous feature, the Blue Lagoon which features in the Red Bull diving series, and is home to St Davids local sport of coasteering.








This is basically scrambling over sea-splashed rocks, and jumping off them into the sea. The sheer sides of the Blue Lagoon make it a relatively safe place for tombstoning, but I once heard coasteering described as 'everything your mother said you shouldn't do', and it's probably near the mark. Regardless, my daughter was off for an afternoon of it, as were this group of tiny figures on the rocks.

It's something I'd love to try but I doubt I have the energy to keep going for two hours, so I had a quieter afternoon - pottering about on the beach, walking along the coastal path, and walking round the ruins.

Lastly, because you can never visit too many beaches in one day, we headed west to Whitesands for a short walk along the sand before the rain came down.

To say 'it rained' isn't remotely strong enough. That evening a deluge fell, but at least it hadn't spoiled our day

Get Outside Day

This Sunday, 29th September, was the Ordnance Survey's annual Get Outside Day, aimed to encourage us all to, well, get outside. If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that any chance I get I'll be off outside - gardening, walking, visiting gardens; they're all outside things - so I'd probably have been doing something anyway, but as it turned out we were away for the weekend staying near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, so the day turned out to be more interesting that it might have been at home.

It wasn't a brilliant day weather-wise, but considering the days either side Sunday wasn't too bad. Our first stop of the day was the village of Porthgain - once a busy port handling material from nearby quarries, it's now a sleepy sort of place, particularly outside of tourist season, but still has a couple of art galleries and places to eat.





There'd been a lot of wind and rain overnight and early in the morning but by the time we headed out the rain at least had stopped. The wind was still ferocious, whipping up huge waves - in fact out on the quay it was sometimes hard to stand up! I quickly gave up on any plans of walking along the cliffs to Abereiddi

The sun was just starting to break through the clouds, so we went to the Sloop Inn for lunch hoping things would improve while we were inside.

They did, but it was till too rough for walking at the coast, so we headed into St Davids itself for an hour or so. As cities go St Davids is small, but it's my kind of city, where looking down the street you can see the blue line of the sea.

In a valley below the 'business' part of town lies the cathedral and the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, from this angle seeming to sit in the middle of the countryside

The weather was definitely improving by now, so it was time for the beach.

 There are several to choose from close to St Davids, but Whitesands is the biggest. It faces west though and was still being battered by rough seas, so no chance of going for a swim. I didn't even get opportunity for a paddle as we had plans to climb the hill which overlooks the bay, and I didn't want wet, sandy feet.






Carn Llidi isn't high (just under 600 ft) but its position gives wonderful views up and down the coast. The climb, first along the coastal path, then inland and uphill, was steeper than I remembered, and I wished I brought my walking boots.

Stopping to admire the view - over Whitesands bay and Ramsey Island, or inland to St Davids - gave me chance to catch my breath and let my legs recover a little before continuing.
























I didn't make it to the top though but stopped at the old war-time early warning station whose concrete footings still remain

As we headed back downhill the sun began to set, so we waited on the coastal path to watch it sink into the sea. A wonderful end to an outdoorsy day.