Saturday 9^th August     WAUNFAUR  -  ABERYSTWYTH  -  GWBERT  -  FISHGUARD  -  PEMBROKE

Today has been a travel day, and a huge one – over 4 hours of driving. To Australians, that sounds like a breeze, but I can assure you that driving in Wales is NOT like driving in country Queensland!

We were organised to get away a bit before 9, and headed south from Waunfaur. There were several routes of roughly the same time that we could have taken, but we decided we wanted to see as much of the coastline as we could. We drove down, retracing the path we did in the train, through Beddgelert, and then on through some very mountainous scenery of the Dyfi Valley and Dyfi Forest to even more mountainous areas. The clouds, which had been threatening for some time, finally let go, and we drove through rain for a while in the mountains. From there we came down into the coastal plain and to Aberystwyth, which is a seaside city.

                                      River south of Beddgelert

                                  Welsh pronunciation challenge: how would you say this place name?

                                        Into the mountains

                                          The heather was a beautiful purple

Dyfi Valley and Forest

The plan was to have morning tea in Aberystwyth. It looked very pretty, as seaside cities do. Unfortunately, this was Saturday morning, and the traffic was horrendous. The café we’d wanted to go to was packed, and we couldn’t get a park. Then Lex uttered those immortal words, 

‘Isn’t there a garden centre somewhere out of town?’  I checked on Google, and lo, there was a garden centre, only 9 minutes away. We navigated to Newman’s Garden Centre, and had a lovely morning tea at Poppy’s Café. Saved again!

                                                          Aberystwyth

                                                     Newman's Garden Centre

From there, we followed the coastal road along the Irish Sea. By now the rain had cleared, and it was miraculously a beautiful, sunny day, and the sea a dazzling light aqua colour. We enjoyed this for another hour and a half as we drove along through lots of little villages. Unfortunately, several times we got hit by the ‘Saturday curse’ – stuck in deadlocked traffic in narrow streets while drivers try to work out how to get around each other! Finally, we were approaching Cardigan. Lex had been there in 2014 on a cold, wet day while I’d been bunkered down in the archives researching my family history, so we thought we’d go and look for some lunch there. We drove into the town and up towards the main street, which was packed with people, sitting on the side of the road, standing and waiting for something. Too many people….we turned right, just as I looked to my left and saw a fire truck, lights flashing, at the head of some sort of parade! We drove away as quickly and inconspicuously as we could. Lex waved to some people, but I just slumped down and tried to look invisible. Not a single barricade or ‘no entry’ sign did we see!

                                                 Driving along the Irish Sea

                                                   Traffic jams in lots of little villages

                                                Crowds in Cardigan!

We kept driving while I searched online to find a place to eat, and finally realised that we were only a few minutes away from the little seaside village of Gwbert, which had a pub with a restaurant. We got there to find that it actually had two, and we drove into the bigger of them to discover that it is a huge resort/spa/hotel/golf course, overlooking the bay and the headland. We were at the very start of their lunch rush, and got a table right next to the window. The Cliff Hotel gave us a lovely lunch with a fabulous view. Lex’s lunch was especially impressive – he had the charcuterie board, with all sorts of meats, pickles, cheeses and breads, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

                                                View from the Cliff Hotel at Gwbert

 

                                                            The Cliff Hotel

                                                            Lex's lunch!

After this, we drove on towards Pembroke, until we saw a sign for Fishguard. Lex had been here too in 2014, and thought he’d like to see it on a bright, sunny day, so we set a course for a marine viewpoint there. It took us to a spot in a suburb where a coastal walkway starts, and we did indeed have a lovely view of the bay.

                                                              Views of the bay at Fishguard

After this, it was just a bit over half an hour to Pembroke Dock, where the Tesco’s is. We got enough groceries for the two nights we’ll be here, then navigated our way to our little flat near the railway station in Pembroke. It’s got 2 bedrooms and is old, but very nicely decorated, with everything we need. It’s not a particularly glamorous part of town, but will do us fine. We were both glad to have afternoon tea (tea cakes and Welsh cakes), a rest, and now tea (Hunter’s Chicken and vegetables) is sizzling away in the oven.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Wales; we head back into England on Monday.