October 2025 - Further Update

So I jumped forward a bit as we did manage to get a few other things in around August. We headed to Tenby for the weekend at the end of the month. We like Tenby, one of Britain's best kept medieval walled cities. We stayed at the Belgrave Hotel and this really is a great hotel, the rooms are a bit dated but good sized. The place is really popular and I can guess that updating the rooms is an ongoing thing as if your rooms are generating money and are always full, it must be hard to get on top of it. What this hotel has done though is spent time and money on showcasing their front of house. The Bar, Lounges and other rooms are very flashy, nice chandeliers and interesting concepts. One of them being clocks. The good thing about this is these rooms encourage people to use them, so it's like a proper hotel with lots going on. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. The weather wasn't so great but as our room overlooked the beach, we could take in the views of the wild seas in comfort. There's always enough to do in Tenby and another favourite place is The Harbwr Brewery Tap & Kitchen basically the Pub is attached to the Brewery, they make great Beer - and I highly recommend a visit.

We headed out to Carew Castle on Saturday 30th August, the weather was awful and the Welsh Tap was fully open. It was windy as well. Carew Castle as it looks today is of the more fanciful Norman Castles such as Rhaglan, a beautiful place no doubt in it's day. Originally Carew castle was built on a Celtic Fort which dates back to the 8th Century - So a bit of History then. So much so that I can't do it justice on this humble blog. One former resident stick out was "Good Sir John"- Sir John Perrot who was born in 1530 to prominent parents but rumoured to be the illegitimate son of King Henry the Eighth! Sir John was flamboyant and ambitious and had a knack for making enemies - He provoked the local Merchants due to dodgy import and export dealing with Ireland - His major mistake was making indiscreet comments about Queen Elizabeth - his supposed half-sister. Queen Elizabeth didn't take too kindly to this so he was eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London and conveniently died there of natural causes in 1592. So yes, there's plenty of history and stories about Castell Carew. The Castle saw action in the English Civil War, Carew was in a perilous position, most of Wales was Royalist but Pembrokeshire was very much on the English Parliamentary side. The Castle was held at various times by both sides. The parliamentarians finally took the castle in September 1644. The Monarchy was reestablished in 1660 and the Castle was returned to the Carew Family. They remained in residence until 1686. This is very much an abridged version of things, so it's worth an internet search to find out the full details.

Mexico Bound

The First week of September, we did the Morval trip and also a weekend to Aberaeron with Grant and Rob Lewis from That There London. Things then ratcheted up for Grant as his big trip finally began. Grant headed to Plymouth on the 13th of September. He then took the Ferry to Santander, then to Madrid where he eventually flew to Mexico City. There he was met by our old Pal Simon Wilcox. A good time was had by all by all accounts. Grant has now moved on and is currently in Oaxaca. If you want to follow Grant's trip, he can be followed on his extensive Instagram page, his handle is thewesternprovince.

Right, I will leave it at this - I'm hoping to get two more trips out west and the weather this weekend may just allow me to get out on the little boat to do some fishing.

Toodles.

LG