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Wales.
St David's, on the south-west corner of Wales, is a small village but very important. Part of the pilgrim trail, London to St David's to Dublin and St Patrick, Ile of Man, Scotland, York and back south. St David's relics are encased in the Cathedral. I touched the crypt and made a wish. The cathedral slopes south (14 feet lower) and leans to the west, several flying buttresses have been put in place some 400 years ago to ensure the west wall kept upright. But you can easily see how irregular the walls are and the angles are out and yet there the integrity of St David's Cathedral is ever present. We have seen lots of Cathedrals and frankly have had more than our fair share of them. Then we stumble across one that is special, and St David's Cathedral is one of those special Cathedrals. Well worth the effort.
The town itself is small but compact, friendly and would be very touristy in the summer months, again we a glad to be 'out-of-season'.
St David's is cute, small smaller than Portrush and it is the Cathedral that made the village important today it is important as a popular tourist destination. We saw lots of camping sites. The rugged coast line has magnificent beaches, some very good surfing beaches. The birdlife is unique, loads of Puffins about and the coastal walk is extensive, stretching for many miles. (Or Kim's). St David's is named after The bishop St David who established the Cathedral here, once catholic, but after Cromwell etc..it is Anglican. But it keeps its heritage. The relics of St David are here and people come here on pilgrimages. Awesome. The Cathedral is enormous and there is a really good feel about the cathedral and the village. Tomorrow we will be going to the evening song, and Vivaldi, looking foreword to that. Welsh choirs are famous.
Happy THANKSGIVING!
Today it is really chilly (still no plan A), there has been snow at St David's and much more in Central and to the north east. The last time it snowed at St David's was 17 years ago! Gale force winds and hail woke me several times last night. Actually we also had snow, as we discovered because we had flurries of snow all day today. We had a high of 2C degrees today and more and heavier snow falls are predicted for tomorrow. We dared to go out and drove north along the coastline to Fishguard. The roads were so narrow in parts that absolutely no other car could pass. I am truly getting sick of the "cute" hedges, they block the views and you have this constant tunnelling experience, ok for a short experience, but were over it. However, when there is a break the scenery the views are just fabulous, fairy-tale pretty. The hills and dales, the cliffs and heavy seas and "clusters" of mini-houses. The homes are so small, they only appear to have three to four rooms, and small rooms to boot. To our surprise we watched as several surfers chased the waves. Madness. It looks like it will be a cold winter ahead, if the present conditions persist. Radio announcements call it a "cold-snap", that will pass, but there are concerns about household electricity bills and whether people can afford to raise their heating cost. Our problem back in Australia is water, here it is heating.
The one regret to our stay here is that we have not done the coastal-cliff walk, only the brave hearted would attempt to that in this weather, I'm too chicken for that.
I/we have become very lazy. Up at 10 am, sleeping well and it's snowing again right now. We are getting all seasons, the snow has just turned into tiny round balls of ice...bouncing off the rooftops. it's spellbinding... now the sun is out...the welsh coastline is different. People huddle in corners to avoid the pelting ice, there is a sudden chill in the room as the wind finds the cracks and gaps to whisk through. Need elves and fairies and marshmallows and a fireplace and a hot toddy.
Unless the weather changes within the next couple of hours we will not do our walk. Have a book Keith has his and there are heaps of pubs and coffee shops to laze the day away next to a warm hearth. The snow thickened and the M4 to Cardiff is blocked. Were off to Southampton tomorrow. Keith's driving skills will be tested yet again, slip…sliding…away….here….we…go.
Woke up to -2C and more snow, the green fields were covered in a layer of white. As we drove the temperature plummeted to -4C and the wipers do not work, ice is blocked the vent. Further on and the temperature rose to 0C and bits of ice was melting on the car bonnet, now it's 1C and all the ice just flew off. The critical 1 degree made all the difference. Heard on the radio that there is debate whether the Rugby Union match Wales V New Zealand may be cancelled due to the snow, now that's serious. It will go ahead too many disappointed supporters will rip the stadium apart otherwise. Loads of announcements about road closures, which is a great BBC service. It's also easier to change travel arrangements because the labelling of roads (numbered junctions etc) make it much easier, wish we had that back home. Oh it's 2C now, I'm getting hot. Take another layer off!
Train spotting: Keith just saw his first England_Wales_Scotland Company freight train.
He's excited.
The entire trip took 7 hours, now that's some journey and we didn't even stop at Bath, too many cars ( Christmas markets). Instead we had coffee and scones and open fire at some pub (The Crown ) to warm up in and recover.
We arrived at St Elmer's Court, Lymington, south of Southampton. The Manor House is Huge on 23 acres of manicured ground and formal gardens. I think we will stay a while.
The pubs are tiny and really warm and much nicer than Ireland. Can't believe that there is such a difference between the two places. Ireland and Wales are really close just a couple of hours by water, and a world apart. Wales may have Cornish pasties and port pies but they have tasteless bread and planer food. Besides the "Roast" and stew there isn't a great deal of variety. Miss the Irish food, especially their bread. (Soda bread and Guinness bread). Irish have a lot of excellent seafood too, and their potatoes are really special. Here it's a struggle to find decent battered fish and chips.
The place we are staying in is a 2 story townhouse style apartment, right in the village and walking distance to everything. We have been in luck today as it has been sunny and relately warm, the forcast has been dry but very cold for inland Wales like -3 at night and +3 during the day. Here it is a balmy 6C day and 6C @night. I feel blessed. (must be because we are close to the relics).
We have two plans for tomorrow; plan (A) coastal walk and plan B (if it rains) visit Pembroke Castle at Pembroke, just an hour east of St David's.
Just for something different; I needed to get to a bank and the banks open at odd times...eg..HSBC Mon, Wed and Fri 10:30 - 1:30; Barclays open on the other days and 12:30 - 4:00pm. It works and it is better that the banks remain rather than close down all together. No service is poor service. I was noticed by a local that I looking in the bank window, she stoped he car, wound down the window and politely informed me of the local banks opening arrangements. Nice.
Plan B today (scrapped A, too cold and wet). Off to Pembroke to see the Castle, it's the largest in Wales. Indeed impressive, +1000 years of history, intertwined with the Royal houses of Ireland (Strongbow) and England (Henry VII). Established by Montgomery in 1093 with a timber castle to the newer additions in the 1880's, as we see today.
The Castle was actually built over a giant cavern used in the Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age) possibly used for 5000 years. It was a store house for the Castle. The cavern is an impressive 3-storey high cavity. Huge! Creepy, a smugglers cave, well hidden from the river out front. When the river floods so does the cavern. We walked through the massive walls of the castle into the chambers and the walls are very thick on either side of the corridors. The layout and the history of the Castle is immense. It was cold today 3C and rain made the Castle miserable, (shades of Blarney Castle but much, much bigger and the rooms more spacious), but back then the fires would have been roaring away and the tapestries would have kept the walls warm. The Castle looked every bit the Majesty it once did especially when the afternoon sun beamed across the battlements. From the battlements the surrounding town of Pembroke is spread out, it isn't that big actually but the port is very important. Keith read of an attack by the French upon this area, 800 of the 1400 were x-prisoners, the story goes that when they arrived on land they fraternised with the local women, got very drunk, so drunk that they surrendered to a much smaller number (500 I think) of the Welsh Yeomanry next day. It is believed that the local women were all dressed in red and when they were standing at the top of the surrounding hillside that next morning the drunken French thought they were English soldiers. Blarney or baloney?
Pembroke Dock (an adjacent town to Pembroke) housed the largest flying boat base during WW 11. Recently a group of volunteers have worked at developing a museum in the area. The motivation being the goal of lifting a Sunderland Flying boat from the bottom of the harbour which sank in 1940 during a violent storm and restoring it as a static display. A museum has been set up with parts already retrieved from the aircraft. The parts being painstakingly restored to recognisable pieces. The Sunderland is due to be lifted from the water next year.
Attended Evening Song at St David's Cathedral, the service was rather 'rich in ceremony' considering it is no longer a Catholic but Anglican, (Cromwell you know how he was) and the choristers sang like angels. Not a note out of place and the organ recital was simply magical. And we had Vivaldi! It is these little unexpected surprises that just make the trip.
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