South Wales

We got up early on a Saturday, took the tube to Heathrow Airport and rented a car for our drive to South Wales. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive to the seaside town of Tenby, Wales that was filled with beautiful scenes of mountains, the ocean and lots of sheep. We arrived in Tenby around lunch time. Tenby is a very popular resort town in the summer months and January is considered the off season. It was fairly quiet and most of the people around were locals. We found a parking spot along the beach and walked into town to find a place to eat. All we had to do was follow the people and we found a great little cafe filled with locals and figured it had to be good...and it was! After lunch we wandered around the town a bit and stopped in the tourist center to get some assistance on planning the rest of our day and the next. We got some great ideas and headed towards Pembroke Castle for our afternoon activity.




On our way to Pembroke Castle we happened to drive by Carew Castle which has a history over 2,000 years old! We stopped for a quick look around. It was closed so we did not go inside, but we did walk around the grounds.




Pembroke Castle dates back to 1093 and was the birthplace of Henry VII. It is truly a castle of movies and storybooks. This is exactly what I was picturing when being told of all the amazing castles in Europe. There are parts in fairly good condition and parts falling down. It's all stone with no glitz or glam like some of the castles we've toured. Don't get me wrong, those were very cool too...just different. The best part about this castle was that you could go everywhere...nothing was off limits. Jon and I ran around like little kids, going up to the top of every tower, down into the dungeon and the cave where boats used to come in. This castle even had a moat, just like the castles we build on the beach! I can't not express in words how much fun we had exploring this castle. It is an experience with Jon I'll cherish forever.




After touring the castle the sun was starting to set and we headed to our Bed and Breakfast to check in. St. Lawrence is a picturesque B&B on a hill in the country with views of the valley and the ocean in the distance. We were greeted at the door by one of our hosts, Yvonne. We were their only guests that weekend and we couldn't have felt more at home. The sun wasn't quite down yet so we took a walk to the top of the hill to take in the last specs of daylight as the sun was setting over this beautiful landscape. On our way back to the house we met Russell, Yvonne's husband, who was as warm and welcoming as anyone could ask for. We sat by the fire in the living room and chatted with Russell before leaving for dinner. We went to a restaurant they recommended called The Mulberry. The inside had a fire in the center and exposed brick and beams throughout the restaurant. It made for a wonderful atmosphere and the food was delicious too! It was a great choice!




After dinner we settled back into the living room by the fire with a glass of wine and Skyped with Garret and the Stegmann's to send our Happy Birthday wishes to our growing nephew and niece! It was such a relaxing end to a wonderful day.

On Sunday, we woke up in time to take in the sunrise from the top of the hill (about 8:15am). It was pretty cold, windy and cloudy, but that didn't stop us from taking it all in and really enjoying the moment. Right next to the house is the ancient Gumfreston Church dating back to the 12th century. Before breakfast we walked over to this historic site. It was really incredible as you could feel all the history of the grounds. Back at the house we were greeted with a traditional Welsh breakfast that included: fresh fruit, home baked bread, farm fresh eggs (from their own chickens), Welsh sausage, black pudding, bacon, mushrooms, beans and tomatoes...I feel full just typing all of this! It was an incredible breakfast and we didn't leave hungry!



We left for our day of exploring the Pembrokeshire Coast and drove about 15 minutes to the start of a walking path Yvonne and Russell recommended. The path started out along a river, that turn into a lake that was full of ducks and geese. As we came around a bend the lake opened into the Atlantic Ocean...oh, what a sight! By this time the clouds were long gone and it was a bright sunshiny day and the view was amazing. We had no idea the views we were about to see on our walk. We headed up a hill so we were on top of the cliffs that dropped straight down into the ocean. It was spectacular! We walked along these cliffs for several hours taking in the jaw dropping panoramic views. We even saw wild ponies and a ton of sheep everywhere! We could not believe what a beautiful spot we were in and were so grateful to have found it.



After our walk we started out journey back to London. Our trip to South Wales was such a great experience and so much more than we ever could have expected!


Here is the link to our pictures:

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8019013007/a=53561785_53561785/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/