Jul 27, 2012

Mainly photos again today. We had a great ride to catch the ferry mostly via small lanes and roads around the coast and have wound down into and climbed back out of heaps of little villages and inlets and everywhere there was a decent stretch of beach there were surfers and kayakers in evidence in wetsuits. Not many bathers which was understandable as even though there was no rain the sun came and went and the breeze was pretty chilly.

The ferry ride was 3.5 hours long and then a 20km ride to our hotel for the night in comfortable sunny conditions…and long may that continue.



One of the most intact Castle buildings we have seen in Wales
We were surprised to see the number of coastal ships travelling past us so the coastal shipping industry is obviously more healthy here than in Australia.



A view out across the cliff tops to the coastal shipping lanes between Marloes and St David on the west coast of Wales.

A number of the beaches we travelled through had substantial sea walls (often incorporating the road on it or beside it) so the waters can obviously get nasty when the weather is rough.



Some context for the size of some of the lanes we have been traversing. This pic of one of the larger lanes as we descended into Broadhaven (between St Brides and St David’s).



This one as we followed a farmer’s tractor and trailer of newly mown grass. This was also a larger lane than many we have travelled on but for the short distance a four wheel drive, car and large rigid truck had to reverse to intersections to let him (and happily us) pass.



We overshot the mark heading to the ferry and this is either a little inlet on the way to Cardigan, or its Cardigan. Pretty spot anyway.



Loading onto the Stena Line Ferry looks like it is a fair bit bigger than our Tassie Ferry. The trucks and coaches loaded into the nose of the ship where the doors were open then cars and us into the side.



On our way into Wexford we saw a beautiful fine Church Spire and decided to find it after our dinner and here it is, St Brigidets.

Bits and Bobs:



A coffee stop in Broadhaven gave the locals a chance to check out the bikes. The Welsh appear less inhibited in regards to this as well as tooting and waving as they pass the bikes as well.

Last nights’ Accommodation:

The Giltar Hotel, Tenby, Wales UK

This hotel was a real treat! The public spaces were beautifully decorated and looked after and the rooms are undergoing a major refurbishment and we were fortunate to have one of the newly done rooms which was just lovely. Norm was really impressed that it was still old fashioned enough to have ‘hot’ water in the bathroom rather than just lukewarm as they often are at home these days for fear we burn ourselves….or something. Even better we had a room overlooking the Esplanade and big sandy beach from on top of quite a cliff down onto the shore. The food at the restaurant was brilliant, the entertainment good fun and the two best things of all were the terrific attitude and friendliness of the staff and the incredible care which has been taken of their garden which consists of multiple potted and hanging plants around doors, windows, down in the basement spaces in front of the building and creative topiary strategically placed in front of windows. My favourite being a child rejoicing with arms in the air. Well done all round!



The Giltar Hotel, Tenby



And another shot of the front door. The Hotel has won 1st prize in the ‘Tenby in Bloom’ show for 20009, 2010 and 2011 and should do so again this year (in our humble opinion).