It was a shame to leave St. David's, it's a lovely little place amidst lots of wild and beautiful countryside and coastline. We stayed at the Alandale Guest House and would thoroughly recommend it - the hosts, Rob & Gloria were charming, the accommodation was very clean and well-presented, the breakfast was top-class (loved the pears in cinnamon and orange) and free wifi made writing the blog a doddle.
I've uploaded various pictures that we took - they're in sequence so will hopefully give you a flavour of the wonderful scenery in these parts. It's the first time Jan and I have been out here and we feel we must come back sometime to do it justice.
It's a wild and rough coastline in places and the route I was following (NCN 4) was going up and down as it crossed various rivers and stream making their way to the sea.
There's much evidence of ancient human activity around here with Burial Chambers and standing stones dotted all over the map - here's a stone I saw standing in a field by the side of my route:
Our lunchtime halt was at Fishguard and the next picture shows Fishguard harbour mouth as that slight inlet in the middle of the picture.
We found a little "Art" cafe and had a light lunch of panini and salad washed down with tea whilst sitting in the suntrap of a courtyard. Fortunately it was sheltered from the wind in there as it has been blowing all day - luckily for me, from the west i.e. from behind.
Out in the countryside, I've been impressed with how lush everything is, the greenery is awash with bright greens and the hedgerows are lined with flowers.
This helps take my mind off all the hills there have been. Only one was marked as 20% but I've been up at least three that were unmarked but seemed steeper!
I've been taking a picture more or less every time I get to the fold in my Landranger maps - there are 7 in each map and I've gone all the way across one and almost all the way across the second so far. It's been great having the OS maps -I've not been lost for a moment and I can see what terrain is coming up and so I'm not caught out by sudden hills or confusing junctions.
Tonight we are meeting Gary from work and going for a meal at a nearby pub. Gary is something of a sheep aficionado, so I took this picture especially for him:
There have been a large number of chapels dotted around the countryside, sometimes in the middle of nowhere, often with an accompanying graveyard. Most of them look as though they are still used, but I have seen quite a few that appear to have been converted to private houses. This one looked to be still in use:
A few miles after lunch and in the middle of nowhere, I realised I need to answer a "call of nature", quite urgently in fact! Just then a car park appeared and, as there were no cars and no-one to be seen, I decided to water a local tree. Before I did, I spotted a small building off to my left which, on investigating I found to be a public convenience. I'm impressed with how well the Welsh seem to be anticipating my toiletry requirements!
Here's an attempt to contrast the verdant roadside scenery with the distant rugged hills:
and here's my bike having a rest in amongst the flowers:
Three things to note here:
1) the bar bag - in an attempt to fend off the rain I've a full set of waterproofs in there (along with a pump, patches, spare tube, multitool, energy bar, long fingered gloves, spare neckerchief, wallet, spare car keys, maps) and it weighs a fair bit thus upsetting my ability to ride no-handed.
2) my water bottle - I filled it with welsh tap water and it tastes GREAT!
3) my new saddle - the old one I called "The Edge", this one I've named "Jimi".
The constant wind of today is certainly a regular feature of these parts as you can tell by the shape of the trees:
The constant wind of today is certainly a regular feature of these parts as you can tell by the shape of the trees:
I keep looking at this tree picture and thinking something is wrong with it. I've just realised what - I took that picture looking back down the road I'd just ridden, so consequently the tree is pointing in the opposite direction to all the others I've seen today!
I was starting to feel a bit tired now and so I stopped in a village called Boncath and got myself an ice cream and a bottle of orange isotonic drink. as I sat in the sun outside the village store I realised the pub opposite was open and had a nice sunny garden. It took all my willpower to resist just popping over for a pint!
It was quite a while before Janice drove past me this afternoon, it was only about 10 miles from the finish and we were on a B-Road. Other drivers please note how much space she has left me as she's done the overtake and she hardly need to alter her speed.
This bridge is in Cenarth - it's only a tiny village but has several pubs and various tourist attractions (one of which is the "National Coracle Centre").
From Cenarth it was only 3 miles to the B&B and I've got to say, we've come up trumps again. It's a beautiful Edwardian place full of antique furniture and fittings (but with modern plumbing and, yes, we've got WiFi (hence the blog being done so quick).
This is the view from our room on the first floor:
Right, that's it, I'd better phone Gary now to sort out the finer details for tonight - where exactly are we picking him and his missus up, for starters!
Stats:
Distance cycled: 47.1 miles
Average speed:
Fastest speed: I think it was 38 mph.
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