Overcast day today so we decided to get in the car and go for a bit of a drive. First up was the drive over the Black Mountain Pass. This is a 20 kilometre drive over Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen to Llangadog, named by the Top Gear crew as the best drive in Great Britain. It certainly lived up to expectations, the road wound up the mountain where trees can't grow due to the severe conditions. We witnessed some of those conditions today, wind whistling around, light rain blown sideways and heavy cloud bearing down on the summits surrounding the road. Pam is always very brave when I find a road that's really worth the drive, not so bad today because the drop-offs weren't too bad and the views kept her mind off any hairpin corners we came upon. I've taken too many photos but I'll have to include a couple just so you can see the fun.
Found our way down to Llandeilo for coffee and cake before heading to Saundersfoot, a little beach town where it was so wet we couldn't get out, drove the 10 minutes to Tenby and forced ourselves to have a walk around the town. Very pretty town, the population take great pride in its' appearance, it has sandy beaches and lots of rain!!!
Got back in the car, turned the heater up to warm up and dry off and turned for St Davids where the patron saint of Wales (St David) was born, built a monastery, and died here in about 500 AD. Of course the monastery has been plundered, burnt and rebuilt a number of times in the last 1500 years leaving an old ruin and a newer cathedral which was restored and rebuilt in about 1700. We had a late lunch here at The Bishops Inn.
Decided to visit the Whitesands Beach and feel the waters of the Irish Sea. The water was cold, the crowds were nonexistent, the lifesavers flags were there but we were the only ones for miles. Turned for home and after only about 20 minutes driving through sheep paddocks and along a number of unnamed roads we found a sort of freeway which got us home about 7pm. Beer and blog time before we fall asleep.
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| Here are a small sample of the Black Mountain Pass |
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| Our little road on the right |
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| Mist on the mountain |
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| Braving the cold |
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| Looking for a better shot |
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| Protection from the wind |
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| Tenby town, renowned for is colourful buildings |
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| and beautiful beaches |
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| Lots of animal life in Tenby - today - a plague of drowned rats!! |
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| Tenby city walls |
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| St Davids Cathedral |
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| The old Cathedral |
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| some interesting ceilings |
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| Lunch time |
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| The Bishops Bitches - St Davids beer |
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| Whitesands Beach - not so white today |
Tenby looks like a beautiful town! It looks very tidy! You seem to have been reasonably lucky with the weather so far but it did look a bit miserable in these photos. Good excuse to head to a nice warm pub and warm the cockles of your heart! A nice dark beer to take the freeze off! Imagine what it must be like in winter. Good to see your satnav is living up to its usual temperamental attitude!
ReplyDeleteJust played catchup up on your travels over last week, and you've surely covered some miles and seen some sites! Your B & B's look very comfortable and inviting to come back to after a cool day out in the wet and wind! Hate to tell you but the weather here in the Valley is 24deg today and only getting down to a minimum of 11deg, so a very mild winter here for us so far, beautiful weather. Well enjoy enjoy, take care and look forward to your next blogs. Love Deb and John xoxo
ReplyDeleteWe have been lucky to have avoided most of the seriously bad weather, it would be nice to get a day of sunshine though. The pubs are great to get away from all the outside influences. Thanks Deb for your weather report, makes us feel so much better!! The satnav has a death wish, we just hope she doesn't take us with her!!! Love Pam and Vernon
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