Wales in November – Genius!

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Holidays

Last week I had an amazing week off work and shipped myself off to Wales with some friends. Well, shipped off in the essence of driving there myself. To Wales. The extremely foreign, totally different other country. Well, you have to pay to get in!

I spent the week in Saundersfoot, on the Pembrokeshire coast. So, if you’ve got an image of Wales in your head, it’s the south-west coast.

Saundersfoot Beach

As I’ve already mentioned, I have been to Pembrokeshire before. On a lovely school geography field trip. What I didn’t realise until I got to Saundersfoot was that was the town which has the beach of the infamous rainy day, ice-cream eating, yellow mac wearing day on said field trip! Ahh happy memories!

Back to the holiday. The base was a gorgeous house in Saundersfoot. This house – Oceana. Luxury self-catering accommodation is probably the most succinct way to describe it. But when I walked through the front door all I could do was let my jaw drop. It’s a stunning house with amazing views and possibly the best pool in the world. Well, swap out the chlorine with salt and that would make it that! From the floating living room you’ve got amazing views of the beach and beyond. Every single bedroom has its own unique view of the surroundings. Just perfect!

Saundersfoot

While it was tempting to just enjoy the house and loaf for hours on end we made the effort of going on whilst the weather was good. The first day was the day we stretched our legs.

Went on a lovely walk from Saundersfoot and following part of The Miners Walk. I think it’s known as the coastal path now but it follows the route of old tramways and steam train lines. From Saundersfoot to Coppet Hall and then on to Wiseman’s Bridge. All along the way there are tunnels through the cliffs. I never thought tunnels could be as fun! Though even I was close to hitting my head on the side of the tunnels, on a couple of occasions.

Tunnel http://www.flickr.com/photos/pizzagirl/6365226233/in/set-72157628056334275/ Tunnel


Between Coppet Hall and Wiseman’s Bridge there was a path leading up the cliff into some woods. It was so quiet up there. So quiet I couldn’t help but have an explore. It was beautiful! I can confirm there were no bears in that wood.

Forest

There was a stop off at Wiseman’s Bridge for a drink and a rest before heading back out again towards Amroth in the hopes of finding some good pub food. The coastal path from Wiseman’s Bridge to Amroth is amazing. One minute you’re walking along a path, penned in by trees and then you can see all across the Pembrokeshire coastline.

Now Amroth…well it did have a pub. A pub with the sign ‘Good Food’ outside it. Next to which there was a sign saying there was no food that day! DOH! There was nowhere else open in Amroth that served any kind of food. The whole village is truly closed in the off-season. So, what else was there to do other than to head back to Saundersfoot and our beautiful home for the week.

The walk from Saundersfoot to Amroth is only just over a couple of miles on the coastal path. So the round trip was just over 4 miles. BUT with all the hills it felt like a lot longer! Don’t regret it whatsoever. It was a beautiful walk!

Coast

The next day it wasn’t such a beautiful day. But what’s the best thing to do on those kinds of days? Go for a lovely drive! Which we did. To see a castle. There was a list of castles to choose but ultimately our decision came down to the castle which was haunted by an ape called Satan. In case you don’t know what castle that is Welsh castle buffs, that is in fact Carew Castle. It’s said to be haunted by a princess and the owner of said ape called Satan, but none graced us with their presence. No matter how hard we tried to call to them. Well, the ape at least.

It’s a good castle for an explore. Lots of staircases and places to discover. And I’m reliably informed that the toilets there were impeccable!

Carew Castle

After some culture the next destination was Tenby for some food. Well, a little bit of sight-seeing too. It was quieter and smaller than I was expecting! It does have some fantastic beaches. But it felt quieter than Saundersfoot. Tenby does boast a very beautiful harbor.

The following day the weather looked like it was going to be ok so we tried to find somewhere where we could go exploring. The Stackpole Estate was the chosen activity of the day. I saw photos of woods, paths and some possible lakes. All boxes were ticked. We managed to find Bosherston Lakes but sadly we didn’t see any water lilies. Well, I saw some remains of lilies floating in the water. The lakes were still very pretty. But dangerous. Oh so dangerous. There were bridges with only ONE side with a banister! Shocking. Not that the water was all that deep…

Bosherston Lakes

What I didn’t expect was to see the sea part way around the walk. Well, we started seeing some sand dunes but then there was the sea! The sea and the absolutely stunning Broad Haven Bay. This made the walk totally worth it. The sand dunes just opened up on this vast sandy beach with the sea way off in the distance enclosed by some epic cliffs. Well, small, but they had an epic-ness about them.

Broad Haven Bay

The sea air made us all a bit more hungry. We walked around the lakes, back into the car and headed back to Stackpole to a gastro-pub called The Stackpole Inn. You do really have to go to this pub if you’re in the area. The food was brilliant! I had some muscles and I haven’t seen muscles that size for a long time. They were huge! Not the tiny things I was expecting. All freshly made and just yummy.

And then, the holiday was over. The next day it was home time. I would definitely go back to the house I stayed in. At the drop of a hat. There’s still loads I’d love to see in the area. Wales in November isn’t a bad idea, it’s a genius idea!

And if you want to see all the photos, here they are!

7 Comments

  1. Glad you had a good time hun! I remember being in Wales when we first arrived in England, but haven’t been back since! I hope to go some day cos it looks stunning.

  2. Great pics. Seems like you had a really good time. One can never see all the places we want to visit the first time so don’t feel bad for missing out on those 😉

  3. For a second I thought that was the prom in Aberystwyth. Lovely either way– great shots all around. You’ve definitely made me ache a bit for Wales! Love it there.

    • I forgot how beautiful it can be – would love to go again and do some more exploring. Perhaps when it’s a bit warmer!

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