What kind of idiot thinks a non functioning knee will right itself after 3 months of pain? Me. Now I’m hobbling around Wales with the pace and grace of a one legged pirate, and cursing with every push of the clutch.
Flight out… Painful on the damn knee. No sleeping of any sort… on any plane.
Day One: Arrive Cardiff: Wait well over an hour in the smallest customs I’ve ever been through, only two families in front of us… but they can’t seem to let them through.. no clue why, other than they are from Africa and the middle east. Roberta finally has to ask to be "escorted" to a bathroom somewhere before we are interviewed. Once it is our turn we are done in less than 3 minutes. Yeah.. no racial profiling here.
Drive Cardiff to Dinas Cross: Hurrah!!! the GPS (or SatNav as they call it here) is working! Boo, it seems to be taking us via the most circuitous route possible. Double boo, I forgot how stressful driving on the opposite side of the road was. Hot flashes ensue. Buy groceries at Tesco it takes forever to find.. finally arrive at rental house. Even though I KNOW from the rental agreement I should not go down the street because there is no room to turn around…after urging …I do. Celecta helps me make a 25 point turn to get around, all the while Roberta is asserting that she is certain we are stuck.
Unpack everything, eat food, work like mad to stay awake until suitable jet lag stopping bedtime, including taking 500 meter path 30% grade incline to beach. 500 meters my EYE! (awake a total of 33 hours.)
Day Two: Sleep in till almost noon. Finally shower and wipe away a bit of grime. In spite of our late start we manage to squeeze in several great sites. Drive to Pentre If an, the most famous Cromlech in Wales where I remember that the roads get even MORE narrow. Then on to a hike to the witches caldron. Finding the hike takes an act of Congress. We are going up and down 20% grades on “two lane” roads the width of one car as I attempt to burn out the clutch disc with every other shift. (1st and 3rd are difficult when you switch sides) We stumbled into the hike trail as the sun was near to setting. I managed to hobble most of the way, but worried I wouldn’t be able to return quickly enough before dark I turned back. Drive back to Dinas in the dark… harrowing.
Had to put in this deformed looking Welsh pony for Gordon. It's head looks entirely too small!
Day Three: Banner Day. Off to Letterston to look for ancestral headstones in the church graveyard. (I think it fools errand, but since Celecta knows the names of family from the parish am happy to see the church) Roberta is ecstatic to be the finder of a headstone belonging to ____. She rushes back to the car to get my camera for the occasion. Further searching of the site yields several more progenitors headstones, and others that may be related.
Off to St. Davids in the south. Celecta is navigating (because I won’t get snippy with her like I do Roberta) See a lovely little church on a hill on the way and decide to go up and see. (it being so rare to see something above these damn hedges). It is a charming church in Mathry.
On to St. David’s where we discover the parking isnt’ free and we have no british currency. My knee is very bad this day (hurting with every step) so R and C walk to find an ATM. Pay for parking then hobble to St. Davids. It is nearing 5pm and I go inside the cathedral thinking we should see the inside of it before it gets dark. Darn…. that meant we missed the Priory that closed at 5. On the return drive we stop at Carreg Samson, the second most famous cromlech in Wales (I told you… Look it up) It is surrounded by sheep, but located in a long field overlooking the coast and shoreline. The light is beautiful and the site is stunning… sheep never looked so good.
Day Four: Groggy start. Head to Fishguard to find wireless and ask librarian question for Celecta. The library takes longer than anyone expects. (as always) and we head off for a church in Llanfyrnach with the hopes of seeing parish records. Celecta navigates.. along with Betsy, the name we have given our circuitous route choosing Garmin. We stop on the way at Carreg Aurthur, a cromlech of miniature stature compared to the other two we have seen. We pull out lawn chairs and eat lunch here, then onto….Llanfyrnach...The church is as “tucked away” as is physically possible without being overgrown like the jungle, but we did find it.
Well... now I'm a slacker and long past the day by day/ blow by blow.
St. Govan's Head... a Favorite on our first trip here.
The "Green Arch of Wales"... wasn't so green.
Llanfynnydd Church here. One Uncle Lewis wanted us to go see. It was yet another harrowing drive, but a charming place. HUGE cemetery very overgrown.
Roberta and Celecta will go to any length to read these headstones.
