We are home.  All is well.

I promised some videos.  I am not uploading them to the blog, but here are the links and some explanations.

David Geaney is a five time world champion Irish dancer.  See story here.  He danced at his father’s pub, the Dingle Pub, and we were in the first row.  I took two videos.  One short and one long.  The short one is of him and a friend dancing.  David is in the white shirt.  The long video is really pretty good and worth watching (imho).  The problem with these two videos is that I created them in portrait mode.  Video players (VLC, Windows Media Player, Quick Time) all play them in landscape mode, so you have to turn your head or the computer sideways to enjoy them.  Stupid, but true.  So I converted the videos so they would play properly.  BUT the blog software thinks the files are corrupt and won’t play them.  SO, do this:

RIGHT CLICK on the files and then click “Save link as”.  Save them to your desktop or to a directory.  Then double click them from there.  They should play properly in Windows Media Player, Quick Time, or VLC.  After watching, you can delete the files.

David Geaney and Friend Dancing  (short video – David is in the white shirt.)

David Geaney Dancing   (long video -again David is in white shirt)

Here are a couple of other videos.  These should play properly within the blog by just clicking on them.

(This was taken in O’Flaherty’s Pub in Dingle.  It shows Fergus O’Flaherty, the owner, and his sister playing Dingle Bay.)  GOOD MUSIC!

O’Flaherty’s Music Session

A Panoramic Look at the Ocean (The Annoying Sound is the Wind)

Sea Video

 

Breakfast at Bow River House was lovely, and we had a nice chat with Roma, the delightful hostess, who is originally from Australia. (There was Vegemite on the table, a dead giveaway for that.) Then we were off for the hour ride to Heathrow.

We had an hour to kill before turning in the car, so we stopped briefly in Windsor and a walk about. After parking the car, we walked over the Thames and spent our hour strolling in Eton which has a beautiful main street. The most interesting building looks like a church but is actually the Eton College Sanitorium.

Back in the car, we drove to the Renault representative near Heathrow Terminal One and said goodbye to our Megane, remarkably unscratched and still looking like new save for a bit of UK grime. Our driver from Heathrow to Gatwick was spot on time, and we were checked in at the Courtyard Marriott by 2 PM. Elaine had wine, I had a Guinness, and we shared a cheese plate for lunch. Dinner at the restaurant in the hotel was decent enough, and we were back in the room to see a new episode of Downton Abbey at 9:00 PM. (The new season has already begun here).

Our flight is at 11:35 AM tomorrow morning, arriving in Las Vegas at 1:15 PM. We will stay the night in Henderson and be home by noon on Tuesday.

We haven’t been in England since we left Liverpool four weeks ago, but now we are back. The drive from Kiln House in Llanstadwell to Newbury is about four hours. The drive was easy and mostly motorway. Then we diverted off the M4 approaching Newbury to find White Horse Hill, a National Trust site, mainly as a spot for our picnic lunch. We found it, but it wasn’t easy.

The chalk white horse on the hill is 4,000 years old. Actually to get a good perspective of it, you would have to be in a hot air balloon or a low flying aircraft. But it was a pleasant spot for lunch and a walk to stretch the legs.

Leaving the site we passed through the town of Lambourn in England’s race horse country. I have read about Lambourn for years in Dick (and now Felix) Francis novels. Now having seen it, I can picture it even better.

Then we drove to the outskirts of Newbury for a planned look at Sandham Memorial Chapel (another National Trust administered site just recently reopened to the public), an artistic memorial to WWI as created by Stanley Spencer. He was a highly regarded British artist who fought at a long forgotten WWI front at Salonika in then Macedonia, now Greece. The paintings took six years to complete in all, and are considered by many to be the artist’s finest achievement, drawing such praise as ‘Britain’s answer to the Sistine Chapel’. Pictures inside are not allowed. The picture below is from a BBC web site about the reopening of the chapel.

Outside is a sculpture, “Blown Away”, also affectionately known as “Sydney” after Stanley’s brother who was killed in WWI. It was created by Sioban Coppinger. Blown Away pays homage to so many brave people whose lives are altered by their time and expresses what many of us feel about memory and the passing of time.

Almost next door to Sandham Chapel is Highclere Castle, the site where Downton Abbey is filmed. To tour the castle you need to book 12-18 ahead. We had hoped to at least get a glimpse of the castle from the grounds, but it is totally closed this month for filming by the BBC.

Then we found our B&B, Bow River House, in Leckhampstead, Newbury. This is truly rural and is a working horse farm where three-day eventers are raised and trained. We are the only guests tonight in a delightful bucolic setting.

Dinner was a few miles down the road at the Fox at Peasemore.  We started with a shared baked Camembert with cranberry sauce.  Then Elaine enjoyed here fresh cod while I had a perfectly rare and delicious beef Wellington.  Sorbets and a tarte au citron for perfect for dessert.

Lo and behold: sunrise:

With the good weather we visited purportedly the most beautiful beach in wales at Barafundle Bay – you decide.  And we stopped at the Walled Garden and the Lily Ponds nearby.  A quick beer at the Ferry Inn.  Dinner at home.  We had a nice chat with our landlord (and next door neighbor) Carol.  All’s right with the world.  Back tomorrow with a special stop near Newbury, England.

 

 

We are starting to wind down our activities as the trip nears its end. We leave Wales on Saturday, overnight near Newbury, England, spend a final night overseas at Gatwick Airport, and fly back to Las Vegas on Monday. We’ll be home on Tuesday.

Today was the coolest and rainiest day of our trip, but it was still only an on-and-off drizzle, nothing to get excited about. We started the day doing something indoors, a visit to the Sunderland Heritage Trust just across the channel in Pembroke Dock. A Sunderland is a British flying boat (or sea plane) that was an important coastal defense and submarine hunting aircraft during WWII. It was thought that they were all had been lost in battle during service. Then divers right in Pembroke Dock, once a Flying Boat Station, discovered a Sunderland T9044 submerged in the harbor. The Sunderland Trust is dedicated to eventually bringing the T0944 to the surface and restoring her. It’s a huge undertaking.

Meanwhile, the Trust has restored the old base chapel (and movie theatre during the week) into a museum containing many stories of both ship building at Pembroke Dock and the Sunderlands. Artifacts from the sunken T0944 are on display. One amazing story is about Sgt. Ogwyn George whose Sunderland was shot down over Norway by the Nazis while on a reconnaissance mission. The nine RAF airmen who lost their lives that day, 9 April 1940, were the first Allied servicemen to lose their lives in the defense of Norway. They are remembered with a special ceremony each year at their graves in the Sylling churchyard, north east of Oslo. There was one survivor – Welshman Ogwyn George, the radio operator – who fell 3,000 feet without a parachute, hitting trees and landing in unusually deep snow. He was discovered and rescued by a Norwegian.

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Then we decided to take a chance and drive to Angle, a small village on the coast, despite the clouds and rain. It was only about 12 miles but on very narrow roads. We stopped at West Angle Bay for a look at the beach and had a walkabout. Right at the beach we discovered the newly opened Wavecrest Café and decided to try it for lunch. It was excellent. Elaine had a nice cheese and leek pie while I had a locally caught crab removed from and then served in its own shell (no claws to deal with).  Both came with couscous salad and delicious home-made coleslaw.  We saw the ferry going by as we ate as Elaine is indicating in the photo, but it doesn’t show up.

After lunch we returned home for a quiet afternoon. Cocktails at 5:00. Dinner was at the Marina Bar and Restaurant where we dined on Tuesday night. We had deemed it worthy of a return trip.  The servers there are all young, enthusiastic, and very friendly.  Our server tonight had gone to high school and college in Florida but was now back living in Wales.  And the food is excellent.

Can it be? Another sunshine filled day is in store. Rain is forecast for tomorrow and then dry again on Friday. No matter what happens now, we can’t complain even a little bit about the weather.

Wales seems to be filled with castles and beautiful coast line. Today we opted for a short trip from Llanstadwell, our tiny town, to Pembroke, the main city of Pembrokeshire, for a visit to the well developed Pembroke Castle. The castle is most famous as the birthplace of Henry VII who became king of England by overthrowing the despised King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of England to win the throne on the battlefield. Henry VII ended the dynastic wars known as the Wars of the Roses, founded the Tudor dynasty, and modernized England’s government and legal system. Queen Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Henry VII.

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The castle itself has been restored to good effect in many places and is well endowed with interesting displays and historical markers. There is a labyrinth of passageways and lots of towers to climb (or not). There is also a brass rubbing centre – my mother would have loved it and spent hours doing rubbings.

After the castle we wandered into town and happened on the Town Hall. The first floor is dedicated to a series of wall murals (no pictures, sorry) describing the town’s history. They were created by a retired husband and wife artist team from 2006 until 2009. Upstairs s the town museum, an eclectic collections of Pembroke memorabilia looked after by a pleasant and chatty curator.

The we drove to Milford Haven for a picnic lunch along the River Cleddau before returning home early to Kiln House for a leisurely afternoon reading and napping as we awaited cocktail at five (ish). Elaine saw the afternoon ferry go out to Rosslare, Ireland as I was napping. It was a beautiful afternoon on the River Cleddau, the wide tidal estuary that runs in from the Irish Sea.

Dinner and drinks at home (Kiln House) tonight.  See you tomorrow.

During the night a heavy fog rolled in and blanketed the area. The Isle of Inishmore ferry makes its second daily visit each day at 12:15 AM and then leaves again at 2:45 AM. We have been hoping to catch a glimpse of the ferry all lighted up, but we are always asleep. This morning we didn’t see the ferry depart, but we sure heard it as its foghorn goes off every couple of minutes from the time it prepares to leave until it is out of earshot. As you looked out at the water just outside our bedroom, you could not even see a glimpse of the ship through the fog. When we got up at 7:00 AM, the fog was gone. Did we dream it all?

This morning we went down the marina and had breakfast at the Brunel Café which is run by our hostess, Carol, at Kiln House and her sister, Pauline. It’s a small place catering to the yachting crowd that uses the marina. Breakfast was excellent. I especially enjoyed a piping hot cup of hot chocolate.

After breakfast we drove back to Tenby, the seaside town I described in Monday’s posting. This time our purpose was a boat trip from Tenby Harbor to Caldey Island, a twenty minute crossing. We spent about three hours on the island exploring what it had to offer and found it to be a quite an enjoyable place. It is a thriving and active monastery that survives financially through tourism, a perfume industry, and a chocolate factory. We partook of some fudge and an extra dark chocolate bar at the chocolate factory. We passed on the perfume.

Getting on the boat to return to Tenby required a duck boat like vehicle to take us to the actual boat. We landed normally at a dock on the way over, but the tide was too low for the boat to dock for the return trip. After the return trip, we had a nice lunch in a pub in Tenby and headed home with a stop at Tesco for our final stock up of necessities.

Dinner tonight was at the Bar and Restaurant at the Neyland Marina.  The food was very good and the view over the marina was nice. Elaine had grilled salmon while I had a new dish for me, smoked haddock with poached eggs.  I had a lemon meringue pie for dessert; Elaine enjoyed her new favorite: honeycomb ice cream.

As we left the restaurant, it was raining.  It has rained some at night and when we have been driving, but this was the first time we had rain as we walked.  Scottsdale has had more rain since we left than the UK and Ireland.  Very weird.

Lo and behold, another cloudless sunny day. Brilliant! Breakfast at home and then at about 9:30 we ventured out, headed to Dale Village, a quaint little fishing village. Elaine collected bunches of sea glass on the rocky beach. I helped a little and then walked around a bit as Elaine continued collecting.

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We then headed toward our next destination but diverted to Martin’s Haven, noted for its deer park. We saw no deer but quite a few cows, seals way below us on the rocks, and gorgeous scenery. It’s a National Trust site.

Back in the car, we stopped at Broad Haven for our picnic lunch. No seagull encounters today!

Then it was on to St David’s, the smallest city in the UK. Smallest city, mind you, not smallest town. And it is home to St David’s Cathedral. We walked around the magnificent cathedral, part ruin, part active church and enjoyed the organ music.

Then it was back to home base where we stopped at Neyland Marina for a pint and made a dinner reservation for tomorrow night.

Dinner tonight was just down the road from Kiln House, our cottage, at the Ferry House Inn, so it was walking distance. It was good solid pub food. We both had the fish special, a huge amount of nicely cooked plaice.

 

We woke to a return to beautiful blue skies. After a simple breakfast at home (tea, Welsh cakes, and yoghurt), we set out to explore one corner of the area in which we are staying.

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We drove about ten miles and stopped for a look at the tiny town of Manorbier. The roads in and out are narrow and twisty and really test your driving skill. The town has a castle and a small but very beautiful beach. Elaine had a nice chat with a local lady picking blackberries (“Don’t eat the red ones!”)

Then we drove on to Tenby, a bustling town (population 5,000) right on the hills overlooking the sea. The word picturesque was coined to describe this place. Elaine fell in love with it. It has three beaches which become one at low tide (which it was). On Castle Beach there was a sand sculpture competition, and lots of families were participating. Right on the beach there is an island with a fort atop — St Catherine’s Island.  It has been closed to visitors for over 35 years because the stairway up had eroded so badly, but a new restoration project is under way and one is now able to climb to the top of the island at low tide. They still have much work to do before the fort might again be accessible though.

Then we had our picnic lunch on a bench on the grassy hillside overlooking the beach. Well, I had my lunch. Two bites into her sandwich Elaine was holding it when a sea gull (rat with wings) swooped in over her shoulder and snatched the sandwich. The scavenger and the sandwich landed right in front of us and was gone in two quick seagull gulps. Video would have “America’s Funniest Home Video” material, but, of course, the camera was not at the ready at the time. I gave Elaine some of my sandwich, we shared our potato chips, and then we had a short walkabout. We ended the walk back on the beach where we enjoyed an ice cream cone and viewed the sand sculptures.

On the way home we stopped at a big Sunday flea market (boot sale to the Brits). There was everything imaginable for sale. A few miles down the road we stopped for a look at Carew Castle and the Carew Cross. We met two elderly brothers from the midlands who were vacationing as well and had a good chat with them. They insisted that we come over to their car to meet their wives (which we did, of course).

Then it was back to Kiln House, our home, and we walked down to the Ferry House Inn for a pint (or two). Dinner was at home again. We will eat at the pub tomorrow night. Cheers until then!

We had a wonderful breakfast at Archways B&B. Chris raises a few pigs and makes his own sausages; they are delicious. We left at 7:45 to drive the few miles to check in our for our 8:45 ferry from Rosslare to Pembroke on the Isle of Inishmore of Irish Ferries. It takes just about four hours. It was overcast but the seas were calm as could be. I stocked up on duty-free vodka for our final week at a cottage in Wales.

Getting off the ferry, we looked for a pub and a grocery store in the town, Pembroke Docks, near where the ferry docks.  Bad idea. The pub was filled with rowdies, and we ended up eating at a McDonalds filled with annoying little fat kids and their oblivious parents. And the Tesco where we did our shopping was packed. The whole experience gave us a bad first impression of the area in which we were going to be living for a week.

Then things got better quickly. We crossed the toll bridge (75 pence) to the other side of the channel and quickly found a nice pub called Martha’s Vineyard (named after the Massachusetts island) near the harbor in Milford Haven, an area decidedly upscale area from Pembroke Docks. The bartender was entertaining and gave us some good tips for restaurants. Then we headed for Kiln House, our self-catering home for the next seven nights. It’s a glorious place right on the water. The pictures tell most of the story. Not shown are the third bedroom, the second full bath, the downstairs half bath, the laundry room with washer and dryer, the back yard parking spot, and a second grassed patio.  We could live here!  (Oh, and there’s a nice neighborhood pub juts 200 yards down the road on the sea.)  Elaine prepared dinner at home and we had an early night.