Martin did about 11 km of bimbling.
Cool, cloudy start, remaining cloudy and turning very windy, with a light rain dessert.
Castellor is one of the best B&B's we've stayed at. They opened last September after a year of renovations - another place rescued from being in a very poor state, like Sea View Guesthouse, and Victoria Cottage before that.
Everything was thought of here - down to the emergency kit in a drawer that includes toothbrush and other essentials.
The eggs 'royale' were delicious. Breakfast took some time but even then we failed to do justice to what was on offer.
Luncheon supplies were replenished at the local corner shop, then I went to collect careless Jeanette's missing trousers from the Hotel Trecastell while the coasters set off under a dark grey cloud towards a big blot on the horizon - the nuclear power station that has lurked in our view for some time.
I drove around to the far end of a kilometre long causeway at Bryn Aber and chatted to a chap who is employed by Biffa to pick 'non-natural' litter (mainly plastic) from the high tide areas of the local beaches. He studiously picked litter from above where Polly was parked, nodding towards his Mercedes - "the tide doesn't reach that high".
After the shingle of the causeway, a short stroll through masses of coconut fragrant gorse took me to meet the others, who seemed to be taking it very gently today. Lots of wildlife here, including a dead fish on the beach that must have been too big for the local heron.
A nature reserve and tern colony by the causeway appeared full of life, though as requested, we walked on the beach below the reserve out of respect for the ground nesting birds and other wildlife.
On return to Polly the others collected their lunches and set off into a burgeoning wind. I read the gripping 'Where the Missing Go' for a while.
The others encountered two White Ladies (pictured) - large beacons built as a guide for shipping. They line up with the tower on West Mouse. Ships paid a fee for this service. I've no idea as to how it was collected, but Sue's suggestion that a small boat collected tolls from ships as they went past sounds a tad unlikely.
I drove around to a parking spot inland from Llyn y Fydlyn and was just in time to meet the others on the coast path and provide an ongoing chocolate supply service to Paul. The path here is only open in the summer due to pheasant shooting in the winter that apparently keeps the estate afloat.
After a nice circular walk I continued to Church Bay, today's destination. A short walk to meet the others, then a final photo of the day outside the closed café at 3.40 pm, with the closed Lobster Pot restaurant behind us and the rain just starting. The team will return to this point tomorrow.
Due to limited accommodation at Church Bay, we were booked in to a farmhouse B&B - Pen yr orsedd. According to my calculations this should have been a further 5 km walk to grid reference SH 336 905. Luckily, Polly was on hand to take us there. We duly arrived at a very grotty farmhouse that we later learned is own by the 'billionaire Williams family'. We didn't even ask if it was the right place.
The Internet is a wonderful thing. We soon established that the correct Pen yr orsedd was at SH 314 834, a good 7 miles away. My cock-up, I hadn't realised there were two farms with the same name so close to each other. Polly to the rescue. Had we all been walking we'd have had to call a taxi, though had we called Joyce at the correct B&B I'm sure she would have collected us.
A very friendly greeting from Joyce, more nice rooms, and tea and cake in the guests' lounge soon had us relaxing for the rest of the afternoon. Then the Catch 22 Brasserie in nearby Valley gave us another fine evening meal, sadly the last on this trip.
2 comments:
Really enjoying reading about the trip! It finally went above 20c here tiday for the first time this year.
Helen XO
Thanks Helen. Not far to go now!
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