where to begin?

Firstly, for those who have no idea where in Wales I was- a map.

To begin at the beginning, I had a bit of an adventure getting there. Train to NYC, bus to JFK, a plane that was late taking off, but took only 5 1/2 hours instead of nearly 7 to get across the Atlantic. Of course I was next to a child who kept kicking me while I was trying to sleep- in the end I told his mum to just put his feet on my lap as I could hold them still then. He also puked as we were landing. Funnily enough I sat next to a Welsh girl on one side and the mother of the boy was an Australian. I then trained to Paddington station from Heathrow. All easy so far. I had quite a long time at Paddington and just when I was starting to feel really sleepy, trains started to be cancelled and delayed. I later found out that someone had died on the line- at the time I had no idea, but knew something was going on by the agitation of everyone around me. My train did leave slightly delayed, but the whole trip was slow and by the time I'd reached Wales, I'd missed my connection (along with a few other people). It was getting quite late by this stage and I was having trouble contacting Maggie who was supposed to be picking me up from the station. But it all turned out well as a lovely couple let me use their phone, British rail paid for 4 of us to catch a taxi on to our next stops and after a very LONG day/night and 3 hours sleep I arrived in St. Davids. Maggie took me to my accomodation:

and then we went for a double dragon (ale) at the pub next door.

In the morning I took this photo out the front of where I stayed- it amused me. I thought that maybe it was a Chinese place..

That first morning was misty and rainy and before I met Maggie I nipped out the back to take some photos of the Cathedral.

Somehow it looked so right in the mist. And because the weather was a little wet Maggie and I went and did a Gyotaku fish printing course at the visitors centre where they also have art classes. I can't say that this is something I've ever thought about doing before, and I may never do it again, but it was really good fun. My finished prints did come home with me, but I had to fold them to fit them in and then something leaked on them....

Maggie had great fun writing down the "quotes" from the day- of course we named our fish and he took on a personality of his own.

This is Maggie after we came out- you can't see it, but the wind and rain/mist was blowing past in sheets.

The following day the sun came out and we set off on the local bus (a bit hair raising driving down these little narrow country lanes only big enough for one and a half cars and having to inch past range rovers coming in the other direction) for Whitesands. Maggie's mum, Hilda, came with us. She is 83 and I think she is remarkable. She wasn't feeling to great that day- fighting a cold, but she walked part of the way up the track with us. (unfortunately I caught her blowing her nose)

Maggie then found her a sheltered spot in amongst the bracken where she was happy to sit and read while we set off to climb Carnllidi.

Up and up we went (it wasn't actually that strenuous, and it was so, SO beautiful). It was pretty wild and windy up there- but we didn't stop until we got to the top. Then we sat up there for ages, just talking, admiring the view and communing with our seagull friend who hovered above us for ages.

It was so lovely. We came back down and met Hilda exactly at the same time she'd decided to go back to the Cafe.

I had to take a photo of the singing Welsh rubbish bins in the car park.

After lunch, Maggie and I walked up the beach at Whitesands. That's Carnllidi in the distance. We had been right to the top.

I couldn't get enough of the rocks; the different colours, the ruggedness...but I won't bore you with ALL the photos I took.

I was playing around with using my camera properly while I was away- you know, NOT on automatic. Unfortunately I am rubbish and I have ended up with a lot of over exposed photos. When I remembered, I took both auto and manual, however there were moments when I forgot. This is one, but I just love this photo of Maggie taking a moment on the beach.

And this one I was really happy with. The beach gets these amazing reflections- the waves come in a long way and the water just sits there creating amazing reflections.

Of course I have MANY more photos to share, but I think I will limit myself to a post a day.