The weekend after the Lakes was Easter and so, after a day and a half clearing email in the office, we packed our bags and hopped on the train again - this time to Tenby, on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. We spent the first night in Tenby, the next two at St Bride's Spa in Saundersfoot and the final night in the smallest city in Britain - St David's.
Tenby is a gorgeous fishing village on the south west coast of Wales and a gateway to the famously beautiful Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. We arrived too late on Thursday night to go exploring and so restricted ourselves to a couple of quiets and a meal at Trip Advisor's best restaurant in town. Tony reminisced about his younger days as he ordered and then devoured the local specialty - faggots, while I stuck with a tried and true (albeit somewhat boring sounding) steak.
The next day after breakfast at the local Greek cafe(?!) the weather was good enough for sightseeing, so sightsee we did. We checked out the local church with its Easter festivities and hymn singing before heading down to the tidal harbour and sliding around on the mud trying to get some arty shots of the boats moored there. We found a viewpoint over the city and took our fill of photos of coastline, tractors and ice cream trucks on the sand, cannons, statues and city walls before making our way to the local pub for a hotly contested game of pool and some fish and chips for lunch.
Next stop was Saundersfoot and St Bride's Spa, a hotel that kept cropping up when we were researching places to stay on the Pembrokeshire Coast. The room was lovely, as you'd expect, and although the bathroom couldn't manage a piping hot shower, the views from the balcony, the breakfast/dinner table and the infinity pool in the attached spa did a lot to make up for it.
We couldn't come to Pembrokeshire and not walk at least part of the Coastal Path and so on Saturday we did a circular route from Stackpole Quay, taking in Barafundel Bay which, according to the guy at the tourist centre in Tenby, has been voted "the best beach in the world"... but then he would say that, wouldn't he? It was beautiful, as was all of the Coastal Path that we saw, but "best in the world"? I reckon Cathedral Cove could have beaten it hands down... but then I would say that, wouldn't I?!
Before heading back to Saundersfoot, we detoured to the Stackpole Inn - another place that kept cropping up in our research - for a light snack and a fortifying brew. It was such a gorgeous pub, with a formidable menu and a bridal party on site, that we would have loved to stay longer but unfortunately it was fully booked (probably because of the bridal party), so we had to leave that for next time.
The next day was a day set aside for road-tripping and with Queen blaring on the iPod, we set off for the coast at Freshwater West before heading inland to Pembroke then out again to St David's. Freshwater West supposedly has the best surf in Wales, but when we were there it was flat as a pancake! They did film some scenes from Harry Potter and Robin Hood there though so all wasn't entirely lost. On the way we stopped at St Govans, where we walked down to a tiny rock church set in the cliff face in the middle of nowhere and then wandered through some army land that's closed for large parts of the year and has warning signs around the place saying "DANGER: do not touch any military debris - it may explode and kill you".
Our next stop was Pembroke, which is known for its castle and as the birthplace of Henry IV, so we had a whistle stop tour of it en route, climbing the battlements and watching in a bemused fashion as actors dressed in chain-mail and drinking mead got ready for a joust or something equally medieval later in the day.
When we eventually made it to our hotel in St David's it was getting late in the day and so, after a protracted tour of the hotel, we headed in to the "city" for the City v Arsenal game and dinner at Cwtch (said "Cutch"), another Trip Advisor speciality. The next morning we were eager to check out the view given that signs around the Warpool Court Hotel said it had been voted "best view in the world" (sounding familiar anyone?!)... alas the clouds had packed in and we couldn't really see more than 20m from our bedroom window through the pouring rain. Instead we went down for breakfast - the night before we couldn't get the girl from reception to shut up about the place and the locally made tiles and other bits of trivia... in the morning we couldn't even get the grumpy waiter to take our order. A real game of two halves if ever there was one!
After a drizzly morning spent lighting candles in the cathedral and checking out the lean of the place (if you place a marble in one particular corner, it will roll all the way to the opposite one) it was time to drive through the rain back to Tenby and our London bound train.
The next day after breakfast at the local Greek cafe(?!) the weather was good enough for sightseeing, so sightsee we did. We checked out the local church with its Easter festivities and hymn singing before heading down to the tidal harbour and sliding around on the mud trying to get some arty shots of the boats moored there. We found a viewpoint over the city and took our fill of photos of coastline, tractors and ice cream trucks on the sand, cannons, statues and city walls before making our way to the local pub for a hotly contested game of pool and some fish and chips for lunch.
Next stop was Saundersfoot and St Bride's Spa, a hotel that kept cropping up when we were researching places to stay on the Pembrokeshire Coast. The room was lovely, as you'd expect, and although the bathroom couldn't manage a piping hot shower, the views from the balcony, the breakfast/dinner table and the infinity pool in the attached spa did a lot to make up for it.
We couldn't come to Pembrokeshire and not walk at least part of the Coastal Path and so on Saturday we did a circular route from Stackpole Quay, taking in Barafundel Bay which, according to the guy at the tourist centre in Tenby, has been voted "the best beach in the world"... but then he would say that, wouldn't he? It was beautiful, as was all of the Coastal Path that we saw, but "best in the world"? I reckon Cathedral Cove could have beaten it hands down... but then I would say that, wouldn't I?!
Before heading back to Saundersfoot, we detoured to the Stackpole Inn - another place that kept cropping up in our research - for a light snack and a fortifying brew. It was such a gorgeous pub, with a formidable menu and a bridal party on site, that we would have loved to stay longer but unfortunately it was fully booked (probably because of the bridal party), so we had to leave that for next time.
The next day was a day set aside for road-tripping and with Queen blaring on the iPod, we set off for the coast at Freshwater West before heading inland to Pembroke then out again to St David's. Freshwater West supposedly has the best surf in Wales, but when we were there it was flat as a pancake! They did film some scenes from Harry Potter and Robin Hood there though so all wasn't entirely lost. On the way we stopped at St Govans, where we walked down to a tiny rock church set in the cliff face in the middle of nowhere and then wandered through some army land that's closed for large parts of the year and has warning signs around the place saying "DANGER: do not touch any military debris - it may explode and kill you".
Our next stop was Pembroke, which is known for its castle and as the birthplace of Henry IV, so we had a whistle stop tour of it en route, climbing the battlements and watching in a bemused fashion as actors dressed in chain-mail and drinking mead got ready for a joust or something equally medieval later in the day.
When we eventually made it to our hotel in St David's it was getting late in the day and so, after a protracted tour of the hotel, we headed in to the "city" for the City v Arsenal game and dinner at Cwtch (said "Cutch"), another Trip Advisor speciality. The next morning we were eager to check out the view given that signs around the Warpool Court Hotel said it had been voted "best view in the world" (sounding familiar anyone?!)... alas the clouds had packed in and we couldn't really see more than 20m from our bedroom window through the pouring rain. Instead we went down for breakfast - the night before we couldn't get the girl from reception to shut up about the place and the locally made tiles and other bits of trivia... in the morning we couldn't even get the grumpy waiter to take our order. A real game of two halves if ever there was one!
After a drizzly morning spent lighting candles in the cathedral and checking out the lean of the place (if you place a marble in one particular corner, it will roll all the way to the opposite one) it was time to drive through the rain back to Tenby and our London bound train.
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