Framedlight

The morning of Day 10 we drove up a little way to Trevine where we had stayed one autumn 3 years ago. Going down to the small beach we were followed by members of a painting group who set up their easels among the rocks. We stopped for a little while at Strumble Head.The sky was overcast and dark and we did not see very much - only one seal and no porpoises as we have done before. From there we drove back into mid Wales, to a very primitive and lonely campsite in the midst of the Cambrian mountains, not far from Nant-y-Moch reservoir and the Plynlimon range, home of the rivers Severn and Wye. The sun went down as we were eating and I begun to realise I was not feeling 100%. Trevine Trevine

We launched the kayak from Porthgain, hoping to get as far as Abereiddy, although in the end we only made it to Traethlyfyn. It was a good trip - we saw a seal swimming not far from us which roused the dog from her normal stupor into a frenzy of barking. Needless to say the seal did not hang around. We paddled between the pair of islands and the headland (see photo in previous blog). This was a bit scary as there was a big tidal current between the two pieces of land and we had to paddle like mad to get anywhere. Coming back we realised that we would be carried along in the turbulence and so chose to go through the very narrow space between the islands, which Alan decided would be safer. The concern was that, as we had the dog, we had had to remove the spray deck from the kayak which meant it could easily fill up with water. We made it back to Porthgain in one piece. Again I used the Fuji XE1 for the water shots and kept it in a plastic freezer bag when I wasn't using it. The ...

On the Monday morning we took the kayak to West Angle beach and paddled up the Milford Haven Sound to Angle. The day was dull and overcast with no wind and after the rocks and caves we had seen before the kayaking was rather dull, apart from a tour of Thorn Island, an old fort that had been used as a hotel and then as a private residence but now looked deserted and rundown. We packed up and drove to Abereiddy, moving north-west of St David's. My favourite Pembrokeshire place is Porthgain, not far from Abereiddy and we went over there for a walk on the clifftop . We stayed at a farm called Llandigige Fawr in Berea and on our first night had a sunset over the rear of the campsite with mist rising from the ground. Thorn Island Channel marker at Porthgain Fisherman's hut at Porthgain Sunset from the campsite

That afternoon we drove over to West Angle bay where we mooched around the rocks for a bit. West Angle is in Milford Haven Sound and we thought we would come back the next day to kayak up the Sound. We went into Pembroke for fish and chips and came back to West Angle to eat them and watch the sun go down. On the way back to the campsite we passed the oil refinery at Rhoscrowther, which looked very dramatic in the darkness. Thorn Island 

After the excitement of the otters we drove across to St Govan's Head, a headland used a lot by climbers. There is a small stone deserted chapel situated in a rocky cove next to the headland. This dates from the 13th century and is supposed to lie over the cave where St Govan dwelt.  One story says that he came over from Ireland to visit St David. On the way he was chased by pirates into this cove where the cliff opened up allowing him to squeeze to safety through a fissure. In gratitude to the place he stayed here as a hermit for the rest of his life to warn the local inhabitants of pirate attack. Another legend says that St Govan is Gawaine, one of the knights of King Arthur who went into retreat later in life. There were two wells here at one time, one of which was a holy well but they are now both dry. We broke away from St Govan's to visit the strange 13th century church of St Petrox near Stackpole, but returned for a fantastic sunset. View from St Govan's Head...

We spent some of the morning swimming at Barafundle bay, a place we had come to when the children were very small but had not visited since.We then drove down to the National Trust car park as Stackpole and boarded a bus to Broadhaven to walk back along the coast path to Stackpole. This was Mairi's idea as she was returning home the next day. We came back via Bosherston and down through a shaded path to the car. The lakes at Bosherston were created about 200 years ago as part of the pleasure garden to Bosherston Court and are now rich with wildlife. We only saw a little with Mairi but returned the next day to do some otter watching. The monochrome of the tide coming in at Bosherston has been converted using Silver Effex and the picture of the lily ponds at Bosherston has been played with using the Effects from Perfect Photo Suite 7. Tide coming in at Barafundle Mairi drove off early the next morning so we went back to Bosherston and walked right round the ...