Well, after a windy, dark cloudy morning yesterday, then wind and rain in the evening, we woke to blue skies and sun. Hopefully the weather will hold into Wales. We are heading about 175 miles almost directly east today. At breakfast we had a chat with the two other couples staying here. One couple, from Santa Cruz, took the same walk we did yesterday. To listen to them, and the B&B owners, you would make the assumption that walking the paths in the Cotswolds is a mountaineering feat of epic proportions. Well, let me set the record straight: a good pair of walking or running shoes will do. You do not need a special pack with hydration bladder (you are walking a mile or three to a town with pubs, remember?), no fancy parkas and Gortex everything, just your normal coat, perhaps a rain jacket, and leave the power bars and trail mix behind. They have things like Belgian chocolate truffles, fish and chips, and any kind of food you could want in the towns. The "mountains" are tame hills, the very highest elevation is 1083 feet. There are so many signs and markers you don't need a map, you just need someone to point you to the trail head. It is pretty, civilized walking through an historic area.
WALES:
Buddy got us to Tenby, on the coast in south-west Wales, by 13:00. Tenby is a town in Pembrokeshire, and we are here just in time for the Fish Week Festival!
The sun was shining, so we dropped our bags and set right out into the town. Tenby is an old walled city full of colorful houses, on cliffs above a harbour, two long sandy beaches, and two beautiful crescent beaches. When the tide is out, the boats are stranded, standing on their keels in the sand. The tide goes waaaaaay out and then comes waaaaaaay in. Right now the tide is out, and the beach is huge, probably a quarter mile walk from shore across the sand to reach the water. We stopped for a beer and snack at the Hope & Anchor pub. I got a "hot and spicy"chicken curry (that was hot, but not spicy) and onion rings, and it was a nice little meal, on the cheap.
The colorful houses sit side by side, their multi-colored rows defining the edge of the cliff, the streets. Blue, white, mustard, turquoise, pink, yellow, light blue, peach and green: that is one row, backed by yellow houses and buildings standing tall behind them, with the dark rock church steeple pointing over all. Walking the harbour among the stranded boats; as the water comes in I find whole clams, tightly shut, waiting for the ocean to return. The beach is wet, fine sand with rivulets of water running through, so flat that you can watch the tide running in, over a foot a minute. We hustle up off the beach to the top of the old fort, and a statue on the highest point above the harbour. The view is spectacular over the pastel town, the beaches, fort and ships, the coastline curving away with rocky headlands pointing out, a green, low island just offshore with a lighthouse on the highest part of the ocean end. We sit in the sun at the base of the statue, mostly out of the wind, and the black slate base has absorbed some of the sun's heat. We take in the view. Gail reads. I write this.
After an hour of watching, we head back down to see the bay filled. It is not cold, not hot. Full sun, windy, I am comfortable in a light shirt, Gail has on her down coat. Some hearty Welsh are sun tanning on the beach, tourists are wrapped in blankets on the lounge chairs, and three brave kids are trying to boogie-board in the non-existent surf.
If they weren't called the Welsh, it could be pretty funny: I'd say, "I saw a group of Wales on the beach today!"
Welsh is a funny language. Tenby is spelled Dinbych-y-pysgod, which makes no sense at all. On the other hand, Cardigan Bay is Bae Cardigan, some other words are close, but many are missing or adding random letters it seems. Dynion is the men's room, Merched the ladies.
OK. Here is a test for you: what does Cymru mean?
We stumbled on Qube, a nice little restaurant on the main street. I ordered a grilled salmon with creamy Thai sweet pepper sauce, Gail got grilled salmon with salad. It was just OK. I have to say, so far the UK is just so mediocre with food. Really disappointing. England seems to be the least "European" country we have been in. Tonight at dinner, we really miss Europe. But, we have hopes it will improve soon. Tomorrow we head up coast to the "mountains" of Northern Wales.
By the way, Cymru is Wales. This is so obvious it's painful.