Old Tenby
A sandy beach, but not the high tide line
A pandanus/cordyline in Wales???
How does the lawn get mown?
Not an island at the moment
Wonder what these were for?
Today it was six map pages and over 200 miles as we travelled from Lamphey, near Pembroke in Wales, to Boscastle in Cornwall.
Doris was allowed a few lanes this morning, just to keep her contented, as we travelled the short distance to Tenby, and ancient walled town on the coast. Parking wasn’t a problem and we were soon walking through the town walls into the narrow, quaint streets. (No castle in this town.) It didn’t take long to find an esplanade overlooking the beach – which explained the many little shops selling blow-up dolphins, buckets and spades and foam noodles! The tide was still out, which meant that there was proper sand to see, because when the tides comes in, the sand disappears. There was a small island (only at high tide) nearby, within easy walking distance and with a path to the top, but one would need to keep an eye on the water or risk spending a few extra hours on top of the hill!
The remainder of the journey was motorway travel – necessary given the distance to be travelled today. Very uninteresting scenery, just roads, trucks, cars and caravans. We bypassed the industrial areas of Swansea and Port Talbot before travelling across the very long bridge (4-5 kms) across the Severn River, leaving Wales behind for Bristol and England. A sharp right hand turn saw us heading through Somerset and Devon before finally arriving in Cornwall. Our lunch stop was at a services area beside the motorway and we parked well back in the car park – it saves a lot of muttering if there is plenty of room in which to negotiate. When we returned to the car, we noticed three cars parked around and across the front of ours; one took off very quickly and a driver of one of the cars had a clipboard and was receiving a wad of cash from the other driver and said he would be back on Wednesday. We kept our heads down, got in the car, locked the doors and drove off quickly!
We had a glimpse of Launceston through the heavy, overcast, gloomy, foggy weather, and with the temperature dropping, were quite glad to arrive at the Reddivallen B & B, a farm not far from Boscastle. What a lovely sight to see the old slate farmhouse appear around the bend, then to see the converted barn, which is where our accommodation is. We have a lovely room, with a separate sitting area, complete with large leather couch, and a beautiful, modern bathroom – with a spa bath. The barn was converted in 2007 – Beryl would certainly have enjoyed this B & B if it had been around in ’95! Our hosted greeted us with coffee and freshly made (still warm, actually) lemon drizzle cake in the modern guest lounge. We will be here for five nights – Himself is looking forward to not having to carry suitcases for a few days.
1 comment:
Beryl had a rural upbringing, and as a consequence the country had a mixed appeal to her. She liked the solitude and idyllic scenery, and was always a natural with any animal.
Her life at home was less than ideal, though, and an inopportune reminder of that could send her melancholy.
She was 10 when the war started and her two brothers sent off. Her sisters were older, and with most of the area's appropriate suitors overseas, they chose to step out with some less appropriate ones. I think you can imagine how a mother of that era might have reacted. Her sisters' strong wills were not easily bent, and their run ins with mother made Beryl's home life very torrid at times.
As well, with the boys overseas, much of the farmwork fell to the girls, and Beryl would work 12 hour days or longer.
No doubt she'd have enjoyed a brief visit to your rural retreat near Boscastle, but I think I'd limit the visit to 2 days just in case things seemed a little too familiar to her.
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