5 April 2011
I awoke early. Even though I’m on holiday I’m usually awake by 06:30, and dragging Aaron out of bed no later than 07:30.
After breakfast we headed toward our first castle of the day, Cydweli Castle
As with all the other castles we wandered up and down and through and then surveyed the walled-in grounds and discussed how it would be best planted and farmed to be as self-sufficient as possible.
“This particular stoned structure would make a great barn”
“This is where we’d keep the sow”
“Where would we put the sheep paddock fence lines, here or here?”
“The orchard here and the veges here?”
Etc, etc
Next on our travels was Llansteffan castle. We followed the castle signage to a large waterfront carpark. Another free one so we weren’t complaining. The small town was dead. Apart from a dog wandering around there was no one apart from a couple of beach walking dog owners that turned up. I’m not convinced anyone actually lived there.
There was heavy mist around us so we had no idea where the castle was, except up somewhere.
The carpark had a large map behind Perspex and it had several features listed but not the castle can you believe?! The town was tiny, it had maybe one shop (closed by the way), why would they not list the castle?
There was a pathway up the hill next to the map and it had a castle sign on it. We walked up the path and at the top we reached a lane going both left and right. There was absolutely no signage at the top of the path and with the mist we had to make a guess. We decided to go left.
Perhaps 500m down the lane was a sign indicating a path downwards to the beach. Carrying on up the lane was a sign indicating that it was now a private road and no cars could go beyond this point. There was absolutely nothing to indicate a castle might be up the drive and so I wasn’t keen to go up it.
Aaron on the other hand was like “Fuck it, where else have we got to go? If it’s not it we turn around, go back to the car and leave”
And so we walked several hundred metres up the steep country lane until at last we saw what looked very much like some old ruins at the top of a driveway.
We walked to the top of the driveway and at the castle entrance was a sign
‘If you would like a guidebook to the castle grounds this can be purchased at the Post Office in the town’
I think we both said it ‘You have got to be f***ing kidding me?!’
Needless to say neither of us was willing to walk all the way back to town to get a guidebook. I doubt the post office was open anyway
It was a free site to enter but then there’s virtually nothing left so without a guidebook it really isn’t much more than an arch entrance, a tower and a lot of remainders of rock walls to indicate where rooms (god knows what type) had once been.
After a 10 minute wander we went back to the van, had lunch and then washed our breakfast and lunch dishes and left.
I felt quite stink about the place. It was a dead-end, uninspiring little village and as a tourist I contributed nothing but dirty dishwater, not exactly what the place needs! They also had the smelliest public loos we have come across so far. They smelt like the elephant enclosure at the Auckland Zoo back in the 70s.
Our final destination for the day was Tenby and we had one more castle to visit, however, shortly after leaving Llansteffan I spotted a sign that said ’Welsh Chocolate Farm’ and as it was pointed at the next village I suggested we check it out. Turns out it was something like 4 villages away and we honestly thought we’d never find it. Not only do they hate sign posting anything in Wales, but if by some miracle they do sign post something they won’t tell you how far away it is so you drive as slowly as you can and check out every sign just in case that’s your turn off.
“This better be good!”
There were about 20 cars parked in the carpark so it was a good sign.
It must be school holidays as the place was full of families.
In the end we spent a good 90 minutes there. You can pay for a tour of the factory, with demonstration, museum, a chance to make your own truffles and free chocolate samples.
Neither of us are big chocolate fans but it was a bit of fun and we bought ourselves some fudge and chocolates to enjoy over the next few days.
By the time we left and got to Tenby time was ticking on. We had to find a supermarket then a campsite and do some washing. As we drove into the town centre there were about 30 campsite signs pointing off down side roads. No problem with accommodation then!
We got ourselves some dinner from the supermarket and then heading back out of town. I didn’t like the look of the first 3 campsites so we pulled into the 4th one.
They quoted 14 pound for the night just to park the van and use the shower and toilet facilities.
“That’s above our price range sorry” I said and so we left.
The next 4 campsites we pulled into (all down country lanes) were closed
The 5th one no longer existed
The 6th one charged 15 pounds per night and the lady was looking at me really strangely like she didn’t understand why I was there.
“Did you book?”
“No”
“When did you want to stay?”
“Tonight”
“And you haven’t booked?”
“No. Is that a problem?
“No”
The place looked dead. What the hell?
“I’ll just talk to my husband then.” I got back in the car “Let’s go back to the first one”
We went back to the first one and the retired gentleman owner seemed slightly confused when I told him that every other campsite we visited was closed.
“No one really uses camp sites anymore” he said “Only for bank holidays. It’s not like it used to be…”
We parked the van, had dinner and read until the light faded basically.
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