but later threw it off.
How’s this for the morning after the night before?
After such an amazing sunset and views over the sea, yesterday morning we were lucky if we could see past the bonnet, the sea mist had really rolled in.
As we moved away from the coast the weather started to clear and by the time, we reached Cardigan, the sky had cleared so that there were occasional sunny spells.
We walked through this ancient market town situated on the River Teifi estuary and known as the home of the first Welsh Eisteddfod. The narrow streets fronted by Victorian & Georgian houses, many colourfully painted, lead down to the Castle and the port. From the Middle Ages Cardigan was an important port and by the early 1800’s was a centre of shipbuilding and was one of the major points for emigrating to North America.
Continuing our cultural morning, we then carried onto St David’s, Britain’s smallest city and burial site of, yes, you’ve guessed it, St David. Narrow streets, quaint cafes, shops & restaurants. We are having trouble finding really good places to eat. We have found several and attempted to book in advance, but many are fully booked or have shortened opening hours or are closed for lunch or closed for dinner and one had temporarily closed due to staff shortages. As my cooking is better than some of the mediocre food we have had, we found a butchers/grocers and a deli and have been cooking outside.
St David’s Cathedral is nestled below the City, in a grassy bowl, would you believe the Bishop’s Palace was closed on Fridays and even more unbelievable is that only 6 masked people were allowed in the Cathedral at any one time. Have you ever been in a hot, stuffy Cathedral in the UK? How much more space and air do you need? We didn’t go inside….. so here’s a picture of the outside.
From St David’s we drove to Celtic Camping,which was the venue for the first Bluetits Chill Swimmers Big Weekend that I attended with a 100 other women in October 2019. The Bluetits is a worldwide social swim community for people who enjoy sea and freshwater swimming all year round.
Another great spot, our pitch was again on the cliffs above the sea with spectacular views. We walked along the coastal path and scrambled down to a tiny beach cove, although we saw a couple of seals from the cliff top, but none were basking in the cove.
Despite a dire forecast of continual rain for Saturday, the day proved dry, warm with sunny spells but breezy. We had a plan to walk to the Blue Lagoon.
The lagoon was formerly the main slate quarry of the St Brides Slate Company. The slate gives a brilliant aqua blue colour to the water. It is a popular spot for coasteering and climbing along the cliffs at sea level.
The Blue Lagoon was formed when a channel connecting the quarry to the sea was blasted, allowing the water to flood in. Ruined quarry buildings still sit on the cliff top, along with workers’ cottages adjacent to the car park.
The remains of the old buildings are a popular place for jumping off into the lagoon, some 20-30ft below and the quarry was a venue for the Red Bull Cliff Diving series in 2012.
To get into the lagoon you scramble down the jagged slate straight into the water which is about thigh deep. This ledge extends for around 8ft before it drops away into the deep water. The lagoon is around 25 metres deep, protected from the ravages of the sea by the narrow channel and is very cold. Many people who were swimming or jumping had wetsuits on.
As I am not a fan of jumping from heights, I contented myself with swimming around the lagoon watching the youngsters leaping into the water. One group of guys in their ‘20’s arrived eager to prove their jumping bravado, but not having wetsuits took a little longer to get into the water for the swim across the lagoon to the place where you scramble up the cliff to the launch point. One very fit lad was honest enough to say that he wasn’t sure he was a strong enough swimmer in the cold to swim safely across, so chatting with another lady I got him a ride out on her son’s paddle board.
Last time I swam at the Blue Lagoon it was with 100 other Bluetits, where the majority of us skinny dipped, now if you want to experience true cold water shock that’s one way to do it. After that swim, my friend and I just started walking back when we met a group of lads in their ‘20’s in wetsuits heading to the lagoon, we gave them the heads up that there were a lot of naked women just around the corner, but their enthusiasm was significantly dampened to learn the average age of the women was around late ‘50’s. A walk along the coastal path for half an hour instead was decided on 😂
We walked back along the coastal path to our campsite for hot soup and a relaxing afternoon. Tomorrow Tenby beckons…
RoundandAbout 