Family UK Trip: Wales Pembrokeshire Coast Day 8

Our plan for Thursday, June 30th was absolutely beautiful! In fact, it was so beautiful, that I almost don't need to write much about it and just leave dozens of amazing pictures here to remember this journey.

We were staying in a village called Cresselly, close to Loveston. In the morning, we headed for Broad Haven South Car Park from where we started our coastal walk towards Stackpole. First we had to walk down to the beach and then back up the "cliff".  

Broad Haven South Beach. 

The kids on the beach. 

This baby backpack has been in our family since Alex was in kindergarten. Land's End backpacks never die...

Beautiful view! 

So we walked up some sandy trails up to this grassy area and you can see the beach below and behind the kids.

And then we started walking. 

And these pictures are probably not in the right order but I don't think anyone cares! 

The colors of the sky were unbeatable! 

Keeping this picture here to show Mark's goofiness! 

Alex, a handsome lad! Still rocking his middle school track jacket--very good investment! 

Gorgeous Katya! 

Oh yeah, so we just kept walking and walking...

And walking....and loving this view. 

We have been so amazed with how beautiful this area was! 

One of my all time favorite pictures of the kids! 

I love this guy! Always excited to be going on adventures together! 

Jumping pictures, of course!

Heaven on earth....

And the most beautiful thing is how easy it is to walk everywhere! 

Taking a quick break and enjoying the fresh air! 

Robert contemplating the meaning of life, as usual. 

Oh look, Katya joined Mark with a quick snack. 

And then further down we go....

Going through the gates built for "cattle control". 

We came back to our car and then headed the opposite direction from there, towards St. Govan's Head. 

They actually do military trainings here. 

And then we saw cows...lots and lots of cows. 

Mark, the cow whisperer. 

It always makes me so happy to see cows "in the wild". 

Further down we came upon Huntsman's Leap--that gap between the cliffs. 

Another gorgeous place! 

You can see a roof of a building down below. That's St. Govan's Chapel built literally into the side of the cliff. 

You can really see the Gap here. 

We came back to our car park--another depiction of our semi-SUV. 

It was way pass lunchtime as we ventured out to find some food. We had snacks, of course, but needed some real food. We drove towards one recommended place, but very strangely it turned out to be closed during the in between lunch and dinner time. Actually, we were looking for Cafe Mor, but it turned out to be almost non existent or something. 

So we drove on to the next village, to a pub, and very weirdly they told us that their electricity was out so they couldn't accept credit cards or make anything besides some sandwiches. It was almost hilarious! 

I actually don't remember what we did, but we did make it to our intended destination for the afternoon--Freshwater West Beach, aka Dobby's Beach. 

Do you remember the sad part in one of Harry Potter movies where Dobby...dies?

Yep...this is the place where they filmed that part. 

People come here to burry socks in between the rocks. 

It was also the perfect place to chill.... 

And squish and "wrestle" your brother. 

Mark had three tennis balls that he decided to hit as far as he could and hope that no one was around when he did that.  

After this, we headed to dinner. We really wanted to try Pembroke Yeoman pub since we just couldn't find the illusive Cafe Mor...So we park...walk in...

And they tell us that because they are very understaffed they will not be serving food tonight, only drinks. 

Therefore, we ended up having to go to a random place in town that was open. We were seated in the backroom and it was a bit weird, but most of us made the best of it. Katya's look tells another story. 

One thing for sure--Wales is absolutely stunning! We love it! There is so much to explore! Life is a bit slower there, lots of walking, beautiful views and nature all around. We do wish we had more time in Wales, but we are happy with what we got! 

To Be Continued...

 

Family UK Trip: Wales Rhossili Bay Day 7

 As we left London area, we headed west to Wales. Wales was one of the first areas in the UK that we visited, back in 2013. I remember we could get there in about 4-5 hours which by American standards is practically nothing (thinking about how much we drive to tennis tournaments now). We knew that one place was a must on our list of places to revisit--the Rhossili Bay! 

This is a remake of another picture we had taken many years prior. It really is hard to believe it's been so long. 

It's a rather nice/not too long walk from the car park to the edge of the "cliffs"--about 20 minutes. 

We tried to rush as we knew the tide hours were always posted there by the "visitor's house" to let us know if it's safe to cross over to Worm's Head. 

We got there and found this...

This place is rather special for us as this is where we have taken kids twice before. And once we did manage to cross all the way to the "head". We did have wellies with us those times which are much more suitable for that sort of clambering through the causeway rocks. 

The tide wasn't high enough to prevent everyone from going down to the ragged edge of this part of the beach. 

And we had more time to take pictures of these beautiful kids! 

June 2022

Why, Mark? WHY?

Afterwards, we walked down a steep walkway to the beach. 

This beach is famed to have one of the fastest rising tides in the world. 

In fact, this beach has been voted to be one of the top 50 beaches in the world! 

And it had a bunch of these creatures lying around. 

The usual, you know? 

I think it says Wales?! 

And this is proof--look how quickly the tide came! Minutes! 

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of summer as it wasn't possible at all to go for a swim over there. 

The kids still found plenty to do. 

Yes, selfie time, as a tradition through our traveling. 

And look! Somehow I managed to get up in the air! Illusion is everything as I am pretty sure it wasn't even that high...with my knee and all. 

Back to "finding things to do on the beach". I believe they were figuring out how long it would take for Alex to get touched by the tide. 

That evening, after the beach, we drove through a typical Welsh village for some Fish and Chips. The fish was enormous, greasy and crispy and delicious. Chips were okayish. 

It was kind of a quirky place, with a really funny bathroom, set in a building that was probably some sort of parlor or dungeon or and old pub-hahaha.  

And while we were waiting for our food, I ran into a group of Ukrainian women refugees who were living now in Wales, some with Welsh families. They all were so happy to see me and just couldn't believe we even said hello! This is such a quiet place and I was so surprised to see Ukrainians here! They said they don't have many opportunities for work, especially with minimal English. All of them were hoping to get back home as soon as possible. A few of them seemed really kind and grateful to be there, although feeling lonely and discouraged. But a couple were frustrated and vocal about how it's so difficult to figure how to make the best of the situation. My heart was full of compassion for them as I would absolutely not want to be in their shoes, worried about their husbands, families, living in a foreign land with no solid plans for the future... It was great to talk to them and give them a little light of hope to know they are not forgotten. 

We also managed to stop by a grocery store to get some TREATS! This is one of the favorites...for some reason-hahaha. 

Later that night we found the place where we were staying and got settled there for a couple of nights.

To be continued!