Day 11: Change of Plans

                           (Solva)

Nothing drastic but my carefully laid plans went a bit awry today. In spite of all my months of planning and researching, I never came across the fact that Wales's annual Ironman Triathlon would be running today, and basically the whole southern bit of the peninsula would be impacted if not closed to traffic. Darn, a juggling of my plans were in order. 'Twas still doable but it meant longer drives and backtracking on Monday, and not being able to hit exactly every site on my list, but I can adapt. I think. :-)

So we went west first, to cute little Lower Solva. Pretty much a long narrow inlet with dozens of anchored sailboats swinging in the breeze and a half street of upscale touristy shops and galleries. The Coastal Path went right through Solva, but we satisfied ourselves with wee walk up to the headland for the wonderful views.

Continuing west we ended at St. David's,  Britain's smallest city. We knew this was only because it had a cathedral, a town cannot become a 'city' until it has a cathedral. What we did not realize, however, was how spectacular this cathedral was. 13th C. building, 1530's wooden ceiling - so intricately carved, so detailed, so airy. Service has just ended when we entered so we stopped a female warden(?) to ask a few questions about the rooms beyond where we could see the congregation gathering for refreshments. She was friendly and answered with warmth our queries, and told us to go get our share of wine & crisps. When we explained we hadn't attended the service, she jokingly said "sorry, you had to endure before you could indulge!". It turned out the rooms beyond were more chapels, and we were to just 'push ourselves through' the crowd.

Needing to stretch our legs we followed our guide book's suggested 4-mile walking tour out along the headland for an invigorating stroll along the Pembrokeshire coastline. The sun was warm, the breeze cool, and the views unending!

We sauntered back to town for a refreshing pint, as we're now wont to do, then leisurely drove home to our B&B and called it a day.