Day 12: Tenby and Points North

Tenby was quite the treat. A pretty coastal town set up on a point with sparkling water on two sides and a walled old town snug against the harbour. Big lorries were parked everywhere dismantling the remnants of the previous day's triathlon, so finding a parking place was a challenge but when the opportunity for one arose I must say I tucked us in with just 2 turns of the wheel.  I was quite chuffed about that.

We wandered town amongst all the hobbling "2014 Finisher" t-shirts, enjoying the shops on the High Street and a 15th C. Tudor merchant's house. We sat a moment on the bluff in the warm sunshine overlooking the beach and said to each other, if we don't make a move now, we might be happy to sit here all day!  Tenby was well worth the 40 minutes (each way) detour to our plans.

It was already past 1pm by the time we'd retraced our path back past our B&B so a couple of sights were trimmed from the menu.  We were driving north towards Cardigan and the sky was turning grey and my copilot was resting her eyes so I decided to make a quick detour to Cilgerran Castle to liven things up a bit.

Fortified by ice cream Sheila gamely ventured forth to explore. What you see above is pretty much all there was, besides some bits of outer wall but what was special about the place is that they've built little wooden bridges across the wide open space in each round tower where the wooden floors had long ago rotted away, so one could 'walk' across the castle as they did eons ago. That was cool. For me. Mum had my arm in a death grip as her fear of heights was in full effect but luckily it wasn't her strawberry ice-cream covered hand, so I gently led her down to safety. Can't lose her now! I've still got another week of sightseeing to go!

The need for tea was declared so we drove on up all the way to New Quay for my long-awaited Cream Tea. I'd been hankering for one for 2 weeks now and stymied each time. The grey skies and cold breeze didn't endear New Quay to us, it seemed a typical seaside tourist town with tshirt shops and quick cafés. We lucked into a delightful boaty-themed tea shop with a loquacious old owner who's wife had baked every single delicious cake/tart/scones/bars in there. It rivaled the finest bakery anywhere. Needless to say, I had my scone w/ clotted cream and jam and was in heaven.

Off to the Swallows, our quiet B&B located on a horse farm. They tried really hard to think of every detail but it was just a touch lacking in follow-thru. However, it had a little kitchenette, a good heater and the bed was soft and warm so we were happy.