Wales

How lovely it was to be back in Lllantwit Major again, quite manic at times, but such a comfortable feeling to be surrounded by family, 11 of us on the Friday evening plus three dogs. It was quite peaceful considering how many of us were together in one room but every now and again the dogs had a barking fit and then the decibels rose considerably. 

It was so wonderful to catch up with Bethan, my great niece, and her gorgeous spoodle , Meek, again. Molly, Ceri's gentle little Jack Russell, was pleased to get attention too.

Daisy, another great niece, recently returned from her trip to Sri Lanka, certainly had her hands full here!

Ceri, my niece, was sadly missing at the family reunion because she had to work, but was back the next day to help me fulfil my desire to go camping again. We could not have wished for finer weather, but perhaps 10 degrees warmer might have been more acceptable overnight!

Llangennith Beach, a magnificent stretch of golden sand beach, was easily accessible from the campsite. What good training it is to walk through the thick sand - really hard work on untrained calf muscles! 

As we walked along the beach, virtually alone, the sand blew towards us just above the surface of the beach, creating beautiful patterns. 

At sun set, we went back to the beach and sat in the shelter of the dunes, enjoying the final heat from the sun and the spectacular sunset. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Closer to the sea, the last rays of sunlight lit up the gently rolling waves. It was magical.

It was a somewhat chilly night, to say the least. Poor Ceri was in the tent and I had the luxury of the van. Over night the temperatures plummeted to zero, with Ceri waking to ice on the tent. Neither of us was willing to shed a single item of clothing, so showers were out of the question! 
Preparing food in the van brought back fantastic memories of the many years of camping I have done, with Jim, and with Mark and David. I love the feeling of freedom and just being outdoors all the time.

Our morning walk was in the opposite direction from yesterday, towards Rossili. It was such a pretty stroll, and again the weather was so good to us. The sand patterns, like the branches of trees, were fabulous.

There are even the remains of a ship wreck. It looks so strange, like some sort of monster rearing up from the sand. 

We got pretty warm climbing up to Rossili. The view from the top is absolutely sensational, looking down over the entire stretch of beach which we had walked yesterday and this morning. It was a Bank Holiday but still there were so few people there. Marvelous.

What a great couple of days we had there.

I had some fabulous walks with Annie, Ceri and Molly to Llantwit Beach. What a fabulous walk it is through the narrow lanes, through fields of foals and lambs

And past the pretty stone  bridges and blossom

Lots of family get togethers, food and wine, but most of all a feeling that I was home, at the other end of the world too. 

Time to say goodbye! After days of sunshine, it was raining and grey, so Molly was not budging!

I am already looking forward to my next visit here in August!