West Wales southwards

W were planning an early start, which was definitely precipitated by the fire alarm, which nobody seemed capable of turning off. No worries!

One of the most extraordinary places I have ever visited, Portmeiron, an incredible mix of kitsch and stunning natural beauty. It is like a truly magical, yet odd, Disneyland, without the rides! It was designed a hundred years ago and took 50 years to create out of material from abandoned stately homes. Nobody actually lives here permanently, but of course there are lots of apartments to rent, very costly, I imagine. 

The entire village has been used for a number of TV and film sets.

I did spend most of my time enjoying the more natural aspect of the village, with breathtakingly beautiful views towards Snowdonia.

And yet I couldn't help being blown away by the phenomenal colors and architecture of the buildings. The perfect weather made the colors even more incredible.

This was certainly my favorite view, over the Dwryd estuary.

What a start to our day. Both of us were so happy we had been to see this artificial world and very sad to leave with views like the one below over the estuary as the tide went out.

The entire area is gorgeous and not far away we stopped for lunch at Barmouth. Nothing special about the lunch, but Barmouth beach with the Estuary and lovely Rhinogydd mountain range behind is a great spot to visit.

En route to Pembrokeshire we stopped off in Aberystwyth, a student city on the coast. I had read about the cliff railway and it was definitely worth the visit, despite the fact that we were nearly blown off the top! 

This track was built in 1896 and the slow, steep climb takes you up about 150 meters. I did wonder if we would make it. It was unbelievably steep in places. It's apparently the longest electric cliff railway in Britain. 

At the top, if you can stand up in the wind, you have amazing views over Cardigan Bay and surrounding hills.

We were running out of time, so sadly didn't get to amble along the Victorian promenade! 

Our overnight stay was in a very cute little cottage near Aberporth. We would never have found it without dear Mr Google and a lot of reversing and turning. We ended up going around a tight corner where we more or less nosedived into the darkest steepest, narrowest road I've ever been on! Fortunately, by now, I am more used to narrow roads. Day 1 I would have cried, 

Next day, after a lovely platter of bread, cheese and pate in the little garden, we turned our thoughts to Newport, Pembrokeshire, where my sister and family lived many years ago. What a gorgeous beach there is with safe bathing, for the hardy! 15 degrees water temperature. There was virtually nobody around on this beautiful, sandy beach. Just like New Zealand. 

This was the start of another full and wonderful day, packed with interesting places to visit and fabulous walks. First up was St. David's, where St David, the patron saint of Wales, is buried. This is Britain's smallest city with its magnificent 12th century cathedral. Not only does it have a massive cathedral, but also a very impressive ruins of The Bishop's palace.

We visited both, here the fabulous view from one of the towers of the great hall of the palace with the cathedral in the background. Both very great. I must be getting braver in my older age, as I managed the narrowest spiral staircase to get this view. I did have to go down backwards, though.

And here from above the cathedral. A fantastic place to visit.

The central tower is very impressive both outside and inside.

The coastal road of Pembrokeshire was simply gorgeous and relatively quiet, even wide in many places! The long, sandy beaches did remind me a lot of New Zealand.

I guess one of the many highlights of this trip was the final visit of the day, to Bosherston Lily Ponds. Wow. I would actually put this high in my overall lifetime highlights. It was just breathtaking.

Never in my life have I seen so many water lilies in one place. Usually one is happy to see a few, but here there were lilies as far as you could see. It was a magical place. I didn't want to leave!

Could one ever imagine anywhere so lush and so green. Totally unspoiled and very few others there to disturb the peace and serenity of this stunning place.

It was getting late so we had to drag ourselves away. We had planned to go down to a little beach nearby, but it was getting cold and we had to retrace a lot of steps. That's fine. I want to go back!

We were very happy to arrive at our lovely flat in Tenby. It was our only two-day stop and the accommodation was fantastic in a cozy, yet well-equipped two-storey cottage with sunny courtyard. 

Lucky again with weather after brief showers in the early morning. I love the beach at Tenby. Miles of golden sands overlooked by the colorful Victorian houses and hotels above, reflecting in the pools left by the receding tide.

In the afternoon we took the bus to the next village, Saundersfoot, a very popular tourist destination and film set! There are beautiful sandy beaches, but as we took a walk along the coast to Monkstone, we enjoyed the different rock formations visible at low tide.

Dog walking heaven! Here a lady with five dogs thoroughly enjoying the waves and pools. 

It's unbelievable how even the largest trucks can negotiate these corners and single lane bridges. It took a very nail biting 10 minutes or so!

What a pretty place Tenby is, with incredibly old pubs, with cozy bars. Good place for a cider!

Picturesque, flower filled alleyways with lovely cottages on either side.

And a very innovative doggy water bowl.

What a great stay in Tenby.

Our last day was simply fabulous! There's so much to see in the Pembroke area so we narrowed it down to a day of gardens, wildlife and coast. A perfect end to a wonderful trip.

Our first stop was the Botanic Gardens of Wales, seen above and below. It's definitely a match for some of the most famous in the world. It’s massive, twice the size of the famous Kew Gardens. It was stunning, particularly the vegetable and flower gardens and the unbelievable glasshouse.

The Gardens and glasshouse are celebrating 25 years, the centerpiece definitely being this amazing single span glasshouse, apparently the largest of its kind in the world. It had six different areas displaying plants from different continents, with state of the art technology to ensure the perfect growing environment.

As if the gardens were not enough, there was also a Birds of Prey center, where we watched a truly phenomenal show with snowy owl, falcon, little owl, buzzard and eagle.

With such perfect weather and so few spectators, it was a magical moment for me, not having seen anything like it before.

The eagle flew right past me at one point, brushing his huge wings against my shoulder! Wow!

The little owl was very anxious, as two wild buzzards circled above. He'd be a good lunch for them.

The falcon was very keen to stay close to the trainer.

The snowy owl was my favorite I think. A bit of a prima Donna but super graceful.

It was a marvelous show.

Farewell to the Botanic Gardens and on to the National Wetland centre of Wales not far away. 450 acres of pools, streams, lagoons and salt marshes await you there, home to so many species of birds and many mammals, like otters and voles. 

It's a peaceful place to stroll around and see and listen to the bird life from the many hides. 

Here some godwits. I wondered if they had arrived back from Christchurch! 

Time flies, and our Welsh trip has almost ended.

And now to see some wonderful four legged beasts on the hills above Rhossili. So many young foals exhausted, still lying in at 10 a.m.!. It was a glorious sight as we headed to Worm's Head.

Actually, in all the years I have visited here with Ceri, it has always been low tide!

One of my and Ceri’s favourite places to stop and stare. 

Beautiful wild plants cover many of the dry stone walls.

And then back to the horses and their young ones who were now on their feet and gazing over this fabulous landscape.

It’s a tiring life being a foal. What a gorgeous place to live, though.

Our last lunch stop happened a little by chance but we were very happy to eat overlooking Bracelet Bay.

Then a final walk by one of my favourite beaches , Ogmore by the sea, before going back to Llantwit Major to bid farewell to my sister and family.

And to say 'hello' and 'goodbye' to my newest great great nephew, Toby, with proud parents Ben( my great nephew) and Betsy. 

 Bye for another year to my family in Britain!