Pembrokeshire

A long day today, including over five hours of driving.

We headed west early this morning aiming to be in the seaside town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire by morning coffee time. We made it, but the coffee could have been better. Tenby is a cute little town with  narrow winding streets and fantastic ocean views...

We wandered through the streets up to Castle Hill where we could see the very limited remains of the old castle and a random statue of Prince Albert. There was also the Tenby lifeboat station, which is very flash and should make nearby mariners feel very safe indeed. Next door to it is the old lifeboat station which has been converted into a rather unique house that was featured on Grand Designs. Would have loved to have a look through it.

After exhausting all of Tenby's possibilities we went on to the town of Pembroke and a visit to Pembroke Castle, where Henry Tudor, the future king Henry VII was born. Phil went through all the nooks and crannies of the place, including climbing the one hundred (he counted them) narrow spiral steps up to the top of the castle keep, climbing down a similar staircase to a natural cave under the castle, and wandering down corridors built within the external castle walls. Petra contented herself with keeping to parts that didn't have a lot of narrow stairs from which there was also plenty to see.

From Pembroke we drove to St Davids, which claims to be the smallest city in the UK. It's also the westernmost point in Wales, so we can now claim to have been to the western extremities of both England and Wales. Cool. We visited St David's Cathedral and the adjacent ruins of the Bishop's Palace. The Cathedral is huge and beautifully decorated inside.

From St Davids we headed back to Pentrebach, which took us around two hours. Phil was so exhausted after his long day of driving that he had to go to The Shoemaker's Arms for a pint or two and a chat with the barmaid before dinner. He will sleep well tonight.