Wales August 2014

Another year and another visit to Lyndon - he doesn't seem to mind us descending on him and disturbing his peace and quiet too much! His garden was looking as lovely as ever, especially the beautiful blue hydrangea.
garden
garden
garden

coast path

We arrived on the Wednesday afternoon and after a yummy ice cream at Jo and Gianni's and a quick cookery lesson (chilli con carne) for Lyndon, we went to see what we could find at Porth Gain. I enjoyed a short walk up to see one of the white towers but Jonathon and Lyndon both decided the path was too uneven for them.

coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
jc&l
coast path
coast path
beetle
coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
coast path
gull
From there we went down to Whitesands to watch the sunset. It did us proud.
sunset
whitesands
whitesands
whitesands
sunset
sunset
sunset
sunset
sunset
gull

The original reason for this year's visit was a day's boat trip on the Thursday. We knew before we set off that that trip had been rescheduled to the following week so we wouldn't be going. Instead, we booked to go out with Thousand Islands but the weather (windy and big seas) meant that we couldn't do that either.

Lyndon took us to Stackpole to enjoy the scenery and bird life (quite quiet) followed by a trip to the Walled Garden.

stackpole
stackpole
stackpole swans
shag
shag
shag
jc
heron
heron
lyndon
stackpole
heron
heron
heron
stackpole
swan
swans
stackpole
jc & lyndon

A quick snack at the garden before we enjoyed a good wander around.

The gardens seemed to be a joint venture between Mencap and the National Trust with Co-op providing some sponsorship as well. It was a haven for insects.

garden
garden
garden
butterfly
butterfly
bee
veg
garden
croc
bee
garden
garden
garden
The gardens are partly flowerbeds, a lot of veg space and a lot of meadow space. A really good mix.
garden
tractor

flower

bee
jc & lyndon
garden
garden
garden
veg
lyndon
sunflower
garden
flowers
flowers

daisy

beds
secret garden
apples

The photo above and the one on the right were both taken in the Secret Garden. A really peaceful part of the garden and I couldn't resist taking a photo of the "Shirley seat".

Soup at the garden cafe for lunch and then on to The Gann Estuary.

seat
gann
gann
gann
gann
gulls
breezy bush
flowers
shells
lyndon
jc
gann
egret
flower
butterfly
flower
goulthrop
goulthrop
A quick stop at Goulthrop Rhodes to admire the view and on to Newgale Beach to finish our journey.
newgale
newgale
newgale
newgale

This evening's cookery lesson was Italian Style Chicken (very nice - must be Lyndon's expert stirring). Jonathon couldn't manage a whole day without his Gianni's ice cream so he wandered down to get one for desert.

Got caught up with the photos and so to bed, wondering whether the weather would be kind enough to let us go out on the boats tomorrow.

Friday arrived and the big question was ... will we get out on the water? We'd booked two trips, one from Cardigan Bay and one from Newquay. The answer was ... yes to the first and no to the second. The sea was simply too big.

The morning trip was on a rib with Richard and Alan, friends of Lyndon, and the main objective was to try and see some bottlenosed dolphin.

ral
lyndon
crab
cardigan bay
cardigan island

shagandoystercatchers

First point of interest was Cardigan Island and the bird life. Not a huge amount to see but there were a few Shags and Oyster Catchers.

shag
cardigan island
I'm delighted to say there were a few Bottlenose Dolphin as well.
dolphin
dolphin
dolphin
dolphin
dolphin
dolphin
dolphin

ironbridge

We called in to Fishguard and the iron bridge on the way to Cardigan Bay. Interesting sign on the bridge!

The Whimbrel on the right wasn't behaving like a typical Whimbrel apparently but Lyndon checked and confirmed that that's what it was.

whimbrel
duck
duck
lyndon

Lyndon (above right) was very kind and got out of the car to see if there was anything interesting to see. We stayed in the dry!

The Black Guillemot on the right was swimming around quite happily in the Stena dock.

guillemot

Next stop was Newquay (Ceredigion, not Cornwall). I can definitely recommend lemon cheesecake ice cream - delicious!

newquay
newquay

This was where our second boat trip was supposed to leave from. We'd looked at the sea and expected it to be cancelled and so it was.

Where to next? We remembered that the first time we'd met Lyndon we'd enjoyed fish and chips in Fishguard so, as it was on our way home, that's where we went.

The gulls are obviously used to people eating their supper near the sea so kept a close eye on us in case we dropped a chip for them.

newquay
gull
gull

gull

gull
gull

gull

Next stop .... Jonathon asked if we could find some sand to photograph "contre jour". Thankfully Lyndon understood what he was after and off to Newgale we went.

newgale

sand

This is one of mine. Apparently I'm not supposed to take artistic photos but every now and then I like to surprise!

newgale
newgale
lyndon
jc
newgale
jc
sand
ss&l
sunset

The end of another lovely day and a great break.

Thanks Lyndon for a wonderful few days!

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