Dedicated to our best mate: Corgi, now in New Zealand.
So when Kristi said to me when we were planning this trip, she wanted to go to Wales I immediately thought, why? Again, in a previous career, I looked after South Wales and probably because I was driving around it every week doing business I never saw it for what it was……. Simply stunning.
Why did she want to go? One of my best friends moved to New Zealand in 2015, stayed with us for six months and is now firmly settled in Auckland. He is family to us, has been there since day 1 of the boys and Kristi wanted to go and see where he often talked about, his homeland.
So the planning began. How can I fit in this tiny village in the south of Wales and make the trip worth it? I squeezed three nights in between Stoke and Cornwall and off we went.
We spent three nights at the waterfront in Swansea, a place I spent a lot of business time and was a little reluctant to go. I am so glad I did. To get out of the city
We started with a trip to the Mumbles. An area Andrew had spent a lot of his time. We found the car park he recommended and the hike around the coastal walk. As for the weather? Windy but dry, in fact, all three days were perfectly dry. Those of you that know Wales, this is rare.
The route took us past the rugged coastline and could have gone on for miles and miles. We didn’t, our hike was limited to a car park ticket and we spent about three hours hiking the shoreline, eating our packed lunch on the beach and taking such a wonderful place in full sight.
Today was the day Kristi was going to see where Andrew came from, his business, his home and maybe even his new grandson, which he hadn’t seen yet. I kept saying it was a one street town and how similar it was to where we lived in New Zealand, and it was. It hadn’t changed.
We found his old garage business, his old colleagues, his pub including some of his drinking mates.
But, best of all and with a little help from a local we found his son’s house, where we duly introduced ourselves and Kristi hoped for a hold of the new addition to the Davies family, unfortunately, the little guy was out with his Grandmother so we did not get to see him.
I decided that we were not too far away from Carmarthen and I knew there was a famous castle here. The boys get a dragon story every night and the girls had never seen anything like a medieval castle before so I decided to head them off to see it.
Whoops, my memory got this one wrong, there was barely anything left of it so I was racking my brains trying to think of where it was I was thinking. I strolled into the visitor information center and she gave me the rundown on all of the castles in south Wales. Cardiff, I was going to on the way to Cornwall but where could I go around where I was and impress the girls? Well the guide suggested that 7 miles away and right on the beach was Llansteffan Castle, so we took off on a beautiful afternoon.
What met us about 20 minutes later simply took our breath away.
Parking in the car park that was almost on the beach we took off for our short hike up to the castle to check it out. On the walk, we talked with the boys about dragons and “shoot shoot” arrow holes to keep them excited and we arrived about 20 minute later.
The castle was built in early 1100 by the Normans. We explored the castle for about an hour climbed the turrets and looked over the beach to the sea. It was majestic.
It was closing time, although there were no entrance gates or places to pay, it was completely free to visitors, just a sign asking us to leave by 4 pm. We took a stroll back down the hill, delighted with our find and decided to check out the beach.
We left hoping to have a pint or two in Andrew’s local but later found that the pub had entered a beer festival the weekend ahead and was busy preparing for that, so no food this week. After a great day, we settled down for the evening back in Swansea.
Day two I decided to show the girls another beautiful part of the Welsh coast. The beautiful and quintessential fishing port and beaches of Tenby, about an hour
Another beautiful day lay ahead and I was so thankful for this, Wales can be a grey place in the rain. Tenby is a great example of a walled town, fortified probably in Norman times. We parked for free and decided to walk along the main beach, over the cliff, and into the fishing port and back through the walled town.
The kids explored the caves and everything the beach had to offer. Lara did what she always does on a beach, run, run, run. The boys decided it was a good place to let off steam and shout at the top of their voices. Until they saw dozens of jellyfish just laying in the sand.
It was quite a scene, there must have been over 100 of them l
On the walk over the hill into the
We arrived on the be
After lunch we took a stroll into the walled town, it was gorgeous. The boys walked into a fudge shop completely by themselves, stole a free sample and what do you know? I am down 4 pounds and 50 pence, much to the boys’ and Lara’s delight.
I was glad I came here again after so many years, it was so much cuter than I remembered. It was not the height of the summer, so tourist
If you’re coming to South Wales then Tenby is a must, if you have kids they will love the huge golden sand beaches. Make sure you check it out. The wall goes almost around the old town and gives you a flavour of what it may have been like to live inside such a fortress.
After another good night’s sleep, we were off for another fairly big day (the reason I am behind with these blogs). We were moving into Cornwall but not after a stop at probably one of the best examples of a Welsh castle, Cardiff castle, situated smack bang in the middle of modern day Cardiff city. I knew what this one was like as I had worked just up the road so I tried to keep it a secret.
Now this one is almost complete, it has the moat, it has the drawbridge and gate and it has four complete walls. We paid our entry ticket, gra
We explored the turrets and tunnels. The underground tunnels actually protected a couple of thousand people when Hitler decided to drop a few bombs in this area. The inner court yard was massive and housed the inner fort area.
We toured the main castle living area and the boys met their first real life size dragon. Now it is biting us in the butt as poor Charlie is afraid of dragons some nights and can’t sleep.
We all loved and adored Wales and wish we had a lot more time to spend here. I am so glad I carried through with arranging what Kristi wanted to see as I was able to see Wales with a visitors hat on, not a business hat on.
One final shot from me……The photo below is the Wales version of Eden Park, The Millenium Stadium or for the locals, Cardiff Arms Park. For those of you that don’t know Eden Park or The Millenium, both are hallowed ground to the respective national rugby sides. I have been in the Millennium a couple of times and was lucky to have been to the opening game after completion and of the world cup rugby against Argentina. The one thing that sticks out in my memory is that this stadium has a 74,500 capacity and a roof! To hear about 70,000 Welsh fans sing “The Land Of My Father’s” with the roof shut was an experience I will never forget. The hairs on my back were tingling it was that moving. Anyway, just for Corgi, here is a picture that was taken from the castle wall of your beloved and hallowed ground, The Millenium, ala Cardiff Arms Park, you will never beat the AB’s
We had to get on to our final destination for the day so this is where we left Wales. The pictures are gorgeous, click here to see them all.
Hwyl fawr Wales, we WILL be back.
All I remember honestly of Tenby were the dead jellyfish. So many that every morning a truck would go along the beach collecting them. My Dad would tease me and say we’re having jellyfish soup for lunch! 🤢 Love reading your travel blog xx
Hi Jules. That is interesting there must be thousands and thousands a year and no one seems to know why. Hope you’re good, miss you guys xx