So it begins

Sheep in Wales? Couldn't be

Published Date : September 26, 2003

I had a full day of work today, then it was out to Ealing Broadway station after a quick pit-stop at the local off-license.  Shaggy Sheep here I come!  There are only four of us on this tour.   There’s Emily and Gus, an older American couple, Belinda, a twenty-something Aussie, and Chris, another twenty-something who is the tour guide/owner of Shaggy Sheep.

After collecting everybody at the train station, we piled into the car and were off on the 4-hour drive to Carmarthen.  During the drive, Chris told us how he had only recently started the business and was still working out the kinks.  He also told us that he has faced quite a bit of backlash regarding the name of his company.  Chris and his family are English, so many of the locals interpreted the “Shaggy Sheep” moniker as an insult against the Welsh.  He’s apparently had a rough go trying to convince people that there was no malice intended.  The centuries old rivalries throughout the UK have always been interesting to me and this was no exception.

It was dark for much of the journey and we pulled finally into the B&B (conveniently owned by Chris’s parents) at about 10:30pm.   After some quick introductions, we dumped our bags (a double bed all to myself!  Luxury!) then Belinda, Chris, and I high-tailed it out to the nearest pub, trying to get there before it closed. Did I mention that the bar was just on a farm?  The farmer had converted his barn into a bar. After some detours and e-brake slides through many a pasture, we arrived to find that the farmer had already turned in for the night.  Drat!  It didn’t hurt our evening though.  We sat on the car watching the stars for about an hour, and saw about a dozen shooting stars.  Wow! After 2 months in LondonI had almost forgotten what the stars looked like!

Busy day

Published Date : September 27, 2003

Laugharne Castle

Talk about a full day! We crammed a whole lot into 14 hours! Up for breakfast at 8:00, our first stop was the Carmarthen markets. It was nice, but an hour and a half was too long to spend there. I managed to pick up some postcards and presents while we were there though.

Our next stop was Laugharne (pronounced Larn) to see Dylan Thomas’s boathouse. For those who don’t know, Dylan Thomas was a Welsh a poet who died in the 50’s – one of his poems was referenced in the book/movie “Dangerous Minds”. Laugharne was a really picturesque village and worth the visit. We wandered along the water past a 12th Century castle on our way to the boathouse where Dylan Thomas lived for several years, then enjoyed a quick snack back in town.

St David’s Cathedral

En-route to St David’s, the smallest city in Europe, we made a brief stop for a photo-op on the way at Newgale with its gorgeous sandy beaches and beautiful blue water. In St David’s we met up with Jet and Liam from Adventure Bound who were going to be our guides for our included adventure activity: coasteering!  Emily and Gus wisely chose to sit this one out, and they enjoyed a scenic walk while Belinda, Chris and I threw ourselves off cliffs! What a fun time! I only wish I had a waterproof camera with me. The water was rather chilly, but that’s what wetsuits are for, right?

Two and half hours later we tore ourselves away from the cliffs and headed back into St David’s for some fish and chips at the local chippy. Absolutely terrible service, but the F&C was pretty good. We couldn’t visit St David’s without paying a visit to the cathedral that made it a city. Wow! I’ve seen my share of churches and cathedrals in Europe, but this one really took my breath away! Inside it wasn’t the most impressive I’ve seen (we snuck in for about 10 minutes before they kicked us out for evening mass), but the setting was incredible, and we caught it in the right light.

Pentre Ifan

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we high-tailed it out of St David’s to get to the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber before dark. The burial chamber was built in 3500BC near the site of an Iron Age fort (Carn Ingli). It wasn’t overly impressive to look at, but the mystery of how the giant stones found their way there always intrigues me.

Back to the B&B, we had just enough time to clean up then it was out to a pub in the next town for some live entertainment.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of an off night for the entertainers. We took off early and dropped Gus and Emily off at the B&B so we could head back to the farm/bar we missed the night before. Sleep deprivation finally caught up with me though, so I called it a night and Chris and Belinda went out

Back to the real world

Published Date : September 28, 2003

We had another early start this morning, more painful for some than others. Belinda and Chris didn’t get in until 4:30am, and I could barely move after the coasteering.  We were a miserable looking lot at 8:00am on a Sunday morning.

Playing dress-up at Musuem of Welsh Life

Our first stop today was the Museum of Welsh Life, just outside of Cardiff. It was fantastic.  I could have done with a full day there. All of the houses, barns, schools, etc were disassembled a block at a time and transported to the museum where they were rebuilt. Very cool. While we were there, Chris and I decided to go for a fake 19th century photo in period costume.

From there, it was a short drive to Castell Coch, which coincidentally was in the painted backdrop they used for our photo. The decorating was incredibly detailed, but I found myself bored about 5 minutes after we got there. I can’t say why, but some castles just grab my interest and imagination and others leave me thinking “Oh another castle.  Ho hum.”  Unfortunately, this was one of the latter for me.

Our last stop of the tour was the Big Pit mine in the Valleys. We were taken on a tour of the mine, complete with hardhats and headlamps. Emily had a really hard time with the battery packs for the lamps. They only weighed about 20lbs, but she could barely stand up, let alone walk with it on. She made it through though.

From there it was back into the car for the 2-hour drive back to London. Well, it should have been a 2-hour drive, but we got stuck in traffic, so it was closer to 4 hours. I finally dragged into Earls Court at about 9:00pm to find the gang from the hostel on their way out to Shepherd’s Bush for Cathy’s farewell party. I wanted to go, but I needed to catch up on my sleep for work in the morning. Good weekend, it went by way too fast though!