holiday picspam the first
Sep. 1st, 2011 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaOkay so, as mentioned, last week was our annual family holiday. With most of us grown up now - me living away from home, Deb married and living a couple of hundred miles away - we try to have this week every year where we get together as a family and have a holiday together. For years now we've been spending that week at Pevensey Bay in West Sussex, but this year, for various reasons, we decided to have a holiday at home and do day trips. So for the past week and a half we have basically had two households - my Mum and Dad's house, housing them, my brother Simon and sister Chelsea, with Chelsea's boyfriend Jamie also staying over more often than not (he doesn't have the greatest home life ever, and never seems to want to go home); and my household, housing me, sister Deb, her husband Ray and his niece Shanei. As holidays go, it was pretty chaotic, but we managed a few outings and because I'm me, I took a lot of photos.
The Kent contingent arrived on the Saturday evening, and we had a fairly quiet Sunday - went for a walk around Cosmeton Lakes Country Park near Penarth, an old limestone quarry that was allowed to become flooded by its many natural springs when quarrying ceased there, quickly becoming the lake and wetlands seen today.
Look how pretty!
Just look at those cormorants sunning themselves there!
Monday of last week was our first proper outing of the week...as well as the start of things going a bit pear-shaped, a sign of what was to come. The plan was to take the teenagers to Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, while the adults enjoyed a more civilised day at the seaside in Tenby. Mum had volunteered to stay home with the two dogs...but Deb ended up having to stay home as well, as she'd been up half the night with a nasty sickness bug. So that left just me and the menfolk (Dad, Simon and Ray) to enjoy Tenby, after dropping off four teenagers at Oakwood - Chelsea, Jamie, Shanei and Chel's friend Jessica.
Tenby is a pretty little seaside town on the southern coast of Pembrokeshire - it has two and a half miles of lurvely sandy beaches, while the town itself is still criss-crossed with the remains of its 13th century town wall. And there is also this:
That's Caldey Island, just south of Tenby, and if![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nikkimisplaced is around and reading this - Nikki, this is where we should build our castle! Look how perfect it is! Room for everyone, and there are beaches and everything! The island does already have a monastery, mind, but that's okay, the monks can stay - they make chocolate!
I discussed this plan with Ray while we were wandering along the beach, by the way, and he suggested incorporating a helipad into our castle-building plans, which would be especially useful during the winter months when the boats aren't running. He also suggested that once our fantasy castle is built on the island, we should declare ourselves an independent state and start minting our own currency...
World domination, here we come! *G*
But I digress. I was talking about Tenby, which I haven't been to in years and immediately fell in love with all over again. The historian in me thrills at the sight of the 13th century town wall, weaving its way in and around the town, interspersed with and occasionally incorporated into the more modern buildings.
The five gate barbican gatehouse is a particular feature
But I especially love how there are places where the wall seems to almost grow out of the cliff!
The cliffs, I might add, are fantastically steep - must have been a job and a half, carving staircases into those - and are riddled with fabulous caves. Must have been a paradise for smugglers, back in the day.
And then there are the beaches, which are the main feature of every seaside town, of course.
The North Beach sits between the harbour beach and the north cliffs and offers a beautiful view across Carmarthen Bay.
Slap bang in the middle of North Beach is Gaskar Rock, which is quite a prominent landmark for a beach to have
Walking south along North Beach, you come to Tenby Harbour - from here you can catch a boat across to Caldey Island, which I would have loved to have done, only my brother was with us and he is horribly seasick, so we decided against taking the trip. Maybe next time.
Separating North Beach from South Beach is Castle Hill, whose main feature is an 11th century Norman Keep, which today houses a weather station
There are a few elderly cannons dotted around Castle Hill - as modelled here by my brother-in-law Raymond
Castle Hill also has a fabulous view across Carmathen Bay. On a clear day you can see as far as Worm's Head, way across on the Gower coast!
Castle Hill also offers a good view of St Catherine's Island, just off the beach below - which, as you can see, is dominated by an immense Victorian fort, constructed in the 1860s-70s.
Access to the island is not permitted, as the structures are not safe, but browsing online I found an account - complete with photos - by someone who snuck across illicitly a few years ago. Read it here
And then there is the South Beach, which is more than two kilometres long, spanning the shoreline from St Catherine's to Giltar Point, which is directly opposite Caldey Island.
We had a fabulous afternoon, strolling along the beach at the water's edge, watching the tide go out. Then it was a steep scramble back up the cliff to take the coastal path back to town
The coastal path cuts a fine line between a golf course on one side - and a military firing range on the other!
The presence of the golf course is an especial nuisance, as it forces the so-called coastal path to cut quite a long way inland to the little village of Penally before winding its way back toward the coast once more - crossing the railway line twice in the process.
Finally, the footpath takes you back to Tenby's seafront for one last look out over South Beach, past St Catherine's and across Carmarthen Bay toward Gower.
All in all, we reckon we walked something like 9-10 kilometres that day! Then before heading back to Oakwood to collect the teenagers, we just had time to pay a quick visit to the 15th century St Mary's Church, which lies at the heart of Tenby
There, I rather fell in love with this memorial stone - I can't help it, something about the defiant way it refers back to the deceased's illustrious ancestor, the Bishop of St David's, and how he was burnt alive by bigots under Queen Mary...it just appeals to me!
And that's it - whistlestop tour of Tenby!
(All panoramas in this picspam were inexpertly stitched together by me)
I shall be back anon with more...
The Kent contingent arrived on the Saturday evening, and we had a fairly quiet Sunday - went for a walk around Cosmeton Lakes Country Park near Penarth, an old limestone quarry that was allowed to become flooded by its many natural springs when quarrying ceased there, quickly becoming the lake and wetlands seen today.
Look how pretty!
Just look at those cormorants sunning themselves there!
Monday of last week was our first proper outing of the week...as well as the start of things going a bit pear-shaped, a sign of what was to come. The plan was to take the teenagers to Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, while the adults enjoyed a more civilised day at the seaside in Tenby. Mum had volunteered to stay home with the two dogs...but Deb ended up having to stay home as well, as she'd been up half the night with a nasty sickness bug. So that left just me and the menfolk (Dad, Simon and Ray) to enjoy Tenby, after dropping off four teenagers at Oakwood - Chelsea, Jamie, Shanei and Chel's friend Jessica.
Tenby is a pretty little seaside town on the southern coast of Pembrokeshire - it has two and a half miles of lurvely sandy beaches, while the town itself is still criss-crossed with the remains of its 13th century town wall. And there is also this:
That's Caldey Island, just south of Tenby, and if
nikkimisplaced is around and reading this - Nikki, this is where we should build our castle! Look how perfect it is! Room for everyone, and there are beaches and everything! The island does already have a monastery, mind, but that's okay, the monks can stay - they make chocolate!I discussed this plan with Ray while we were wandering along the beach, by the way, and he suggested incorporating a helipad into our castle-building plans, which would be especially useful during the winter months when the boats aren't running. He also suggested that once our fantasy castle is built on the island, we should declare ourselves an independent state and start minting our own currency...
World domination, here we come! *G*
But I digress. I was talking about Tenby, which I haven't been to in years and immediately fell in love with all over again. The historian in me thrills at the sight of the 13th century town wall, weaving its way in and around the town, interspersed with and occasionally incorporated into the more modern buildings.
The five gate barbican gatehouse is a particular feature
But I especially love how there are places where the wall seems to almost grow out of the cliff!
The cliffs, I might add, are fantastically steep - must have been a job and a half, carving staircases into those - and are riddled with fabulous caves. Must have been a paradise for smugglers, back in the day.
And then there are the beaches, which are the main feature of every seaside town, of course.
The North Beach sits between the harbour beach and the north cliffs and offers a beautiful view across Carmarthen Bay.
Slap bang in the middle of North Beach is Gaskar Rock, which is quite a prominent landmark for a beach to have
Walking south along North Beach, you come to Tenby Harbour - from here you can catch a boat across to Caldey Island, which I would have loved to have done, only my brother was with us and he is horribly seasick, so we decided against taking the trip. Maybe next time.
Separating North Beach from South Beach is Castle Hill, whose main feature is an 11th century Norman Keep, which today houses a weather station
There are a few elderly cannons dotted around Castle Hill - as modelled here by my brother-in-law Raymond
Castle Hill also has a fabulous view across Carmathen Bay. On a clear day you can see as far as Worm's Head, way across on the Gower coast!
Castle Hill also offers a good view of St Catherine's Island, just off the beach below - which, as you can see, is dominated by an immense Victorian fort, constructed in the 1860s-70s.
Access to the island is not permitted, as the structures are not safe, but browsing online I found an account - complete with photos - by someone who snuck across illicitly a few years ago. Read it here
And then there is the South Beach, which is more than two kilometres long, spanning the shoreline from St Catherine's to Giltar Point, which is directly opposite Caldey Island.
We had a fabulous afternoon, strolling along the beach at the water's edge, watching the tide go out. Then it was a steep scramble back up the cliff to take the coastal path back to town
The coastal path cuts a fine line between a golf course on one side - and a military firing range on the other!
The presence of the golf course is an especial nuisance, as it forces the so-called coastal path to cut quite a long way inland to the little village of Penally before winding its way back toward the coast once more - crossing the railway line twice in the process.
Finally, the footpath takes you back to Tenby's seafront for one last look out over South Beach, past St Catherine's and across Carmarthen Bay toward Gower.
All in all, we reckon we walked something like 9-10 kilometres that day! Then before heading back to Oakwood to collect the teenagers, we just had time to pay a quick visit to the 15th century St Mary's Church, which lies at the heart of Tenby
There, I rather fell in love with this memorial stone - I can't help it, something about the defiant way it refers back to the deceased's illustrious ancestor, the Bishop of St David's, and how he was burnt alive by bigots under Queen Mary...it just appeals to me!
And that's it - whistlestop tour of Tenby!
(All panoramas in this picspam were inexpertly stitched together by me)
I shall be back anon with more...
