Corwen, Wales: 28 July 2016
Day 28

We headed to Northern Wales to Corwen today and to the Welsh National Sheepdog Trials.  We were on the road just a bit after 10am and on our way for the 3 and a half or so hour trip.
We stopped along the way to have a meat pie.  Justin chose lamb and mint and I chose vegetable curry.  The little brown paper bag was quite greasy by the time we were eating, but the savory treats were delicious.  After more spectacular scenery and as we got closer to Corwen, we began to see signs for the dog trials, headed that way, and stopped to watch for a few hours.  We met Nerys, a nice local lady who took time to explain some of the nuances of this dog world.  We should see her tomorrow too.  You'd never know this lady was in her seventies; she has been coming to these dog shows for over 60 years.  Gemma was very interested in all the other furry creatures and on her best behavior.

We arrived at Cobweb Cottage about 7:30 pm or so.  Our home for the next three days is an AirBnB that used to be an old bunk house now turned into a self-contained unit.  I'll be eager to explore the grounds in the daylight.  The property is on an unnamed road so we were dependent on latitude and longitude coordinates to get us here.  After giving us the welcome tour, Helen, our host, suggested we go to "The Goat" when we asked for a recommendation for dinner.  Only two miles away, it took us about twenty minutes to get there, only to learn they don't serve dinner on Thursdays.  We headed next to Bala and thankfully found a restaurant open as it was now quite late.  The nachos were calling to me as I need a Tex-Mex fix.  Instead, I opted for a local treat of leek-homity pie --  a potato, leek, honey pie in a hearty whole wheat crust.  Along with a side salad, it hit the spot.  Justin is quite enjoying the local ales and as much as he wanted another with his chicken Caesar salad entree he knew he had a beast of a drive home through more haystacks and down a newly graveled, quite steep path back to our cottage. 

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 27 July 2016 
Day 27


Morning routine of checking email and working on blog. A bit more exciting than the laundry chores from yesterday.  Justin and I started watching Bloodline and got caught up in that right away.

 We took a boat trip this afternoon that was advertised as a Sea Safari.  Our boat left from Marloes beach and went out around Skomer and Skokholm islands.  We got suited up in waterproof suits.  They were large and bulky, but I was glad to have the extra layer for warmth.  We saw thousands of sea birds as we bounced around the bay.  We saw razorbills, gannets, guillemots, shearwaters and hundreds of puffins.  What precious little penguins.  We saw a few porpoises and several seals basking on the rocks.  The view of the shoreline from the boat offered fabulous perspective totally different from we've seen that last few days.  An added bonus was that it was toward the end of the day when the light in the sky was just spectacular.  There were a few kids on our boat and when the captain asked us how fast we wanted to go, they exclaimed "very fast".  We were treated to a bit of hot-dogging toward the end of our safari.  This sure was more fun on this boat than the sand dune bashing we did when we were in Dubai. 

Got my LES today ...zeroes... All zeroes!

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 25 July 2016
Day 25

We headed to Pembroke Castle today.  Building on the site began  in 1093; the castle was later the birthplace of Henry VII.  Like Edinburgh Castle the buildings are perched right on top of rock. Many of the homes in the town are built in the same manner.  Justin and I were most impressed with the multi-storied round tower as this type of architecture was not common for the time.  The museum curator has added a large map of Wales within the castle grounds as well as life sized characters throughout the castle who tell visitors of their work and their daily lives.  I am pleased to see more interactive opportunities for kids of all ages.  We stopped for dinner on the way home as we are winding down our time in Wales.

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 24 July 2016
Day 24

Justin still feels like crap and he is sleeping a lot.  We watched a lot of tv the last couple of days and I am close to finishing my book -- How to be an American Housewife.  The book is written from the perspective of a newly married Japanese girl making sense of it all in San Diego with her GI husband right after Nagasaki.  Apparently there really was a "how to" guide for Japanese women... my goodness. 
We had a slow, fabulous day.  I think I'll need to have a few more days just like this before I get bored.  When Mimi and I were catching up, she told me about a website she had investigated when flex jobs were posted.  I spent some time browsing and thinking what I might like to do.  I feel compelled to do something, but what?  Teach on line?  College?  Secondary?  Teacher prep?  I could be a reader for tests too.  On the other hand, do I want to do anything at all?  I need to keep my options open and I need to breathe.
I spent time catching up on paperwork; paid bills and continued my war with USPS.  I am enjoying working on our blog but I am still challenged with photos.  I want to be able to catalogue our travels before I forget where we've been.
As expected, many of our days in South Wales have been cool, overcast and drizzly ... The occasional sunshine has been a bonus.
More often Justin and I are talking about what to do this winter.  Cuba?  Belize?  Mexico?  How many United miles do I have and how far can we go with those? What about our beloved mini poodle, Gemma?

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 21 July 2016
Day 21

Mimi left today.  Justin and I took her to the train station in Milford Haven and then we headed to the grocery store.  I dreaded going to the grocery store when I taught home ec.  I had to keep track of the pantry at school separate from the pantry at home.  More recently, Justin has been doing all the shopping and I have totally been able to avoid the commissary all together.  Now, just when Justin thinks this process will go quickly, I want to lollygag and take time going up and down each aisle looking at all the different products.  I am finding this especially interesting in different countries.  So many new options!

I took some time today to look at the map not just of this trip, but all the traveling we've been able to do in the last two years.  That prompted me to start a list of countries.  In the last three years, Justin and I have been in the US and we've been to Japan, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Wales, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy (and Vatican City), Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, and Morocco.  Later this summer we will add at least Czech Republic and Croatia.  We are so, so fortunate!!!

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 20 July 2016
Day 20

You know those rainy, nasty cold days when you just want to stay in bed?  Well, that's what we did today... not much.  Mimi worked to schedule travel and lodging for her next trips, I worked on our blog and Justin worked on feeling better.  And that was enough work for all of us.
We went to The Bar for dinner.  The Bar is a local restaurant where reservations are quite coveted.  We had great food and I got a copy of their menu.  I'm looking forward to trying my own rendition of the Broccoli-Stilton soup.

View from our kitchen in Neyland out onto a rainy, gloomy bay

 

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 19 July 2016
Day 19

Headed to Dale to go for a sail but the wind had picked up and they weren't letting any boats go out.  That was probably ok with Justin as he had already voiced some apprehension knowing that he couldn't depend on Mimi and me for any assistance in the crew department.

We headed toward the long beach we visited yesterday (Pebble Beach), but when I saw the sign for Marloes Beach, I suggested we head there instead.  We had heard about this beach from another local earlier...another award winning beach.  It was perfect and perhaps my favorite Welsh beach to date.  We had to park and then walk down to the shore.  The rocks jutted out making multiple coves that allowed for privacy and seclusion rather than a long, long uninterrupted beach.  We played on the shore a bit then Gemma and Justin went to swim.  Or rather, Justin took Gemma out.  She was miserable.  She is not a water-hound.  When they came back we all  started walking down the beach.  At some point I told Justin I was turning around because the tide was coming in.  He and Gemma kept going out and of course, I started to fret.  All back together we headed back up the hill to get back to the car.  A quick stop at the house before dinner so Justin could get his meds before dinner at the Horse and Jockey.  I had a lamb shank that was to die for; Mimi had a steak and Justin had sea bass.  Mimi and I had chips and not surprisingly, we all had peas.  Everything they say about food in Britain is true.
Today was a fabulous day.  Very warm with great sunshine.  It was a perfect day for the beach.

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 18 July 2016
Day 18

Justin really doesn't feel well.  We went to the pharmacist this morning to get something to help.  He is pressing through but I know he feels puny.  We headed off westward toward St David's Cathedral today.  The roads are ubber narrow and the fences along the sides are covered with bushes.  I call them "haystacks" and even though there are wire fences under all the brush, they are a lot more forgiving than the stone walls I remember in Ireland. Today we drove through lots of haystacks.  I was driving and doing ok until in the middle of one of these haystacks, I met an oncoming tour bus.  I pulled over as far as I could, but the driver said there was no way he could make it.  Remember I am driving Lorayne's car and it has left hand drive.  I backed up a good two hundred yards in the haystack before we came to a space wide enough for us both to pass.  Good thing I am ok in reverse.
 
St David is the patron saint of Wales.  Situated in the most westerly part of Wales, the cathedral was built in the 9th century.  (How do they know that?  Really?  How do they know?).  The story goes that William the conqueror visited St David's to pray in 1081 and then in the 1100s the Pope decreed that two visits to St David equaled one visit to Rome... Thus the pilgrimage site was firmly established.  Mimi and I roamed a bit through both the ruins of the Bishops palace as well as through the refurbished church and the small town on this beautiful sunny afternoon.  

Inside the basilica at St David's

 I've read that a basilica can be so named because either the construction is such that the hulking has two naves and I've read that it is a basilica because the pope visited.  Both appear to be true according to Wikipedia.  In St David's , I learned that a cathedral is so named because it is the seat of the bishop.  So far, I haven't read anything to make me question that so I am going with it.
After getting the check mark in the church box for the day, we headed to the beach.  Pebble Beach, on the shore of the Celtic Sea, is a very long, sloping sandy beach.  Mimi and Justin and I walked and walked.  Gemma is ok with the beach, but she doesn't really like the water.  She ran and ran and was quite a happy pooch.  We were all very eager to soak in the sunshine.
Back to Dale for dinner at The Griffin Inn.  Mimi was especially pleased with her fish option given her gluten-free requirements.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather even more by sitting outside on the upper deck.
 

 

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 17July 2016
Day 17

Mimi, our friend from Kaiserslautern, arrived today.  She'll be here for about four days.  Like Justin and me, Mimi is also at a juncture in life where everything is changing.  She has resigned from her faculty/staff/advisor position in Clinical Social Work with Salisbury University/University of Maryland and will now be traveling-adjunct faculty.  For Mimi, this means she shows up on weekends every couple of months to teach and in the meantime, she can live anywhere.  With her ailing mom in London, she'll have the UK as a springboard for her exciting and robust travel plans.
After I picked up Mimi from the train station in nearby Milford Haven, we went home to get Justin and then headed for a drive and then a walk along the Coastal Path at Barafundle Beach.  Our AirBnb host, Ian, indicated this area was "almost like a resort."  We weren't sure what that meant and we didn't see it when we got there but there was no question that the area was beautiful.  Gemma also enjoyed the outing.  She got some time off lead and while she usually stays close by, she took the opportunity to take off after some birds.  She went way too far for my comfort level and stayed gone way too long.  Doesn't she know she is a little princess dog and is supposed to be sitting on a silk pillow?

Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales: 16 July 2016
Day 16

We awoke to a rainy, cold, gloomy weather today so it was ever so easy to stay in bed.  Our flat is in an old building that the owners are refurbishing a bit at a time.  They have a permanent tenant on the first floor and our flat on the third and fourth.  They are working on readying the second floor and then they will start to work on the second half of the building that seems to mirror this half.  They have their work cut out for them. 

Justin's cold is getting the better of him but he is trying to be a trouper.  I worked on paperwork while he tried to get better.  I am continuing my challenge with USPS to change our address.  Seems that in order to change your address from an APO/FPO address, you must have a .mil or a .gov email address and I have neither.  And, the only way to change your address is to do it online.  I started this process before we left Germany with no success.  The battle continues.  Dellene is handling our mail for now, but I know that is a huge burden.  There are several mail services that will notify you and then you get them to scan, forward or delete.  I think we will check into that after we get back to the states.
I also worked on getting this journal into a format where I can share.  I think I created a blog this morning but as yet, I haven't figured our how to share it... small steps.
We went to the local grocery store this afternoon and bought a rotisserie chicken and fresh green beans and broccoli for dinner.  The fresh fruit was oh, so tempting.  Cherries, apricots, strawberries and bananas all found their way home with us.  We watched "Teacher's Pet" this evening ...a Doris Day / Clark Gable b/w oldie.  I am totally taking advantage of this time ... and loving it!