Wales 5-6 June Fishguard, Cilgerran, St David's

On Sunday we explored the northern towns of Fishguard and Newport.  Fishguard, as the name suggests, is a fishing port and also a large truck/semi/car ferry terminal serving this region of often very narrow roads.  It was a sunny day and good weather for the small sailing boats which we watched from the ruins of an old fort. 

  In 1779 a privateer Black Prince captured a local ship and demanded ransom of £1000.  When the town refused to pay, the pirates bombarded the town, damaging the church and houses.  So a fort was completed by 1781, manned by 8 cannons, and it became the headquarters of the Fishguard Fencibles.  In February 1797 French ships appeared and alarm guns were fired, but the Fensibles (sensibles?) withdrew.  By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, 1815, the fort had fallen into disrepair.  
  It was a good place to eat lunch – wildflowers, history, coastal scenery, sailing boats.

We continued up the coastal road to Newport where we hoped to visit the National Park office but it closed at 1pm, 30 minutes earlier.  A park off Long Road led down to the Coastal Path, beside marsh and an estuary, and eventually to a beach.  A very pleasant walk – I watched seagulls, a swan, a grey heron, shelducks and many unidentified birds; David found a small amphibian resembling a baby cane toad, probably a toadlet.    He also noticed a construct of a man paddling a kayak made from plaited reeds, just sitting in a patch of wasteland adjoining Newport Boat Club (members only!). 

The Welsh Wildlife Centre, Cilgerran, is just outside Cardigan and FREE unless you use their parking area (a necessity if you have no pushbike), which costs £3 after 1pm or nothing after 6pm (I think it’s open 24 hours, as there’s no way of locking it up).  We had a nice walk for an hour and saw a few animals – water buffalo, birds.

Can you find the imported buffaloes - 4 cows and 4 calves?

   However, we did not see otters or badgers – not likely before dusk, which would be 9pm at this time of year.  The skies were threatening but rain held off until we drove home.

Monday 6 June

Tried a local walk which led through a denuded forest to a quarry so we gave up.  Walked up to the small village of Rosebush and found the sign to Pant Mawr cheese.  The farmer’s wife gave us 6 cheeses to taste – we bought Drewi-Sant, like a thick brie,  washed with mead.

After lunch we drove to St. David’s, some 44km west and the place where St David set forth for Ireland.  We visited St David’s Cathedral – no photos allowed.  It was a handsome building in grey stone, very plain but filled with many 12^th C tombs topped with full-sized prone statues of the person, mostly a knight or bishop.

Next door was the ruin of the Bishop’s Palace. 

The National Trust shop ladies were most enthusiastic about finding us an interesting walk, even escorting us out and walking 100 m to set us on the right track for St Non’s Chapel.  St Non was the mother of St David, c AD475.  We found the Passionist retreat next to the modern chapel, 1934, not the ancient ruin, apparently nearby.

However, the walk along a cliff and back through town was very enjoyable.