Monday,
May 15th.
Our plane
landed in England about 5:30. The flight was okay and I managed to get some
sleep thankfully. Bruce and I took the one train together and then we parted.
He headed home and I took the express train to Paddington where I bought a ticket
for Exeter to go see John. The train ride was about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
John picked me up at the station at about noon. We went back to his place and I
met Lindsay for a minute as she was just heading out. He got me sorted in the
bedroom on the third floor. After catching up a bit, we went for a shopping
walk. We stopped for a Cornish pastie and a coffee and then bought some
groceries for tomorrow’s camping trip. When we got back I worked on the blog
and he organized and packed up the van. He has a new Volkswagen camper van.
Later in the evening when Lindsay came back we hung out for a bit before an
early bed, as I was very tired.
Tuesday,
May 16th.
We were up early and drove northeast to get around the Bristol Channel and cross the Prince of Wales bridge into Wales. We stopped at a petrol station centre for a bit of lunch and then carried on west past Cardiff and Swansea. John had researched a couple of castles that we might visit. So, we stopped at Manorbier Castle. This castle was a fortified home, it was not used for any military purpose. We wandered around exploring and enjoying the lovely weather. It is a stately 11 century castle known for its commanding turrets, sweeping sea views and gardens. When we left we walked to a local cafĂ© and had a nice lunch before driving further west to the town of Pembroke home of Pembroke Castle. This one is huge, well maintained and historically very relevant. Henry VIII’s father was born here. We had a very lively entertaining tour guide who obviously loved her job. She knew all the names, dates and details of events. Now it was time to head to our campsite. We drove to the furthest western point of Pembrokeshire along highways that eventually narrowed to single lane lanes bordered by tall hedgerows covered in wildflowers. We arrived at West Hook Farm about 6 and immediately began to set up. John had a large tent that attaches to the van and a blow-up bed for me to sleep on. It was sunny but quite cool and windy, so when we got everything organized we had a salad for dinner and had a beer inside the van. We relaxed and enjoyed the view of the sea and several smaller oil tankers that were moored there. The camp is situated on a well-maintained field with about 60 camp spots, only about 20 were full. There is no electricity but a nice block of showers and toilets. I went for a short exploratory walk and discovered where the boat is that we are taking tomorrow, an easy five minutes walk away. We turned in at dusk as we were both tired.
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