Day 7 - December 2 - St Davids and Newgate

8:30 am - After a good night's rest, John and I breakfasted, then came to the the room to remember the Lord in breaking bread together -- it is good to remember the One who gave us himself as the best gift we could ever receive -- to be called his sheep, his children, his friends. Then we went to the lounge in the lobby to read the paper.

12:30 pm - The British call half past the hour -- as in this case -- "half-twelve". We left for St Davids to see the cathedral in the smallest city in Wales. Umar assumed correctly that it would be much easier to navigate the cathedral with a stroller than to attempt a castle. The wind was just unbelievable. On the way over to St David's we saw gnarly trees, old structures, sheep on the hills, etc. You have to get a camera permit to take pictures inside the cathedral, so most of the pictures taken there are outdoor shots. In the cathedral's treasure room, there was a timeline around the perimeter of the room up by the ceiling. St David is believed to have founded the monastery there in the 6th century AD. Here is what their publication says, "The Cathedral, begun in 1181, is at least the fourth church to have been build on a site reputed to be that on which St David himself founded a monastic settlement in the 6th century." There were crypts inside dating back as far as that. The cathedral had a magnificent pipe organ with a wall of bass pipes that were rectangular wood about 10 x 12 inches and about 10 feet tall. We also silver utensils -- chalices, flagon, plates, etc., the ornamental cloak worn by the bishop for Queen Victoria's coronation.

There was a cafe called the Refectory across a courtyard from the main sanctuary building. We had a delicious lunch there -- John and I each had quiche. He had roasted new potatoes and I had a salad, carrots and a mixture of lentils, rice, onions, tomatoes and celery.

Outside the Cathedral is an old cemetery and on the way to and from the car, there are ruins of old church buildings visible. John got pictures of those.

Next, we took the road from St Davids straight (winding-straight-narrow like Wingfield Lake Road only narrower) west to the shore near Ramsey Island. We got out of the car at the end of that road at a place called St Justinian. We "walked" along the narrow footpath at the top of the rocks and "stood" to take some pictures. I say "walked" and "stood" because we were in about 70 mph winds. It seemed at times it would pick us up and blow us inland. I fell over once and lost my shoe and thought it would fly away before I could get it back on. John and Umar helped me get to a safe place to stand while they got some pictures. We barely could walk down the path -- believe me, it is hard to describe how windy, cold and invigorating that climb was. We truly had to have hind's feet.

From there we drove back to St Davids and then over to Newgale. (John joked that we had already experienced one gale, now were going to a "new" gale). Newgale village has a beach and a seawall. It is often used by surfers -- but obviously is too cold for that now. John, Umar, Ruth and Chris walked along the seawall, but I use the word "walked" again loosely. John has some pictures of Chris and Ruth leaning against the wind. It reminds me of the newscasters who report live when hurricanes are passing over.

On the way back to Haverforwest, we went by two castles, but we were not up close to them. After we got back to Wolfscastle, we had a pot of coffee and came up to rest.

See pictures here