Hello London

I have already shared with you the joy and comfort of Rosa Norte's and my accommodation at Mon's place in Kew Gardens.  I had no plan for London except that I wanted to walk part of the Thames Path.  Rosa also had no plan beyond pleasure, so we took the easy way out and went local, ie Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

I have been to Kew Gardens twice before.  The first time I was on my own and all I seemed to see were red salvias.  The second time I was with Mum and my cousins Cynthia and John.  That time we looked at a lot of rhododendrons and azaleas.  Third time lucky, and lazy.  We caught the Kew Explorer land train.  Well!  Kew Gardens is huge!  A daisy meadow!

Photographer Norte was captivated by a heron we originally thought was a bronze statue

then she saw the ducklings

and she really wanted to see the Chinese Pavilion.

After a lot of looking we both got interested in food but decided we are too high, mighty and exotic for the caff

so we settled comfortably in the Brasserie.  It was a hot summer day and wan poms clamored to sit outside.  We of warmer climes enjoyed the rarified atmosphere of Charles Darwin's dining room, sitting among display cases, rare books and mahogany cabinets.  Refinement and a most attentive waiter.  We paid for it!  But what's money for?

free entertainment on the walk home

Not sure if it was that night or the next that Mon took us to her local for dinner,

during which I noticed that Rosa Norte was a walking piece of art.

The next day I decided that I really needed to see Carnaby Street, so off we tubed.

I was shocked that it was so nothing - but tourists.  Rosa, who grooved there in the 60s and 70s was incredulous that it had become so sanitised and just another mall,

even with its own sad mural.  I did see one inspiring window display,

hardly nouveau or Vivienne Westwood, but looks I'd happily sport.

The plucky Norte led us on to Piccadilly Circus and Eros.

I have to admit I got totally lost from there.  It was all so wonderfully London.

Liberty's

Possibly inside Liberty's

Fortnum & Mason?  If so, we indulged in decadent Afternoon Tea.

After such decadence we decided to escape to greenery, Green Park actually.  We resisted the deck chairs and strolled on, finally emerging, to our mutual astonishment, at Buckingham Palace.  After loitering with hundreds of others and, rudely, not being invited in, we found a seat and plonked ourselves down.  For quite a while.

Fortunately, a family group arrived  - children dressed in summer shorts, women soooo Liberty, and men in sharp suits with bowler hats and umbrellas.

The children pestered the men for the brollies and bowlers and proceeded to march around singing The British Grenadiers.  All rather astonishing but good entertainment as we willed our legs back into walk mode.

Then came Monday, and it was just about all over.  A walk along the Thames:

glimpsing  Kew Palace once home to George III and Queen Charlotte

a London full of possibilities

but almost rural

start of the Grand Union Canal

I was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith and my first home was in Hayes (CHT) - a 30 minute walk to Grand Union Canal.  Perhaps Mum and Dad pushed me in my pram??  I am intrigued by how my life may have been had we stayed in England.

But now it's off to Heathrow by tube: Terminal 5 for Rosa, Terminal 3 for me.

fueling for the flight

leaving a rainy London

Then the long flight home - easy in and out of Singapore, dastardly difficult to get back into Australia.  Borderforce is a force bordering on insanity in my opinion.  Of course our contretemps is almost forgiven, never forgotten.  But all the other memories will delight me forever.

Goodbye Wales

 Sad but true, the day must come...

but I can travel there anytime with this lovely little book.

And now it's your turn.

The Floosie sent me this card before I left for Wales.  She said: "I thought this scene looked a little 'Wales-ish'".  What do YOU reckon?

It certainly captures the joy I feel there.  I didn't see any fox hunters, thank goodness.  But there's the book cupboard at Mathry, the ferry from Fishguard to Ireland, the light-house at Strumble Head (although I didn't go there this time), windy roads, a humpy bridge, gabled houses, treeless hills and a cathedral with a ruined Bishops Palace.  Not a bad guess.

The Other Side

One day as I walked the cliff tops, I saw a lurking man.  This was a little unsettling given my evening reading:

However, the lurker was an archeologist using a drone to monitor a copper mine from the seaward side.  Thrilling stuff.  I have discovered since that he is Dr Julian Whitewright and here's some info about the mine, including results from the day I saw him and learned of the existence of https://rcahmw.gov.uk/.  Anyway, the thrilling bit is that I realised I had never seen the coast from the sea and I remembered my childhood love of boats and wild seas.

after mackerel fishing in Cornwall

So I went to Falcon Boats (which stocks lots of Jackie Morris' work) and booked a trip to Skomer by rib.  I've never particularly wanted to go to Skomer Island but I was impatient for the sea.

David dropped me off at St Justinians Life Boat Station and off I set.

A rib is a small rigid inflatable boat.  It sits low in the water.  It's exhilarating

until an engine conks out and we bob around silently.  Ffion, our captain, assures us we're safe - we've got another engine but she decides we have to turn home.  It's the boat's first trip after a regular maintenance check, and she's not happy!  We can have a refund or book another trip.  I have no easy way of getting back to St Davids so set off for the marathon clifftop walk (see my earlier The Reason post).

With a bit of thinking I decide to skip Skomer and book myself on a circumnavigation of Ramsey Island.  Ramsey is a bit like Maria Island to me - a protecting presence, otherworldly though having been farmed by mere mortals, perhaps on behalf of the gods

here comes our boat

making safe for boarding

nearing Ramsey

so close

there are caves

it's a RSPB bird reserve

lessons to be learned from lichen

Then plop!

wassat?

little darlings

following us

while the clan looks on

until it's time to say goodbye.

I've been right around the island!

back through The Bitches

Carn Lledi from the sea!

nearly back - the new Lifeboat Station

but we're returning to the St Justinian's of family holidays

and there goes my boat

I can't communicate in words the effect of that trip.  Euphoria?  Incredible lightness of being?  Yes to both.  The tour  guide, local born and bred, was perfect - knowledgeable and still in awe of his world.  The boat chugged and lunged through the water as I remember from that childhood fishing trip, always requiring the anticipatory stance for the next roll or plunge.  The passage through The Bitches was as life affirming as I'd been led to believe from stories of shipwreck and rescue.  And I've seen the far side of the island and the cliffs that I love from the sea.

This lightness, this joy, this feeling  of completeness lasted for days.  And its memory will buoy me for ever.

Didn't we have a lovely time

the day we went to Broadhaven.  It wasn't all nostalgia and meditation.  New memories were made too.  David and Frances decided on a day trip.  I wasn't sure whether I'd ever been to Broadhaven.  We set off towards Haverfordwest but this time took a road along Newgale Beach that I didn't know existed. Here's adventure!  

It was one of the prettiest roads I've ever been on - beautiful drive along the clifftops and then briefly inland through dreamy villages and country lanes.  This is the area where High Haven, the church for sale mentioned in my previous post, is.  We drove towards Broadhaven and, as we approached, were greeted by the most amazing sight.

We parked and investigated.

We'd stumbled upon the White Horse Kite Flyers.

What a  joyous way to enjoy the beach with family and friends.

Joy upon joy, there was also a seafront pizza cafe

where I had my only pizza for the entire holiday.

and some pigs don't fly

But they were flying the day I joined St David and his sidekick Rhygfarch the Wise for a tour of his city.

It was silly and very good fun.  The route from Oriel y Parc, through town, to the cathedral was one I walked just about every day but it was interpreted through young irreverent eyes.  Click here and  You too can do it!  Can't promise you'll get to hold the leek at the end though.