Our story begins in the car park of a well known service station in the South-West of England. The time is 5am and a maroon car full of pillows, tripods and puzzle books wakes up to glorious sunshine to start its 1800 mile roadtrip across three countries. We had our mandatory breakfast of sweets, petrol station tripe and energy drinks and soon we were at the bridge to pay (yes that's right-PAY??) the ferryman (ok so he was in a booth) to give us safe passage into Wales.
The nest begins......
The list of sites to try and get to before making an even bigger crossing into Ireland was scribbled on the back of some random bits of paper with vague road names. A quick stop in Tescos provides us with the entertainment for the roadtrip. These purchases include a Tom Hanks box set for some reason (sadly missing BIG but you can't have everything) and some felt activity playsets (gotta keep the kids happy).
This was a disappointment
This one was much better!
Stopping briefly at Cwm Cokeworks where we wandered into boggy land wearing our silly shoes and dyeing our feet a rusty brown colour, we then proceeded to Tenby in time to visit the fort before the sun went down.
I'm not sure why but this site was probably one of my favourites of the whole trip. It reminded me of the Famous Five episode where they rowed out the island and found a secret tunnel. Naturally during the course of the visit, conversation wandered to the subject of favourite characters. Speed's favourite was Anne (for some reason :crazy) I always thought Anne was wimpy and cried all the time. George was my favourite because she was always the keenest and you could tell she had underlying lesbian tendencies.
George, Julian, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog!
The tide was way out when we wandered across the beach and we were up and in the fort in minutes with no one batting a lash. This place also reminded me of a book I read a couple of years ago called "I Capture the Castle" about an eccentric family living in a remote castle somewhere in England (highly reccommend it actually). The sun was so strong and the temptation to mooch around on the roof for the rest of the afternoon was strong but after we'd photographed all the nooks and grannies, we made our way back down the cobbly and barnacled steps.
ERROR! The tide had come in further than we were expecting. I mean, it wasn't drastic but I can't swim and I'm not keen on water so I had to be carried to shore on Speed's back with all the camera equipment on the back too and tripods dangling in the water. The expressions on people's face were classic. Creatures from the deep!
Here's a little thing from Wikipedia about St. Catherine's Island.
St Catherine's Island (Welsh: Ynys Catrin) is a small tidal island linked to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales, by a beach at low tide. The island is home to a fort, constructed to protect Pembroke Dock and completed in 1870. In 1907, the island was sold privately for 500 pounds. St. Catherine's Fort has four main bedrooms, 16 turret rooms and an old banquet hall with a life size statue of Queen Victoria and an old, half-broken suit of armour. In the basement there is an old armoury which used to hold 444 barrels of gunpowder. At one time the fort was used as a zoo.
It is known colloquially as St Catherine's Rock and the area directly in front of it is known as the Catterns.
And on with the pictures
Jelly shooooeeees!
The nest begins......
The list of sites to try and get to before making an even bigger crossing into Ireland was scribbled on the back of some random bits of paper with vague road names. A quick stop in Tescos provides us with the entertainment for the roadtrip. These purchases include a Tom Hanks box set for some reason (sadly missing BIG but you can't have everything) and some felt activity playsets (gotta keep the kids happy).
This was a disappointment
This one was much better!
Stopping briefly at Cwm Cokeworks where we wandered into boggy land wearing our silly shoes and dyeing our feet a rusty brown colour, we then proceeded to Tenby in time to visit the fort before the sun went down.
I'm not sure why but this site was probably one of my favourites of the whole trip. It reminded me of the Famous Five episode where they rowed out the island and found a secret tunnel. Naturally during the course of the visit, conversation wandered to the subject of favourite characters. Speed's favourite was Anne (for some reason :crazy) I always thought Anne was wimpy and cried all the time. George was my favourite because she was always the keenest and you could tell she had underlying lesbian tendencies.
George, Julian, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog!
The tide was way out when we wandered across the beach and we were up and in the fort in minutes with no one batting a lash. This place also reminded me of a book I read a couple of years ago called "I Capture the Castle" about an eccentric family living in a remote castle somewhere in England (highly reccommend it actually). The sun was so strong and the temptation to mooch around on the roof for the rest of the afternoon was strong but after we'd photographed all the nooks and grannies, we made our way back down the cobbly and barnacled steps.
ERROR! The tide had come in further than we were expecting. I mean, it wasn't drastic but I can't swim and I'm not keen on water so I had to be carried to shore on Speed's back with all the camera equipment on the back too and tripods dangling in the water. The expressions on people's face were classic. Creatures from the deep!
Here's a little thing from Wikipedia about St. Catherine's Island.
St Catherine's Island (Welsh: Ynys Catrin) is a small tidal island linked to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales, by a beach at low tide. The island is home to a fort, constructed to protect Pembroke Dock and completed in 1870. In 1907, the island was sold privately for 500 pounds. St. Catherine's Fort has four main bedrooms, 16 turret rooms and an old banquet hall with a life size statue of Queen Victoria and an old, half-broken suit of armour. In the basement there is an old armoury which used to hold 444 barrels of gunpowder. At one time the fort was used as a zoo.
It is known colloquially as St Catherine's Rock and the area directly in front of it is known as the Catterns.
And on with the pictures
Jelly shooooeeees!
