Wales December 2024 - Day 3: Noswyl nadolig hapus!

This morning we had a lie-in until 6am! Admittedly we didn’t surface from our bedrooms until just after 9am as we were both engrossed in catching up on our ‘admin’ stuff, you know like sorting out photos and writing up the blog amongst other things. By 9:15 am we’d donned our ‘yoga’ gear and were partaking in a very chilled out 17 minute yoga routine with Adrienne….oh, how very different it was from yesterday’s yoga session!

Breakfast was another fine affair; toast, cheese infused scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Over breakfast we deliberated on where we were going to walk today and as we were at the mercy of Mother Nature we consulted, for about the fifth time this morning,  the weather forecast. It didn’t seem that bad really, cloudy with a chance of rain at 13.00. We then consulted the welcome pack which had a number of local walks listed and one of them was a walk to Caswell bay, a round trip of  approximately an hour and a half. That was it then, Caswell bay it was. We took a photo of the instructions, you know just in case we got lost, although it was a walk along the coast path so one can’t really go wrong, can they. We dressed appropriately for inclement weather including Winston who wore his fetching red jacket and set off. It was a lovely morning and we were looking forward to a bracing scenic walk and breathing in the fresh sea air.

Following the instructions we ventured forth from the bungalow and walked the first 200 yards to the end of the road. Then, if we turned left we’d see a narrow path. Well neither of us could ‘see’ a narrow path so we reread the instructions. It said turn left and you will see a narrow path between a wall and privet hedge.  Well neither of us could see a wall or a privet hedge so we scoured our surroundings when suddenly there it was. However, this wasn’t just any narrow path, this was the teeniest tiniest narrow path we’ve ever seen that was squeezed in between a wall and a hedge with just enough room for one person. So, having finally found said path, we made our way uphill to where the path split and in accordance with the instructions we turned right. Hurrah, we’d made it to the cliff top.

It was a lovely scenic walk along the cliff path albeit rather muddy and stony underfoot and as we were walking we noticed there was another path running parallel to our path that was much further down the cliff.  It wasn’t a rural path like what we were walking on, it was a proper concrete type path and it was flat, whereas our path was quite undulating. That’s handy to know for the way back!

After about twenty minutes we came across the Surfside cafe overlooking a small bay and decided to stop for coffee and of course, making the most of the good weather we sat outdoors overlooking the sea. It was lovely. We actually thought we were at Langland bay and that the sandy bay we could see round the next headland was Caswell bay, but we were wrong. Caswell bay was at least another thirty minutes away. We consulted the map-app to determine exactly where we were and it seemed we were at a bay called Rotherslade, previously known as ‘little Langland. So now we know. We continued on and came to Langland ‘big’ beach, walked along the sands then followed the coast path round for another twenty minutes until we came to Caswell bay. We remember coming here previously one July but we didn’t even make it out of the car as Winston was with us and dogs weren’t allowed on the beach at that time of year. This time was different, so we let him off the lead, he had a run round and then we about turned and retraced our steps back home.

Well, the weather forecasters were spot on with the weather today. As soon as we left Caswell bay at 13:05pm it started to drizzle.  It wasn’t exactly raining raining, but it was that wet drizzle that gets you completely wet. The mist came down and visibility out to sea was non-existent. Just shows in an instant how quickly the weather can change. We trudged on and we were going to walk the lower path but decided against it on this occasion due to a) we were getting very extremely wet b) the path would take us along to the lighthouse area which would mean we’d have further to walk to get home and c) Winston wasn’t at all happy at getting wet! Decision made, we carried on and made it home, dripping wet where we de-robed, changed into our hufflebuffs, put the apple cake in the oven to warm and poured ourselves a good healthy glass of Canyero salted caramel rum. Mmmm, so delicious!

We settled ourselves in front of the fire, me on the sofa, Maice on the chair, did some more admin, I had a brief nap then we put the TV on to watch Paddington 2. The stupid TV was playing up again….who knows what we’re doing wrong but finally we managed to sort out catch-up and laughed our way through the film. Before we knew it, it was supper time. On the menu tonight was extra large pasta shells topped with Franca’s delicious puttanesca sauce. Delicious as always.

Feeling quite stuffed we retired to the lounge and was about to watch Vera when Abi rang, so we had a FaceTime chat with her after which we donned our wet weather gear and took Winston out for his final walk of the day, you know, so he could carry out his final ablutions. Winston on the other hand had other ideas.  Walk he would not. After just 150 yards he planted his paws firmly on the ground and refused to budge another inch. No amount of cajoling him or coaxing him with treats would make him budge and when we relaxed

the lead he about turned and literally galloped back home.  Well Winston, let’s hope you don’t feel the need to go out in the middle of the night because you’ll just have to cross your legs until the morning…….

Nos da

M&A and Sir Winston xxx