Today was the first day the weather has really affected our holiday. The forecast had been for showers/rain but it turned out to be much heavier than we expected. We had decided not to go to Cardiff today and to spend the first part of the morning getting caught up on the computer. We would have been better to go out early and do the catch up in the late afternoon but hind sight is always 20-20.

We set off for Llanelli, where John wanted to see the rugby ground Stradey Park where the All Blacks lost their last game in Wales . This ground is famous for having cooking pots attached to the top of the rugby posts. We considered going on the A road and geocaching on the way but we wanted to keep our options open for going on to the West coast. There was also one Heritage property that appealed on the south coast. When we arrived in the town we found the rugby field immediately. This turned out to be a new ground that replaced Stradey Park, the home of Llanelli rugby for almost 130 years. The famous scoreboard and clock from Stradey Park and the ground's centenary entrance gates have been moved to Parc y Scarlets. The stadium’s red seating has "Scarlets", "Sosban" and “West is Best” picked out in white. John went in to take a couple of photos then asked about the old ground at reception. He was told only the North stand was still there and the rest of the ground has been bulldozed, so he decided not to look further.

We found a cache nearby then looked for a place for lunch. It was cloudy so we decided to head for the West Coast . However the skies closed in so we decided to return to the hotel caching on the way. The countryside was lovely and green and we thought a drive through it would also be nice.

As usual this took us to some interesting places. We stopped at a couple of fords, one of which we crossed. We also went to 2 churches. The first church was of special historical importance as this is the first place where the Baptist’s established their presence in the area. A very unusual feature of this church is its baptism well. This is fed by a spring and is filled by closing a small sluice gate. It has a set of steps down into the baptistery. By then it was showery but we were able to see the well and find the cache. The next spot was at a place that would have a wonderful outlook. However by then it was more rainy than showery and it was windy on the tops. It felt like August in NZ.

I was reminded of the quote from Billy Connelly that there is no such thing as bad weather just wrong clothing. We had clothing that we would usually wear in autumn in NZ but didn’t have proper wet weather gear so we were chilly when we made it back to the car. It had been about a 100m walk!! We had had emails saying we were lucky to be missing the rain in NZ. It was more pleasant at lower levels and we did drive through a town with lovely brick houses before visiting anther cache. It was hidden near what first appeared to be an ancient stone circle, but is less than 100 years old. The Welsh National Eisteddfod [pronounced eye-steth-vod] (a festival to celebrate Welsh culture) came to the town in 1922 and then in 1970. As part of this festival, a stone circle is traditionally created for a druidic ceremony in each town the eisteddfod visits. This circle dates back to the first visit but was also used in 1970.

We were heading for another spot up a hill when I said that it looked high, the weather was getting worse and I thought we should head back to the hotel. The way back actually took us further up the hill and to the cache site but neither of us were prepared to go the 50m required to look. By then it was heavy rain and low cloud. We were pleased to get to the motorway where the speed limit had been dropped to 50 then 40 and finally 30mph (although no-one actually did 30). We now know why Wales is so green.

We came back to the hotel to warm up and have a cuppa before venturing out for a carvery tea. We then went back to blob out in the warmth.