We accidentally slept in until almost 9 this morning so had a slightly later start than planned, but we were up and out the door by 10. Our initial drive was the longest, heading over to the far western coast of Pembrokeshire to Abereiddy, which is famous for having the ‘blue lagoon’, an abandoned slate quarry on the sea. It’s used for coasteering excursions and swimming now, although only as part of groups. After parking the car on a pebble beach, we headed off along the coastal path that wound around the cliffs and then popped out above the lagoon. It was a spectacular view, although with the slippery rocks underfoot we were definitely staying way back from the edge. We followed a path winding up the coast and around, showing incredible views over the coast to the north - and even the very faint outline of Ireland in the distance! After a bit of a wander and taking a few photos though, we headed back to the car - the Pembrokeshire coastal trail follows the entire coast so we didn’t have the time to do that!

Back in the car, we followed the windy coastal road through windy hedge roads along to St David’s. I was really shocked when we got there at how many people were flooding into the town. We just stayed at least 2 metres away from people as we followed the path in to the Bishop’s Palace and Cathedral complex. The Bishop’s Palace was a ruin, but was incredibly impressive-looking, and we were disappointed that it was closed. The cathedral was enormous, and we were able to go in there for a quick loop before heading out the other side. We did a quick loop of the town, but the masses of people were freaking us out too much so we followed Google’s direction down to the coast to St Non’s Chapel. We’d originally planned to drive there but it was actually only an 18 minute walk so we took our time admiring the much quieter surroundings of hedgerows and coastal fields. After a few twists and turns through gates between fields, we popped out on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Walk again (although far around from where we were before) and found ourselves next to the rebuilt St. Non’s Chapel, as well as the ruins of the old chapel and St Non’s Well. According to legend, this is where St. David (Wales’ patron saint) was born – to St. Non, his mother, and the well sprung to life at the moment of his birth. Regardless of legend, it was beautiful, perched on the cliffs above the coast, and we took a moment to explore and check it out before we headed back to the car (managing to bypass the town, thank goodness).

We were both pretty hungry by this stage so we made our way via tiny wiggly hedge-lined coastal roads down through Broadhaven and up (and back down) to Little Haven – definitely up there with one of the most challenging roads I’ve driven on. Very reminiscent of our experiences of driving around Port Isaac and Padstow in Cornwall. Unfortunately after all the driving, the pub we’d been heading for – that was listed in my ‘Best Pubs’ book, was closed! Disappointing. Fortunately it was not the only pub in town so we managed to get a table at the Castle Inn, right on the waterfront. It was a good little spot and I had a spectacular Caesar salad and Peter had a burger. We tried the local ale, which was delicious, and then got back in the car and navigated our way out of town.

Our next stop for the afternoon was Pembroke Castle. We had a spectacular view of the castle coming across the little river and I was surprised at how big it was for such a small town! We had to do a few loops of the town before we finally found a car spot, but then we were perfectly timed to get an entry ticket for 3:45. Once we’d confirmed our tickets with the people on the gate, in we went. It was enormous! You walked in the gate and were faced with a big lawn, and a girl on the gate explained that there were four one-way systems in place for pathways throughout parts of the castle. We started by climbing up a tiny spiral staircase up into the tower above the gate which had a timeline of the castle’s history. Unfortunately because of the one-way system, it was backwards! This was very confusing and a bit of information overload after a long day, so we had a bit of a skim and then kept walking. We explored the different parts of the castle, climbing up and down staircases and admiring the pretty (albeit rainy) views from the battlements. Despite parts of the castle being closed, we both felt that we got a great explore and it was nice to be able to visit a historic site.

When our hour (one-hour parking) was up, we headed back to the car and started the short drive across to Tenby, a little coastal town where we’d planned to have some dinner. Once again, we couldn’t believe how many people were around! After quite a few loops of the town, we found a car park that had card payment on the meter (a constant struggle this week, who has coins??) and left the car to wander into town. We passed through a huge gate in what must have been the old town wall and found ourselves in small streets passing cute coloured houses and shops, winding back and forth down towards the harbour. Our first stop was at Tenby Harbour Brewing to grab a takeaway bottled stout and a half pint of a seaweed ale (definitely as weird as it sounds, and not that nice) and an amber ale. We’d planned to eat in the Brewery’s beer garden, but it turned out to just be the alley neighbouring the brewery and it was jam-packed with people so we got scared off. Instead, we wandered down to the harbour with our beers and sat looking out over the water. After a little sit, we headed up the hill to the ‘castle’ – just a tiny little tower, really – that sat on a promontory out from the town. We had a great view over St Catherine’s Island, which has a fortress which looks far more like a castle! At this point we were both getting hungry, but couldn’t figure out where to eat. Every fish and chip shop we passed had a huge line, and none of the pubs had outdoor seating (the requirement in Wales at the moment), so we got back in the car and planned to stop at a Chinese restaurant not too far from the hotel.

When we got to the restaurant, we made an order but were told it would be a 50-minute wait. Luckily we were only a 5 minute drive from the bnb so we headed back there and started to watch the RuPaul’s finale while we waited. At 8 we drove back to the restaurant and grabbed our food, which we then ate while enjoying a beer from the Gower Brewery and watching RuPaul’s!