Our holiday starts with me, Debbie and Lily-Rose driving to my parents on Wednesday for a lovely afternoon and evening meal before crossing south Wales in the rain for our 2.30am ferry from Pembroke to Rosslare. Jack and Maya are still on holiday in Devon and meeting us in Wales in a week. In Ireland we drive to Waterford Castle Hotel the venue for Mary and Tim's wedding and once on the island Lily-Rose and I walk to the small lighthouse and we all sleep in the car park waiting for our lodge to be ready. Pre wedding meal on the Thursday night sees me in a DJ and bow tie for the first time in my life and Debbie and Lily-Rose looking resplendent in long dresses. Good meal and lively banter until the early hours afterwards. Next morning our co-lodgers arrive and soon enough we're off to the castle for the wedding proper which goes off very well and after a band and disco ends in the bar with the Irish contingent singing traditional songs. A very late night. Next day Debbie and Lily-Rose go off to breakfast at the castle and then we're up and out of the lodge and via a beautifully windswept beach drive through thick fog to drop Lily-Rose off at a riding stables. Debbie and I visit the traffic jam that is Youghal before picking up the rider and making our way to our AirBnB in Dungarvan. The girls go off in the minibus to Mary and Tim's for an evening do but I'm shattered and fall asleep in the house.
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| Sacred Tree (or common or garden Oak) on Waterford island |
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| YouTubing bow tie tieing whilst swearmg a lot |
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| First time in a tux and bow tie - cheers Duncan! |
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| Honest, the meal was more fun that this (during a certain speech) |
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George, shaken but not stirred by the awful martini
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| Married! |
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| ... married? You're aving a laugh! |
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| The venue from the side |
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| The happy couple - dashing and beautiful (from left to right :-) |
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| Family snapshot |
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| Cutting the rather large cake |
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| The first dance... |
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| ... before it goes all céilí on us |
Sunday is lovely and sunny and after a wander around Dungarvan we picnic in our garden before going off to see Mary, Caroline and Faye at the Park Hotel where we watch Waterford draw in the hurling semi final.
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| Dungarvan |
Monday sees me cycle off to the Col de Vee and Debbie and Lily-Rose off to river walk and horse riding respectively before seeing friend Cath in Dungarvan. So I have a good start going the wrong way and only finding out when I don't reach Cappoquin for ages. Anyway I can go the other way up to the Vee. The worst part seems to be the beginning bit from the north side but soon enough I'm above the tree line and looking out over the fantastic views at the Vee. I thought this would be the top but there's a fair way to go before I start speeding downhill. I veer off to Lisburn rather than to Cappoquin but the road is terrible for the first few miles really bumpy which isn't what you want approaching 30mph. From Lisburn I go to Cappoquin then down to the coast and along the minor roads only having to get on the N25 for the last couple of miles into Dungarvan where I meet the three girls before cycling home to lie in a hot bath. The girls have had a great day too in the sun and we've all caught it. A long selection of views you won't recognise now follows but they're for me...
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| My destination - it's a long way to Tipperary |
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| Swift half and directions and explanation of hurling rules (hit the neck with the big stick) |
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| Getting closer, slowly |
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| Half way up the Vee - worst bit over - looking up the valley |
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| Looking down the valley |
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| Tipperary from the Vee |
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| From the Vee |
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| The Vee itself - OK a U in real life but a V on the map |
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| Whatever the mountain is that the Col de Vee is there for |
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| Looking north just past the Vee |
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| Downhill towards Waterford at last |
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| Lisburn Castle |
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| I followed this river for a long while, lovely |
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| Ardmore Beach |
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| Dungarvan within reach - and all downhill from here |
Tuesday we take Lily-Rose to the stables for riding whilst Debbie and I go for a lovely walk along a stream but otherwise have a fairly lazy day venturing out for chips in the evening by the quay. as was traditional en route for Kinsale. Wednesday we pack up and drive up into the mountains following my cycle route then dropping off the equestrian whilst Debbie and I wander over Whiting Bay sands. Then we drive to Rosslare harbour to catch the evening ferry to Pembroke then drive to the Gower where we're staying in a friends house (thanks Chris and Amanda). Arriving at 2.30am I'm still wide awake so we toast our arrival with wine.
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| Holy Well near river walk |
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| Near the Vee |
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| Whiting Bay |
Thursday is lazy but by the afternoon Bruce comes over to ours (he's camping on the Gower) and go for a walk out along the estuary between the Gower and Llanelli getting muddy (black like Weston-super-Mud) along the way. Lovely views though. Friday Debs goes for a run then I go for a cycle ride around the Gower and then we meet Bruce at his campsite just on Rhossili beach and go for a long walk to the northern edge before driving into Swansea to pick up Jack and Maya from the train station. Saturday is another dry day and although rain was forecast is mainly clear and hot in the sun. We go down to Bruce's again to soak up the sun. It's such a gorgeous beach and hardly anyone on it considering it's a weekend in the summer with a great weather forecast. Lily-Rose and I catch some waves body boarding then Bruce, Jack and me walk to the south end of the beach to see the remains of a viking ship buried in the sand. OK, 19th century but it did come from Sweden. All back to ours for a quick jam session then a lovely noodle meal. Then it's watching more GB cycling golds at the Rio Olympics.
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| Jim playing, Bruce tuning |
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| View over the estuary towards Llanelli |
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| Church near the Dolphin encountered on my Gower ride |
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| Rhossili Beach North End |
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| Windy out here |
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| Looking across to Worms Head |
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| The lads looking cool. As in it's windy out. |
Lazy Sunday afternoon down at the elusive Oxwich beach. The adults,well, oldies, go for a walk to the far end of the beach then after cricket and frisbee Bruce and I cool off in the sea. A cloudy day but pretty good considering the forecast and it's warm. Maya and Lily-Rose cook a lovely pasta meal for us all as we're entertaining Bruce again tonight. Monday sees me cycle to Burry Green to meet Bruce for our Worms Head outing but a water emergency back home means it's called off after rendezvousing. After that we meet Bruce at his local beach, weirdly we leave our place, turn right onto the main road and it's all straight on from there to Brucie's place. It's a scorching hot day and we stay on the beach baking until I have to move off for a while. Late pm we go to the camp site bistro where I'm overjoyed to find that they have a vegan burger but then disappointed when it's covered in mayo and then the waitress tells me that it's fried next to the meat burgers anyway. So Bruce has two meals and I have chips. After that we go back to the beach to watch and amazing sunset and the moon come up over the hills behind the beach.
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| Oxwich Beach - we wandered along to the end |
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| The gang at Oxwich |
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| What's more scary - Maya's foot or a grounded poisonous jellyfish |
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| Practicing the Dad Dab for V |
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| The site of my disappointing vegan burger at Bruce's campsite |
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| Lily-Rose creates a mermaid..... |
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| ..... which comes to life! |
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| Waitin' on the sunset |
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| Bruce wonders what that big white thing in the sky is..... |
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| ..... and there's a big red thing too..... |
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| ..... which is disappearing under the earth |
Tuesday sees me rendezvous with Bruce again and this time we make it to and along the Worms Head. It’s a great walk over a jagged rock causeway and then up a couple of hills to the very end of the worm. Apparently named after the Viking wurm for dragon rather than our English worm. I prefer worm though dragon may be more appropriate. After reaching the end we chat with a friendly ageing blue haired punk and then walk back past hoards who are venturing over and then we cycle back to Bruce’s place where we meet Debbie and the kids and spend the afternoon baking on the beach occasionally cooling off in the sea on the hottest day so far. We leave well before sundown to start the laborious process of packing and making our hosts place ship shape and Bristol fashion.
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| Worms Head from the mainland |
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| Seals basking on the rocks - they were big uns |
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| Bruce being dangerous on Devils Bridge |
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| "The Flying Vegan" (c) Bruce Shaw (photo & caption) |
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| Back along the Worm |
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| Our lower route back along the rock pools |
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| Rhossili Beach |
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| The intrepid explorers |
Wednesday morning we're up early to pack and clean the house. The kids are driven to Gowerton station where they get the train back to London - Maya going north London in readiness for AL results tomorrow and Jack and Lily-Rose to Balham. Debbie and I drive back stopping off at Lansdown racecourse to pay our respects to Matt. After lunch overlooking Weston and Bath we have a pretty decent drive back home considering it's still rush hour. Pizza for tea then unpack and just hang out. A relaxing way to end our very relaxing holiday. It's as hot in London as in Wales. Scorching.
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| Weston and Bath from Lansdown |
