day 11

Day 11

that's me

The fleas apparently have gone, but I feel their hurt all around, and probably will feel for several days. Too bad. Strange enough I have a lines of stings over my body. It's the Flea-Leys.

Today we had a glorious morning here in Pembroke. No clouds in the sky and a beautiful light out there. I was expecting a day like that for my plans of today.

I am in a nice B&B which is a bit more expensive than a hostel, but offer me a single room, and that helps when you are tired and need some rest. I was unfair when I commented the English breakfast last time. Today I had that kind of regular breakfast in a vegetarian version. I can live without it, but it is perfect for days when you need a lot of fuel to burn. And there I went.

I was uncertain about the bus I should take, and here this is crucial. I was lucky enough to catch the right bus at the right moment, and had the Day Rover Ticket, which allow me to take any bus during the day. The bus makes a tour around the south area of the coast, and there’s some very beautiful sights.

DEVIL’S QUOIT

the effects of the tide change: Freshwater West beach at 11:00 and at 13:30hs

My destiny was the Devil’s Quoit, which gets close to the Freshwater West beach. Nobody in the bus ever heard about the place (well, there were not many people there), so I just decided jump off and find it by myself. Actually, I virtually always do that.

I always do that

this is a memorial for the soldiers at the WWII, they are all around the country, as each city sent soldiers for the war

I knew I was close...

After walking a bit and having some problems finding the right direction (and this can mean walk for some kilometers in middle of nothing), it was there. The Devil’s Quoit looks a bit modest at first sight, because it is entirely build below the ground level. It looks like a stone until you get close to it. It looks like a very ancient kind of dolmen, or one that had fallen. But its structure have all the traces of these ancient burial chambers. Looking at it I imagine the gaze of having one of those quoits concluded.

I went back to the beach and strolled a bit in the beach and the mountains until get the bus to Pembroke again. I had kind of 50 minutes so I could explore the cliffs and the rocky beach, as the tide had lowered. It is really surprising the speed and how long it gets. No wonder the water mills using the power of water been in use here for so long. At this point I feel a bit sad that I could not spend - for instance- one or two days in a place like. I definally cannot.

KING’S QUOIT

the Manorbier Castle (top) and the Norman church

And once again I had the luck to find the right bus to the right place, the King’s Quoit in the little town of Manorbier. This little town is mostly known by its Norman castle and church, and the beach. The Manorbier castle is known to be the site where Gerard of Wales was born in 1146, one of the most influential character that formed the Welsh identity. He had Welsh and Norman blood and his family name was Gerard de Barri, and studied in Oxford before going to teach at Paris university. He was a religious several times quoted to be the bishop of St. Davids, but could never fulfill this will, for it would be very dangerous a man of his influence in such position. In fact he almost caused a separatist moviment due to his nationalist positions.

As a very reputed scholar he wrote several books, the most important of them traveling through Wales and Ireland when assisting an official missions. His descriptions of the places are some of the most important documents of its age, and despite his nationalism, essencial today for any researcher of the time. He went to Rome three times, and met the Pope twice.

they can only guess how he looked like

Finding the King’s Quoit was much easier than the Devil’s Quoit. As I went through the trail and again the quoit appeared in front of me I had this feeling that it wasn’t as big as I thought, but again after a while I got not only the site but also the size of it was appropriate for what it was meant.

These Quoits make me think of them as a kind of pre-Stonehenge monument. The blue stones from Stonehenge came from the area north of Pembrokeshire, so it is possible that we are not dealing with totally apart traditions.

king's quoit

I left the King’s Quoit thinking about these strange structures erected by an little known people so long time ago, and how it still can touch us. And I remember the visit Cardiff Museum when looking at a skeleton found me and the museum’s specialist got the same surprise noting how modern it looked. We looked to each other and we knew that skull was like one of us.

the beautiful site of the King's Quoit

After that I went to the coastal city of Tenby just to stay for some moments of leisure and know a new city before back to Pembroke. Tenby is a seashore city, built over a cliff, with a shore. Looks a bit like St. Ives in Cornwall. The cities close to the sea has a special atmosphere. The city is cited in the Book of Taliesyn, as old as the 9th century, and is known also to be the first city in Wales where oranges arrived, brought by portuguese merchants. I was in Tenby just a few days after a tragic accident envolving 36 kids an 4 adults when a sand bank where they been walking fell down. the effects of the tide here are not to be neglected in any way.

Tenby