Posted: Monday 26th September 2016 by StayWild
Paddle in the Ocean
A catch up after a lengthy time gone...
Hello! It's been a while!
I promise you I have been staying wild, but sometimes, I fall off the 'organised adult' carriage and onto the 'panic stricken, work coming out of my ears, where is all the time going, i'm very tired' carriage.
It's been over a month since my last blog and a lot has happened. We have welcomed in Autumn and to be honest, I can't say i've noticed that much of a weather change... but I have delved into the back of my wardrobe to get out my warmer shoes.
I decided this month that I wanted to go on a day trip. I was determined to be in the car before sunrise and spend the day exploring, photographing, drinking tea at cafes along the way, eating the gigantic picnic I was going to make and finally making it home tired but happy. And that I did. I packed a huge picnic the evening before, looked at some maps so that I had a vague idea of where I was heading and packed a bag of essentials. Lovely Jim decided he wanted to come with me too, so we set the alarm for 5:45am one saturday morning and off we went towards the Brecon Beacons for our adventure.
The sun was rising as we drove and the horizon became more and more beautiful as we made it through the Brecons. We made a little detour towards my university town of Newport, just to check in and see what had changed. On the way back up to the brecons, we made a stop at Castle Coch which is a 19th century gothic castle. We actually got there too early for opening hours but we had a wonder around the grounds and the place looked amazing.
Our next stop was the National Visitors Center in the beacons, we parked up and headed for the tea-room. The wildlife at this place was unbelievable, the air was full of birdsong and if you stood still to watch, they all came fluttering down to the feeders in the grounds. I crouched down on the grass to get some shots and stayed at still as I possibly could until my feet went numb. They had an area of the center which was a 'Wildlife Zone' and it was rich with wildflowers, fruit and buzzing with nature. Bees were floating in and out of the dew covered wildflowers, birds were flitting in and out of the hedgerows and insects were settling into their wooden hotels and natural biomes. We grabbed one earl grey and a coffee and once we were refreshed, headed back onto the road for our next stop.
The weather started to clear and the clouds started to separate as we made it further west towards Pembrokeshire. I was determined to get to a coastline that I had read about and wanted to visit. Tenby was our destination and I was incredibly happy that we made it there; The beach is absolutely incredible, it made the perfect stop for our last destination and we spent a couple of hours sat against the cliffside on the beach eating our picnic and enjoying the sunshine. We realised that the cliff wall was crawling with bugs and so many caterpillars... But that didn't bother us. We even had a paddle in the very cold ocean, there's nothing quite like it. Cool water, fresh ocean air, sandy toes and windswept hair. I love the beach.
Of course, when visiting a beach and coastal town, you must get an ice-cream, it's the law!
Timed ticked on and we realised that we should probably make the trip home. After a few unhappy faces from me and an effort to try and justify why we should just check in to a hotel and make a new life at the best beach ever, Jim managed to get me in the car to head home. We timed it quite well to be honest because as we headed back through the Brecon Beacons, it was time for sunset and it looked stunning. I stopped to take a few shots and met another fellow photographer who chose to pull in to the same spot that we had. We had a lengthy chat about various camera things and by then it had gone pretty dark. We eventually made it back by 10pm. All in all it was an amazing day and a nice reminder that we really aren't far from adventure and beautiful landscapes. The Brecon Beacons are only an hour and a half or so away from Worcester and are easily reached for an amazing day trip. Only we were crazy enough to make the west coast in a day too- but so worth it!
