Pilgrimage for Ice Cream

We started out the day with breakfast after our first night in our new B&B The Southcliff. We put in on a sticky note what we wanted off the menu and at 8 am it was delivered to our room in an adorable picnic basket. By far our favorite way to have breakfast!

We were fortified and ready to go back on the Rabbies coach for our first stop of the day, which was the quick half hour leg-stretch in Pembroke which featured...you guessed it: a castle! Nick, our tour guide, said he could bring back anyone later in the afternoon who wanted to go into the castle, since it takes an hour or two to tour it. Or we could return early to Tenby to hit the shops while they're open or take a boat tour. Stay tuned for what we did, it might surprise you (or not, I mean, I'm sure you're not on the edge of your seat, fully invested in our vacation's decisions)!

It was a cool castle, with a nice pigeon and a cormorant sunning himself nearby. Yay birds! Also, one of the locals said that in a cavern beneath one of the castle's towers they recently found mammoth bones! Super cool! They thought the cavern had been dug out when the castle was built, but apparently it was a natural cavern that's been around a lot longer than they thought!

I guess our guide Nick felt like the last stop wasn't long enough and took pity on us as we gazed longingly out the bus windows at the ocean and coast, so we made a quick stop at Newgale Beach. Lemme make a quick endorsement for my Vessi shoes. Claimed to be waterproof. A wave washes over my shoes AND THEY STAYED DRY! Holy moly, they work! And are comfy too! And have removable insoles so I can put my green Superfeet insoles in there and still have my shoes fit. Love them! And loved the quick walk along the beach.

So our big stop of the day was St Davids, the smallest city in the UK and a popular pilgrimage stop for medieval Christians in the 1100s. Apparently two pilgrimages to St Davids is equal to one to Rome according to the Pope in 1123! It was a fun cathedral and I'm a sucker for the ones with cool ceilings. Not many gothic carvings about the place like Manchester's but still a large and neat place.

These two looked like muppets that heard a fart XD

Dizzying and complex ceiling in just one part of the cathedral

Jareth hanging out with some magpies

Per usual, our big stop of the day was at lunch time so we found ourselves a cafe and had some yummy sandwiches. I'll never not want sandwiches for lunch! :)  There was a little market in the center of the tiny city so we bought ourselves some homemade fudge. So far we've only tried the clotted cream fudge, but it's delicious!

Back on the bus and it was time to make our decision: Pembroke castle for a tour or back to Tenby? We chose....

Tenby! 

Because there was a boat tour of one of the nearby islands, St. Margaret's Island, that they advertise as a bird reserve and frequented by seal colonies. This is also an island where puffins come to nest in May through June! Only cormorants today, but there were a few seals!

Yeah, I'd want to sun myself on a beach too if I had this island to myself!

It was a fun little trip to the island. When we got back it wasn't quite time for dinner. But you know what it was time for? You know what was still open at 4:00 p.m. in Tenby that isn't normally when we get back from our day's tour? ICE CREAM STORES!! Yes! Hand dipped! All the flavors! In a bowl because eating them on a cone is just asking for disaster from drippage or seagulls! Jeff got good ol' chocolate and I got honeycomb crunch, which was a nice subtle flavor. I liked it! And there was even time to go into a tourist shop so we picked the occult knick knack store that sold pretty much everything and anything a hippie/wiccan/hipster/goth would enjoy. We didn't buy anything, but that's because I wouldn't be able to fit all the dragon deco in my luggage!

We walked back to the B&B to rest a little and figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. Once again we decided to be bold and try the local cuisine: a medium pepperoni pizza from Dominos.

 

That was a pretty long and exciting day! Tomorrow is our last day with Rabbies tours, as it will take us to a national history museum and a castle before returning us to London for the evening. I can't wait to get some laundry done! Jeff, how about you? How was your day?

Like with most days, my highlights were food-based. Breakfast was exactly what I needed to start the day, the tuna-mayo baguette at St David's was lovely, the clotted cream fudge from the market was very nice, and the pizza was surprisingly okay. 

Also, the Lettuce outlasted Liz, which continues to be hilarious. If I've learned anything on this trip, it's that the Tories can barely be trusted to run a bath, let alone a country. 

Also also, the podcasts I've been listening to on the bus rides have been informative and comical.

Also also also, I picked up some secret souvenirs for some folks.  

Overall, a 7 out of 10 day for me. Let's see how tomorrow fares. On to Caerdydd [Cardiff]!