Monday, April 16, 2007

Beside the seaside

We couldn't believe our luck when we arrived at our cottage in Wales. Apart from the sheep smell it couldn't have been more perfect.


The best thing about our accommodation, however, was its proximity to the beach. I didn't realise how much I missed the sea until I got close to it again. And took a lot of photos...

On our first day in Wales we drove to the end of the Llyn Peninsula and sat watching the sea for hours. Bardsey Island off the coast was a popular pilgrimage site and 20,000 pilgrims are said to be buried there.


This stone was near the point where pilgrims set off in boats. It has inscriptions which I missed at the time but later read about on the info board in the carpark.


We then retired to nearby Abersoch beach where Clara purchased a badminton set and proceeded to demonstrate her flair.


Our local beach was just a mile away and it had a headland that was great for exploring. I hadn't felt the freedom of doing something slightly risky for a long time.


After following a little sheep path for a while we found this secret cave. We poked our heads inside and decided to go back with candles. Sadly we ran out of time and energy and never made it.


This, however, was my favourite thing about being by the beach...

11 comments:

j a s o n said...

Who needs a fancy camera!

Great pics Joe, we certainly missed out on the rest of the weeks activities.

Anonymous said...

Do you remember that Year 9 excursion to the Basin where you and Martin (was it you guys??) took everyone to look for that cave? Ha! Ha!

Btw, you could have used the light from your mobiles or your camera inside the cave!

Anonymous said...

Lovely pics!

Anonymous said...

sorry, the last photo isn't showing...

Anonymous said...

the last photo is fine now... agree with J a s o n; looks really nice. I wonder whether small fluffy animals live in that cave.

Jean said...

Yes, I second Jason's comment too. It was definately one of my favorite trips in Europe thus far.

Joe said...

Jason and Jean I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

haha... so I'm not the only one who has noticed how spacious Jason's name is!

KO I think that was my favourite school excursion ever (yup I think Martin was there - I have to try and drag him on my next outdoor holiday!). It certainly beat the trip to the sewerage treatment plant!

It was a really beautiful day and I remember looking out at the view and Mr Murray giving us a little speech which went something like 'life has ups and downs but it's worth hanging on for moments like this'. I think it stuck with me because I knew he was a Vietnam veteran.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately I never made it to the cave. I chickened out when I heard it was very claustrophobic. Three other girls and I ran off and slid down the hill on our bums!

The thing was, we ended up in the ranger's garden with a locked fence! We were trying to climb out through a small hole when he came out of his garage and blasted us for ruining all the new undergrowth. This was a few months after the major 1994 bushfires had burnt away a lot of the bush. Eeek! I was very sorry, but even to this day it cracks me up to think about that excursion! Those were the days.

Iqbal Khaldun said...

Wow.

PS am currently surrounded by the smells of the farm, which is mostly cow poo. Didn't realise how agrarian this bit of Denmark is.

Joe said...

Lucky you! Evidence of the Easter holiday heirarchy which goes:

3. corporate holidays (4 days)
2. school holidays (2 weeks)
1. uni holidays (3? weeks)

Jean said...

I believe uni holidays are 4 weeks. That and our good friend here only has 10 hrs of class time compared to 50 hrs of desk time for the corporate ones. Like comparing the costs of living in Ldn vs. Syd, it may be tempting but doing so will only depress oneself.