Wales Blog 2017 – Abereiddy and Haverfordwest

On our final full day in Wales we decided to go see some of the more local sights.

We ventured out to have a look around the beautiful town of Haverfordwest. The first thing we noticed was that the whole place looked as if it had been descended upon by a group of guerilla knitters! Throughout the whole town every lampost, fencepost, bollard and railing was covered with  lovingly crafted woollen creations. Everywhere we looked there was another crocheted masterpiece!

While we were there we had a bit of food at Friar’s Vaults. Although it doesn’t appear particularly special from the street, we dipped our heads inside and were met by very friendly staff and patrons. We were shown to a large table at the rear of the restaurant and the staff indicated that there was a special area for children. This was particularly appreciated. Although the books and toys were mostly aimed toward younger children, Marshall soon made himself comfy on the big cushions and Claudia found herself some books to look through. There were also a number of Gacha (toy ball) machines on hand in case we wanted to reward their good behaviour with small random toys.

Haverfordwest was, overall, a lovely town that seemed very friendly and had plenty of shops, although on a geeky note (we do that) we were trying to find some card games to play back in the tent and discovered that the entire town was bereft of ‘friendly local game shops’. Anyone planning on opening up a cheeky board and card emporium would find themselves without competition, Maybe people in this part of the country don’t like gaming much?

It’s a small point and Haverfordwest remains a charming little place that we’d love to go back to.

Then we headed back towards base camp in search of the beautiful countryside of Abereiddy. Abereiddy is a tiny coastal area to the west of Porthgain and as such was about as far from where we were staying. The main attraction that brings people to the area is the beautiful black sand beach, the sea views and the renowned ‘blue lagoon’.

We parked up fairly easily although the spaces filled up soon after we arrived (and getting out of there afterwards was a job in itself). From the car park it was easy to access either the beach or the pathway up to the cliffs. The easier path wasn’t immediately obvious so we did find ourselves climbing a bit of a steep incline then looking back down at the gentler route we could have taken. Once at the lagoon overlook we found that renovations were taking place on the bridge. Luckily they were almost complete so we were still able to cross over to get a good look around.

We then doubled back and had a short walk up and over the topmost cliffs to get a good look at the beautiful scenery before descending back down. Like most natural wonders there were many steep drop-offs with no barriers. We were able to keep our children under strict-ish instructions not to stray too far but families with rambunctious sprinters or a nervous disposition might want to give this a miss. The views really are impressive though.

Once back down, we spent some time on the beach making ‘pebble castles’. The beach is a curious one. It appears to be strewn with nearly every type of stone and pebble imaginable in addition to plenty of the slate found locally (the area is an ex-quarry). The result is that it appears curiously multi-coloured and we found some real treasures whilst stomping around that we were keen to add them to our castles.  Once we’d finished our constructions we headed to the on-site ice cream van for a quick 99 before heading back to the car.

It’s a gorgeous little cove and well worth a look if you’re in the area.