Bike Route: Garnant to Kidwelly 31mi 1400ft of climb
Accommodation: Kidwelly Farmhouse B&B (Airbnb); hosts Peter and Anne Francis. The Rafters private room in attic. Queen bed plus single. Ensuite. Full Welsh breakfast included.
Dinner: The Ship Aground Inn in Pembry, 5 miles before Kidwelly. It was Sunday, and the inn was serving a carvery, which is a set plate with limited choices. Ken chose beef and pork, I chose chicken and pork, and we were also served an assortment of vegetables and potatoes. We finished off with coffee, fudge cake (me), and strawberry/rhubarb pie (Ken).
While eating breakfast in the dining room at the cottage, we spotted Happy Second Anniversary cards on the table, and sent our host best wishes. It is fun to get little glimpses into the normal and special lives of others as we travel. It is also odd how our hosts and even people we just meet along the trail become "friend" for those few moments that our lives intersect.
It was Sunday, which meant many restaurants were closed but many inns and pubs serve a set-menu carvery, which includes meat, potatoes, and vegetables. Knowing that our accommodation for the night was up a steep mile-plus hill on a farm the other side of Kidwelly, we messaged our host and asked for recommendations for a Sunday carvery on our route. He suggested the Ship Aground in Pembry, where we had a great dinner.
After dinner, we cycled on to Kidwelly, where we knew there was a highly recommended castle ruins. We got to the castle around 16:00, and it would close at 17:00. Perfect. We bought our tickets, locked up our bikes and armed the Scout, and went off exploring. At 17:00 on the dot, we were back at the bikes, and the mist had moved in, and the Welsh atmosphere was descending over the town.
On our very steep and slow climb up to the farm, the mist grew heavier and I grew tireder.
Finally we reached the end of the long gravel driveway to the fantasy farm of gray granite buildings. Peter met us at the door, carried our bags up to our huge attic bedroom, and encourage me to settle in while he and Ken stored the bikes. I didn't argue.
By the time Ken came back upstairs, I had showered and was tucked up in bed.
We did make our way to the snack bag later in the evening, for a glass of wine (me) and some cheese, crackers, and Welsh cakes. Our obsession with food continues...
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| Taking a little break. |
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| Amelia Earhart landed in Burry Port, Wales, in 1928. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was a passenger in the seaplane Friendship, not the pilot of her own plane, on that successful voyage. |
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| Burry Port. |
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| A beach somewhere between Burry Port and Kidwelly in Wales. |
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| Kidwelly Castle. |
