Broadhaven, Stackpole Quay, and Dinbych-y-Pysgod sketches

Here is the last in this little series of ‘getting excited about being on holiday in Pembrokeshire’! These are all drawings from last summer’s visit.

Stackpole Quay

I have not really succeeded in capturing a sense of distance in this drawing. The sea was so rough far out, that you could see wave shapes on the horizon - something I had never seen before. Previously I’d only ever seen a sea horizon that looked flat to my eye.

Stackpole Quay

Despite the wild sees far out in the distance, Stackpole harbour was peaceful and this boat was only moving gently on the ebb and flow of the waves.

North Beach, Dinbych-y-Pysgod

Low tide at North Beach. I think this is probably my favourite of the Dinbych beaches. It is usually quite quiet and there is a lovely view of the town. I also like Iron Beach which is just beyond the mound shown here.

Broadhaven Beach

The sea was really wild this day and it was building up for a storm. It was not very warm and extremely windy, so I just stood and quickly sketched this image. Proportions are a little out, but I feel it grasps something of the energy of the scene.

So now I am truly lusting for Pembrokeshire, and looking forward to time to sketch, stare at the sea, and soak up the wonders of landscape and seascape.

Pembrokeshire delights - barnacles, Dinosaur Park, and Saundersfoot beach

Here are three more tangled images from holidays in Pembrokeshire.

Dinosaur Park, near Dinbych-y-Pysgod

We’ve visited the dinosaur park a couple of times. Although it is entirely a tourist site aimed at children, and not usually our sort of place to visit, the setting is rather pleasant. There is a delightful woodland walk. The walk is enjoyable and simply has the occasional dinosaur model among the trees beside the path.

Barnacles

These were washed up all along North Beach, in Dinbych, one summer. We have only ever once seen them lying at the water’s edge like this at low tide. Hopefully they survived until the tide came back in.

Saundersfoot beach rocks

One year we stayed in Saundersfoot for one week and Dinbych for the second week. Saundersfoot offers lovely beach walks in both direction from the town. This going west, towards Dinbych. The rocks are slipped and folded and range in colours - perfect for experimenting with tangles to hint at the patterns in the rock.

Barafundle Bay, Stackpole Quay, The Boathouse Tearooms, Bosherton Lilyponds

A favourite visit whilst we are holidaying in Pembrokeshire, is Barafundle Bay. It is a lovely place to visit for several reasons. Firstly, you can only get to it on foot. This means that it remains unspoilt and is usually quite quiet. It is accessible from the coastal path.

Barafundle Bay

If you park at Stackpole Quay to walk to Barafundle, you will discover the second reason for visiting this area: the Boat House tearoom. This is run by the National Trust and provides light meals and fabulous cakes. Stackpole Quay is a tiny little harbour and also delightful.

If you want more reasons to visit, there is a circular walk from Stackpole Quay, to Barafundle Bay, and then on to Broadhaven Beach, through the lilyponds, and across the fields back to Stackpole Quay. There is parking at the lilyponds at Bosherton as well, and at Broadhaven,  if you wish to walk to Barafundle Bay from the other side. The headland above Barafundle Bay is sometimes graced with the presence of wild ponies, and you can see razorbills swooping a nesting.

Above is my watercolour of Barafundle Bay painted from the wall to the east of the bay in 2015.

Holiday time soon!!!

Goscar Rock, North Beach, Dinbych-y-Pysgod

It is nearly time to go on holiday. WOOHOO!!

And yes, we are camping in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, as usual. This year the weather is looking promising and we have chosen a lovely quiet campsite north-west of Dinbych-y-Pysgod (Tenby). On the map it looks as though there is an across-country walk to Dinbych. Hopefully we can find this route and enjoy the walk of about three miles.

When I first started tangling, I was unaware that ‘The Zentangle Method’ had become a copyrighted thing. Can you really copyright a way of drawing, and simple patterns? People have been doodling on paper forever and will have inevitably discovered some of the patterns that zentangle artists now give names. I support artists receiving appreciation and payment for their work, and I greatly value the support and inspiration of the zentangle tutors, but as to owning and having rights to a tangle ... I don’t want to get involved in that particular hot potato! 

Anyway, as a beginner in 2016, I created a number of tangled images from photographs. This is not regarded by zentangle method purists as a correct, because it is based on a predetermined image. The idea of zentangle is that the image is created spontaneously and in a meditative state of mind. It is not intended to particularly look like anything in the end, but just to be a meditatively creative exercise. I understand and value this approach, but looking back I do still quite like the tangled images I created on holiday in 2016. The images have something of my love of Dinbych and my love of zentangle combined. So I am posting a few of them to whet my appetite for more Pembrokeshire delights to come.

Croft Gardens, Dinbych-y-Pysgod

Catching up - the life and times of Nor'dzin, February to September

Life’s been busy since January . . . here’s a whistlestop summary:

• February: winter retreat with our students, in our home ─ Losar celebrations in Penarth, where we danced a Tibetan folk dance, and ate Tibetan recipe food ─ Ying’khor teachings with Lama Bar-ché
• March: St David’s Day Service ─ started receiving acupuncture and Chinese medicine ─ taught about Living, Dreaming and Dying in Bristol
• April: taught The Five Principles of Awareness in Cardiff, looking at the precepts ─ started work on turning our garage into a meditation room ─ went to see a Gothic ballet, Sleeping Beauty, which was fantastic

• May: had a wonderful weekend in Cornwall with a few Dharma friends ─ my birthday (61!!!) ─ decided £600 was too much to pay to rescue a tooth, and had it removed ─ taught sKu-mNyé in Hamburg, Germany ─ gave notice for the Aro Ling Cardiff venue in Whitchurch village

• June: a wonderful garden party to celebrate my Teacher’s birthday ─ attended the opening of the Vth Welsh Assembly ─ opened our new meditation room as the new Aro Ling Cardiff ─ had a tooth abscess, the most painful experience imaginable, and lost another tooth

• July: summer retreat with our students in a field in Shropshire ─ new tent, a Lotus Belle, which is the best tent ever and will see us out ─ created a Georgian outfit for myself and for ’ö-Dzin
• August: our son, Daniel, finally completed on selling his flat, and moved in with us for a while ─ a week’s retreat with our Teachers and sangha ─ danced Georgian dances in our Georgian costumes at the Natural Dignity banquet ─ lost my hearing aid
• September: two glorious weeks in Pembrokeshire, staying in an apartment located on North Beach, Tenby ─ acquired a new hearing aid

So I could have─and possibly should have─blogged about all of this. Sadly I did not . . . so I am just going to move on into October in my next post. Another thing that I have started again this month is art journalling, which had also been neglected since March. Illustrated above are my art journal pages for April, May and June. This is as far as I have caught up so far. 

Old dogs, new tricks – fun in a kayak

Gosh is it really six weeks since I last blogged?! Time whizzes past so quickly. It is all good and interesting, but there is so little extra time to get to fun things – like blogging.

Our September holiday feels like an age ago now, but I must show you this photograph of us kayaking. Working on the principle of ‘never too old’ we borrowed a friend’s kayak this year and gave it ago. The sea was rather choppy so we didn’t actually go anywhere – just back and forth across Saundersfoot bay trying to avoid capsizing. At times we had to just point the front into the waves and ride them. I think it was probably quite amusing for anyone watching us, but we had a lot of fun.

Outings from Saundersfoot

The path by Colby Woodland Gardens.

No stay in Saundersfoot would be complete without a visit to the delightful, tiny village of Amroth, a little way along the coast. Usually we like to walk there along the beach, but never seemed to time it right for the tides this time. So we drove to Colby Woodland Gardens and walked down from there. 

Amroth

Evening light at Amroth beach.

In the opposite direction to Amroth is a coastal feature called Monkton Point – just a rocky outcrop jutting into the sea. It is visible from Saundersfoot and from Tenby. One evening we set out along the coastal path with the intention of arriving at Monkton Point as the tide was at its lowest and enjoying a dusk walk back along the beach. Things did not go quite as planned. One stretch of the coastal path took us through a field with bullocks. After reaching Monkton Point we realised that we could not get down to the beach there and had to retrace our steps a little way. When we arrived at the field with the bullocks they became rather intimidating and would not let us pass. We tried to walk the stretch on the other side of the fence through the brambles, but it was impassable. It was starting to get quite gloomy and we were concerned at being caught in a tricky situation in the dark. So we cut across another field in the direction of lights and found ourselves in Swallowtree Caravan Park where we eventually accessed the road to walk back to Saundersfoot. It was not quite the leisurely beach stroll we had intended, but it was certainly an adventure.

Coastal path trees

A new visit for us in Pembrokeshire was Lawrenny Quay. Quayside Tearooms had been recommended to us and it was indeed wonderful. The fresh crab was delicious, and the ginger cake to follow scrumptious.

Lawrenny Quay panorama

Summer holiday – week one in Saundersfoot

Saunderfoot gardens

We are great fans of camping, and had booked to camp for our two weeks holiday in Pembrokeshire in September. This summer has not been too good for weather however, with rainy days and cool evenings, and also my health has been rather up and down. As the date of our holiday approached I started to feel increasingly unready for two weeks camping.

Saundersfoot beach panorama

At the last minute we decided to book accommodation providing a greater degree of shelter from the elements. It was too late to find a place that was free for two weeks, so we ended up with a week in an apartment in Saundersfoot, and a week in a caravan in Tenby.

Harbour reflection at low tide

I have always been rather prejudiced against Saundersfoot. I think this dates back to our first ever visit. On this occasion we had travelled to Saundersfoot by bus from Tenby. The bus stop on arriving in Saundersfoot is right outside a building full of games machines – noisy and unpleasant, and exactly the opposite of what would attract us to a town.

Coppet Hall from where we found a delightful circular walk.

Rock formations on Saundersfoot beach.

Saundersfoot out of peak season turned out to be a most delightful place and I was happy to have my prejudice overturned. We found some lovely local beach and countryside walks. Our apartment overlooked the beach and we enjoyed being so intimately aware of the rhythms of the tides.

View from the apartment - sadly we did not have access to this garden.

St Govan's Chapel - an historic and atmospheric spot

One of our favourite places to visit when staying in Tenby, is St Govan’s Chapel on the coast near Bosherton. This little chapel has a wonderful atmosphere. The rocky crag (in front of the chapel from this view) is the actual cave in which St Govan practised – the chapel was added later.

St Govan's Capel & 'ö-Dzin

The chapel is approached via stone steps and it overlooks a rocky beach. On a number of occasions we have scrambled over the rocks to view the wonderful rock pools on the rock shelf further out. When we arrived the tide was in, so we waited. We practised meditation and also a little artwork.

Eventually we were able to make the intrepid journey across the rocks. It was harder than I remembered. Unfortunately ’ö-Dzin's footwear proved too slippery to negotiate the clamber and so I found myself on my own with the rock pools and crashing water.

The rocky beach. The rock shelf we wished to reach is
still covered in sea at this point.

My watercolour of the same view!

’ö-Dzin got close enough that we could call to each other, but by then I was becoming concerned about how I was going to get back! I had scrambled through a cleft in the rock and dropped down quite a distance. I could not make it back that way on my own. Eventually I found a route I could negotiate, but it was a bit hairy. Sadly I think we have to admit that this particular rock scramble is beyond us now and we will not try it again.

While I was waiting for ’ö-Dzin I did capture a few nice images however.

Rock pool with incredibly clear water.

The cleft through which I scrambled. It is about
a 4ft drop from the last rocks.

Feeding the birds - animations part 3

I love the glimpses of sparrows landing, hopping and flying in this one.

Feeding the birds - animations part 2

In the end I gave up trying to catch nice images of the birds on either the table or the grass, and settled on sprinkling scone crumbs on the wall.

Feeding the birds - animations part 1

We visited Ye Olde Tea Rooms at Bosherton a couple of times during our week in Pembrokeshire. We enjoyed feeding the birds, but it was frustrating trying to capture pictures of them - they were so fast. I put my camera on the mode that shoots off 10 fast takes in a burst. This leads to a lot of images to delete but occasionally there is a gem of a photograph.

As I was clicking quickly through the photos it occurred to me that they were like a flick book, so I have made a few animated gifs from some of the sets of 10 shots.

There are rather large files so I will only put up one per post. This one looks a bit manic but shows just how fast a sparrow can move in less than a second. He could not decide whether he was or wasn't brave enough to pick up the piece of scone.

Amroth to Saundersfoot and back

On Monday 14th we enjoyed a favourite walk: Amroth to Saundersfoot and back again. The tide was almost fully out when we arrived at Amroth and we were able to walk all the way to Saundersfoot across the sand.

Saundersfoot in the distance.

After lunch in Saundersfoot and a mooch around the shops, we headed back. The rock formations are wonderful and extremely varied on this stretch of beach. We did this walk one time with Richard while he was studying 'A' level geology, and it was fascinating to hear what he could tell us about the rocks. We had to clamber over the rocks on our walk home as the tide was coming in.

Seaweed.

Lovely water patterns on a rock pool

 We sat  for a while and I painted a watercolour looking over to Amroth.

Amroth in the distance.

Extraordinary clouds in the early evening.

Sunset.

Wisps of cloud over the moon.

Moon rising

We have just enjoyed our annual holiday in Tenby - Dinbych-y-Pysgod. It is the first year that we have not holidayed at all with our sons, so we chose to camp. We love camping and do it in style with a comfortable trailer tent and a good-sized awning. The boys did camp with us a few years, but were never that keen.

The first evening the moon was large and beautiful as it rose from behind the trees at the bottom of the campsite.

Another moon shot from later in the week. At times it looked more like Saturn with the band of cloud across it.

Rhinos grazing on buttercups

Detail Celtic cross, Carew Castle

The Monday of our holiday was a wet day so we stayed in town.  Tuesday was brighter so we visited Narbeth.  After browsing the shops, we had a walk by Carew Castle and the tidal mill.

Unfortunately this day was interrupted by many phone calls with the Hollies care home.  My mother was eventually admitted to hospital, so on the Wednesday we had to dash back to Glamorgan to visit her.  She had refused treatment and was very confused and upset.  I do wish they would stop sending her to hospital and just make her as comfortable as possible at the Hollies even if she is seriously ill.  As she refused treatment the hospital just sent her back anyway.  I am so glad I went.  Her first words were “I thought I’d never see you again.”  She thought I would not know where she was.  I was happy to be able to comfort her, talk to the hospital doctor, and arrange for her to go home.

Tired after all the driving the day before, and the weather being a bit mixed, we just had a beach walk in Tenby on the Thursday. 

On the Friday we visited Manor House Park, a wildlife zoo.  It was rather magical watching white rhinos grazing on buttercups in a field in West Wales.  I loved the crazy chicken.  Its feathers were beautiful but it looked quite comical