After a very brief ‘handover’ with the home owners on their return on Sunday, we said farewell to them and their gorgeous German Shepherd, and navigated our way out of Bristol city. We could not believe hw fast the week had gone. Mick and I were heading to Wales to spend some time before our next house sit. We have never been to Wales before.

Mick and I had collected the hire car from Avis in the centre of the city on Sunday morning, and we were both delighted to find out that the small car I had booked was unavailable and that we had been ‘upgraded’ to a larger car with a GPS. That was certainly going to save our marriage, or at least several arguments over the next week.

We had decided we would not go too far on our first day because we were leaving late, and after a bad experience in Brittany when we were going to just arrive somewhere and find accommodation, I had booked all our Welsh accommodation in advance.

First stop was Pontypool, just to the west of Usk.

We were booked into a B&B – a large private home with a great room and light breakfast for only £32 – by far the cheapest place we have found in the UK. It was located just on the outskirts of Pontypool. Once checked in, Mick and I headed to the #1 restaurant in Pontypool (according to TripAdvisor) – The Little Crown Inn. It was not quite 5pm, but it was pitch black outside, and we were keen for an early dinner. When we arrived there were lots of people there, many wearing Christmas jumpers and paper crowns obtained from Christmas bonbons. They had had a good time. Many were eating dessert or after-lunch coffees, so Mick and I were not hopeful we would get dinner anytime soon – we had to wait for everyone to finish lunch.

Anyway, around 6.15pm we were shown our table and around 7.15pm we received our meal – quite a long wait. But, Mick was happy with his choice of Game Pie – venison, rabbit and partridge.

I had chosen the soup, but I did help him out with his vegetables.

When we woke on our first morning in Wales, our car was pretty well covered in ice – the temperature was -2 C degrees. We were heading for Fishguard.

We stopped in St Clears for lunch and met a nice local chap who told us we should take a detour via St Davids on our way to Fishguard. So, we did.

On our way, we stopped here at Newgale to get a photo of our first sight of the sea – this is called St Bride’s Bay.

The sky was amazing.

We had been told Wales was beautiful, but up until this point, I was starting to doubt it. The places we had been through so far were very sad, depressed towns, crammed with tightly packed grimy, colourless homes. The history and impact of coal mining obviously still lingers.

But, from this point, the scenery and majesty of the countryside and shoreline was gorgeous.

Just before we arrived in St Davids, we followed signs to Caerfai Bay – a popular camping spot. And we could see why.

We then arrived in St Davids and spent some time there enjoying the much more cheerful ‘city’.  Yes, although it is small, it proudly promotes the title of the United Kingdom’s Smallest City – in terms of population and area.

Mick spotted a sign advertising St Davids Gin and was keen to investigate.

Once inside, he found out that this was actually a restaurant that also sold two local gins, one made from seaweed. But, once Mick saw the price £39.95 (or almost $AUD75 – he can’t help convert), he decided to abstain on this occasion.

But, the winning site in St Davids, is the cathedral named after the patron saint of Wales – St David.

This now Anglican church has been operating on this site since the 6th Century, obviously not looking quite like this back then. The current building was initially constructed in the 12th Century. (The photo is a panoramic shot.)

This fortification was near the Cathedral close by to an old stone wall – aimed at keeping the cathedral ‘safe’. You had to walk through the gate to get to the cathedral and its grounds.

After a quick tour we decided to head to Fishguard as the sun was disappearing.

We arrived at our quirky B&B and Mick took some advice about which pubs to explore. First stop was the Fishguard Arms – but the ale was poured out of what looked like a wine cask and tasted very ordinary, so he went to the one across the road, The Globe, and enjoyed two ales and some lively conversation with the publican and a fellow B&B resident, who turned out to be mates with the B&B owner and a one-time local.

Mick and I dined at the Royal Oak which was very good. Mick had scampi and I had fish pie – both of us happy with our choices.

So far, our tripping through Wales highlights have been as a result of advice from locals we have chatted with on our way.

Our B&B host has given us a couple of ‘must see’ sights today as we head north towards Caernarfon.

So – fingers crossed we don’t miss anything.