Penfro, Hwlffordd, Cymru
The morning started out quite cloudy, but at least there is no rain. Jeremy and Andrea showed up in the junction on time and a pleasant conversation filled in the uneventful drive to Hwlffordd, where I was left at the bus station half an hour early. They walked over to wherever their dentist works and a rather pleasing woman waiting for a bus was exceedingly friendly; filling in that half hour nicely. These people can be the most engaging people in the world. The wait seemed instantaneous. Jeremy and Andrea were done with the dentist before I even got on my bus. They invited me to come by tomorrow and upload files; a six mile walk that will be well worth while for the new friendship that has emerged.
The sky was suggestive of eventual sun if one waited long enough. I got to Castelle Penfro after a long circuitous journey on a local bus, but being unfamiliar it was semi-exotic to me and interesting. The driver was typical for the region. I notice that everyone thanked him as they got off the bus and the driver was most helpful and jolly himself. The only reason I am even able to be on this bus is because I was able to sell a camera last week. I was able to pay for a day pass on the bus system, use a small amount for dinner and admission to the castle and make a donation to a priory church.
Castelle Penfro is an important one for me to revisit. Besides being one of the grandest castles in the world it is also one I saw in the distant past. It is the one that I took Elaine to in 1994. In the top of the Gate Tower she had given me a small piece of paper thanking me for showing her a real castle. We had on several occasions traded gifts of small pewter castles. I made it a point to go back into that same chamber today. Alas, she long ago happily married in another state.
There was virtually no one in the vast expanse of the castle today and most of the time I saw no one at all. It felt a bit like I had been given the place for my own use. A clearing sky and a lack of people made it very easy to get a good comprehensive set of pictures of the whole castle. I made it a point to climb on every tower and stair in the place. I interrupted my work by eating the nice lunch Sylvia had made for me. I had a choice of picnic tables and benches in the outer ward. At some point an older woman came and sat on the far side of the ward. One of the nice things about castles is the complete lack of over-bearing stewards, vergers, and photo-police. The places are rather durable without fussy art or furnishings for us destructive tourists to tear up. Other than the two very pleasant women in the gift shop selling tickets, I never saw an official person all day, except a guy in the distance running a lawn mower.
After finishing with my work in the castle I looked for three churches I had seen mentioned in a travel book. The first one had a sign on it indicating it would stay locked up because of vandalism and theft. The second one I found had been converted into a very large antique store. At the other end of town after some asking I found the Monkton Priory concealed behind a stand of trees at the end of a lane. I did not see a soul around the outside and figure it would be locked up as well. Despite being much grander than the others and much less obvious in its situation, I found it unlocked and unattended. It proves to be nearly a thousand years old in parts and had been without a roof for centuries. In the late 19th century a vicar took it upon himself to spend decades salvaging the church. Today there is a well mended large structure with a most pleasing quire and altar. There was obvious evidence of a substantial harvest service; piles of fruit and vegetables were throughout the church. I only thought about supplementing Chinese noodles with those fruits and vegetables for a nano-second. It would be a bit like stealing the show bread off the altar; wasn’t going to go there. Like the castle, I felt like I had been given the place for my own use. I never saw anyone in the church or in the church yard. I took pictures at leisure and left a small donation from my recently acquired largesse.
Images of a long cold night manifested when the bus did not materialize on time. I had always thought of trains and busses here being used to set atomic clocks. I knew if it was late, I would miss the connecting bus in Hwlffordd. Time has a way of standing still when uncertainty becomes prominent. I went to a nearby grocery and spent L a coin to get a decent meal of ‘just reduced’ prepared foods, knowing I would need some energy for night walking. I ate this at the bus stop wandering if any more busses would come along to get to Hwlffordd. I figured I could walk the thirty two miles to Abergwaun in about eleven hours if I did not make a mistake on the routing - which was not likely. Gloriously, a bus did show up as the town center was closing up for the day and I knew I would get at least half way back in relative ease. I did miss the connection in Hwlffordd and spent an hour roaming around, hoping another bus would show to get me to Abergwaun before total darkness set in. One did show up and I knew that I would only have five miles to walk, meaning I would not have an all-night wandering after all. As it was, I got to Abergwaun at sunset. I had yet to walk across town, across the valley, through Wdig, and then several miles out into the Highlands. These unnamed country lanes all look nearly alike during the day. In the dark they look identical. I had good fortune and my guesses proved correct. I recognized certain cars or gates along the way from prior daylight passages through here, suggesting a good meal and warmth were actually attainable goals. The last two miles of my night journey were illuminated by a rising full moon over the bay. Knowing I was almost within visual reckoning of something to eat, I was able to relax into the experience and enjoy the moon’s gilded reflections on the bay below. I climbed over a gate and crossed a field filled with cows, never stepping on a land mine. The short cut saved about half a mile and after four hours a fine dinner was still hot.
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