From Orpington to Fishguard.

Our route, more or less, over the past few days, but more winding
towards Tenby and St. David's.

It has been a mixed week of sorts.  

On Monday I had bad hayfever which made me feel miserable and unwell. I was also aching all over.  So took some antihistamines which didn't seem to help ended up with getting a different antihistamine which has acrivistine in it rather than citirizine or loratidine.  Needless to say, I slept the day away and was quite dopey on Tuesday as we made our way up to Wales.

We spent the next few days with friends, putting our caravan on their driveway.  It was good to see Sue, Ian and their family again.  With them working during the day we kept ourselves busy, getting out and about as well as stocking up our caravan with food.

On Thursday we said a fond farewell to our friends and made our way towards the ferry terminal in Fishguard.  

On the way we stopped at the delightful village of Tenby, where we had a good wander around and had a bite to eat.  We sat on a bench overlooking the bay and were joined by a couple of seagulls and sparrows hoping for an easy meal.  The sparrows managed to get some crumbs that fell at our feet, but the seagulls remained hopeful.  Before we left Tenby we popped into St Mary's Church - it was beautiful inside.

Our next stop was at St David's is the smallest cathedral city in the UK.  It is in actual fact a tiny village with a huge beautiful cathedral and an old bishops palace ruins.  The choir was practicing for evensong.  The singing, along with the organ music, was beautiful.  I had a good cry.  My thoughts were of dad, mum and my twin - and wished they were still alive.  Paul kindly lit a candle for them.  

We arrived in Fishguard, well in time for the 23.45 ferry to Rosslare, so we parked in a parking lot close the the ferry terminal and cooked a simple meal.  A bit later on we will drive to the ferry terminal to check in.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Tenby

 

 

 

 

St. Mary's Church

St. David's

 

Brighton World Naked Bike Ride.

Getting up early, Paul and I set off for Brighton in the hope of finding a Halfords shop so that we could get Paul's bicycle tyre fixed or replaced before we headed on to the world naked bike ride (WNBR).  After going around in circles we found Halfords - the shop had moved.  We offloaded Paul's bicycle and took it inside where one of the bicycle technicians was able to look at it straight away and got the tyre off.  He replaced it instead of repairing it.  Putting the new tyre back on fairly quick but putting the wheel itself, back on, was a bit of a nightmare and the poor chap struggled a bit.  He ended up having to get some help from his colleagues but eventually it was put back on.

We found a parking spot and cycled our way to the start point of the WNBR.  In an enclosed area of a park people were either getting painted or dressing up in 'fancy dress' outfits.  There was a good jovial atmosphere amongst the participants.  Once again we bumped into some people who attended the Amsterdam body painting day and a few who were at last year's naturist walks in Germany.  It was lovely to see them.

The ride itself, around Brighton, went well.  The weather was good and there were no hiccups along the way.  One lady was in a mobility wheelchair and was accompanied by 2 other women who cycled beside her.  Almost everyone who saw the WNBR group cycling through Brighton took in the 'sights' very well, even trying to take selfies of themselves with some participants as and when we stopped during the ride.   

At some stage we all stopped in a park where there was a small take-away kiosk selling, amongst other things, ice cream.  Should we or shouldn't we?  We caved in on the grounds that it was a nice sunny day.  By the time Paul got to the kiosk there was a long queue - it couldn't handle the crowd that had suddenly descended on them.  Paul eventually got us some ice cream - but only just in time for when the bike ride started rolling again.  So Paul and I had ice cream 'on the run'.  It was worth it though - delicious!

After winding its way through Brighton, the ride finished at a naturist beach, Black Rock.  There was a party afterwards but we didn't attend - we wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit of peace and quiet.  So, donning sarongs, we headed back to the car and then drove back to the campsite.  

All in all it was a great day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My back is getting sunburnt and I've still got
yesterday's markings on my back from where the
sun tanned the areas around the paint.