Sunday 2nd September – Tackling Tenby (and its hill)

I woke up feeling a lot better after about 9 hours sleep! Decided that today I would avoid using my car and walk into Tenby to take a look around. Weather wasn’t great, so had a leisurely breakfast, rather than rush out. Also used the shower in my caravan for the first time! As the rain was so heavy, I didn’t fancy heading out, so decided to stay in and use my own facilities! Lovely – just had to make sure the bathroom was well ventilated and dry up afterwards.

I headed into Tenby around midday, which took about 10 minutes. On the way I stopped to take a few photos of the entrance and road into the campsite to show you how narrow it is…

 

I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that if I leave early enough, there will be no one trying to get in the other end.

Downhill all the way to Tenby (getting back up will be fun later!) with lots of layers and my waterproof on – hood up! What a beautiful view on the way down!

 

I love being by the water – something relaxing about it and something that says ‘holiday’, regardless of the weather. I could feel my mood lifting more as I was out in the fresh air and taking in the lovely sights towards the town or out to the sea.

Tenby is wonderful! The main streets are pedestrianised throughout the summer, so you can wander around with no exhaust fumes or crazy drivers. This makes it much easier to walk around like a tourist, your eyes up, down and everywhere, without having to worry about getting run over!

Tenby was a walled town and you can still see the walls and entrance gates as you walk around. These walls were built by the Normans in the 13^th century to protect the town from attack from the local Welsh population and were built using money from taxes levied from ships using the harbour.

 

Some of the walls were demolished when the town became more of a fashionable seaside resort to give the tourists better sea views!

The buildings throughout the town were all painted in lovely pastel colours and there were some lovely cobbled streets to look around and some nice shops to take a look at.

 

I made my way towards the sea and found even more beautiful views.

 

The island you can see in some of the photos is St Catherine’s. It was originally a fort to protect the town and sea around here, but has been later used as a private house and as a zoo! It is now privately owned, but going to ruin, which is a great shame. You can walk over to it when the tide is out, but the public aren’t supposed to go on there. I saw a few try though!

I had a lovely stroll across the sandy beach and spotted a Lifeboat station ahead, so made my way there.

The station has been established in the town since 1852, the most recent station being built in 2005. It houses two lifeboats, the ‘Georgina Taylor’, a D-Class lifeboat and ‘Haydn Miller’ a Tamar lifeboat.

It is called the ‘Haydn Miller’ after a farmer from Kettering left £3m to the RNLI in his will. There was no connection of him and a sea rescue, but people who knew him always said he had an interest in ways of saving lives.

You can also still see the original station in Tenby too. The Tamar is a huge lifeboat and at the time Tenby acquired it in 2006, was the worlds most advanced lifeboat and the first of its kind to be used in the UK. There were information boards all around the station to give you more details on the boat. One of the facts I found interesting was that the Tamar is self-righting, so if a wave hits her and she overturns, she can right herself. She can carry up to 44 survivors and still do this! The boat is actually big enough to carry 118 survivors, but no longer able to self-right herself with this amount of people on-board. Incredible.

 

There were also boards telling you about past and present volunteers of the RNLI at Tenby and details on rescues throughout the years, plus a very good reminder of the power of the sea and the risk you out yourself in when you are on it.

 

Next I made my way up a hill I had spotted earlier with a tower and statue on. This was Castle Hill and the tower was part of a ruin of a stone castle built by the Normans in the 11^th century. You could also see cannons situated on the hill to protect the town. The building at the top was the old coastguards house and is now a private residents (which can’t be that private in the summer – poor them) There also used to be a metal bandstand on this hill as it became very popular in Victorian times as a place ‘to be seen’. The metal was needed in the Second World War so it was dismantled and another was built further along in 1991.

 

The statue was of Prince Albert and built a few years after his death as it was felt that there should be a Welsh memorial of him, along with the English, Scottish and Irish ones! The seagulls seem to be enjoying the view from his head.

I made my way down the hill to the towns museum which was just over £4 to get in and full of local history. You can re-visit for free within 12 months too. Great for both adults and children, the exhibitions ranged from iron/stone age history through to present day, with a great video showing lots of images of the town through the years.

 

History facts!

Did you know – during the Pleistocene Era, which started about 1.3 million years ago, the ice age saw the rise of giant sized animals and birds.  Today biologists call them Megafauna and some of these survive today in the form of elephants and giraffes!

Did you (also) know – Tenby played its part in the War of the Roses (1455 – 85). Henry Tudor was born in Pembrokeshire Castle in 1457. He was of royal descent on the Lancastrian side so had a claim to the throne. In 1471, Yorkists attacked the castle. Henry and his Uncle, Jasper Tudor, fled to Tenby. From here, with the help of Mayor Thomas White, they escaped to Brittany. Legend has it that 14 year old Henry and his uncle escaped through tunnels that are now under  ‘Boots’ on the high street. Henry won the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and became King Henry the Seventh and established the Tudor dynasty.

After all the education I was feeling a little peckish, so went and got myself some sausage and chips to enjoy on the seafront.

I then settled down on the beach for a couple of hours of reading as magically the sun appeared!

 

Early evening I set off back for the campsite (it had clouded over again!) and stopped off at Tesco for dinner. Do this count as Welsh/local food?!

Enjoyed the beautiful views again as I climbed the very steep hill and arrived back feeling like I’d walked for miles. Maybe a full shopping bag wasn’t a good idea with such a long and steep walk!

 

I did my chores at the van (emptying things, washing up etc) and then settled down to enjoy the view from my window as I ate my dinner.

I did try to go and have a shower at the campsite after my climb up the hill had left me feeling rather warm, especially as I dressed for rain and got warm sunshine, but they were possibly the worst facilities yet (almost want to apologise to the toilets at the last place, they were great compared to these!) plus NO HOT WATER?! Will 100% be using my own facilities while I am here. I feel very sorry for the people here in tents who have no choice. Good job we have the view.

I tried to watch Vanity Fair on ITV as I’ve been looking forward to that, but my TV was having none of it as it had got a bit windy and the signal kept going! I will have to save that one for when I get home. Weather doesn’t look good for tomorrow, but will keep my fingers crossed. Goodnight!