Black Rock Sands
This morning, our clothes were still soaked from the mountain, and we hadn't brought many clothes for the weekend (at least no more jeans)! So, Kelly and I ended up wearing shorts, and the rest of them dried their pants with a hair-dryer! Haha...We left around 9:30 am to walk into town, which was really close to the hostel. We wanted to do some exploring today! We found the tourist center, bought some souvenirs, and asked the lady at the counter what she recommended us doing. She suggested we go to Black Rock Sands, a beach that would take about a 1-hour walk. She said there was also a castle near there! She gave us a sheet with printed directions of how to get there (evidently this was a popular place to go), and we set out on our way!
We grabbed sandwiches as we were leaving the town, to eat later for lunch, since we didn't know what would be around the beach to eat. Brent got a "Mexican Chicken" sandwich, against the advice of the rest of the group -- I wouldn't recommend getting a Mexian Chicken sandwich in Wales...something just doesn't sound right, haha. Oh well, we would find out later if it was any good. We headed to the beach, following our directions. We were taken through villages, through paths in the trees, past a bay filled with yachts....it felt like the Amazing Race! :) We got lost a few times when the directions were unclear -- it sounded like the directions were made for people already familiar with the area. But we had all day to explore, so we enjoyed the adventures had when we got lost, haha. Finally, after going through another village and more trees, we could see the water! There were lots of little beaches that we passed, but we wanted to get to the "big" beach, Black Rock Sands. We decided to take a lunch break on one of the little beaches, and then figure out how to get there. Everything was so beautiful! The beach, the trees, the villages, the weather (thank goodness it rained yesterday and not today!)....We were loving every minute of it. We were also really glad we didn't make plans for the weekend - we just found things to do, which helped the stress level of the group, haha.
Josh and I being raptors like in Jurassic Park, haha:
Brent decided never to order a Mexican Chicken sandwich in Wales again...
After lunch, we kept walking for another 15 minutes (picking wild blackberries the whole time - they're everywhere!) and finally arrived at Black Rock Sands. I loved seeing the beach, with the mountains in the distance - the best of both worlds :)
We walked along the beach for a really long time, and eventually we saw the castle far away in the distance! It looked like it was in the middle of a city. We really wanted to walk to the castle, even though we knew it would take a few more hours. It was about 2:00 pm now. The beach didn't lead to the castle, so we were forced to leave the beach and go in the direction of the farms and villages. We got lost at one point and had to ask a young man at a farmhouse for directions....I love their accents! He pointed us to a long winding dirt road that looked like it led to nowhere, but we took it anyway. This road eventually took us to another beach that was covered in stones of all sizes and colors -- it was so beautiful, although it did hurt our feet after awhile. Everyone else was eager to hurry and get to the castle, but Brent and I stayed behind and took our time admiring the rocks and keeping some.
The rock beach ended, and we arrived in a little village. Although we wanted to see the castle, we reaized we were really hungry, and we stopped at a tea room. It was such a cute place - we ordered tea and desserts :). Then, it was time to see the castle! I was surprised we had walked so long - it was 5:30 pm, and we had been walking since 9:30 am!
We could see the castle nearby, and we went to the ticket counter at the bottom of it. However, the lady behind the counter told us that it was going to close at 6:00 pm, so we would only have 30 minutes to see it! We all agreed it wouldn't be worth it to pay the admission for only 30 minutes of the castle, so we didn't go....but we were upset because we had walked a looong way to see it. Oh well, we definitely had some great adventures :).
The rest of the group was exhausted and ready to go back to the hostel, but Brent and I wanted to stay a little longer in the village. So we stayed behind and explored for awhile. Most of the shops were closed, so we just walked up and down the streets. We discovered a school playground and played on it for awhile, haha. We walked up a hill near the castle, where we had a gorgeous view of the city and of the beaches on which we had walked all day. Someone was practicing bagpipes, and I kept having to remind myself it wasn't a dream.
We caught a 7:15 bus back to our hostel, and we arrived there at 7:30!!! I could not believe it...it only took 15 minutes for the bus to drive what took us 8 hours to walk! Haha
We had a roommate with us this second night, a guy named Juan who was cycling around Europe. It was really interesting talking to him! We reserved the TV room again and watched Green Mile - not a good bedtime movie, haha. Our train tomorrow leaves at noon, so we'll have plenty of time to relax before heading home.
We grabbed sandwiches as we were leaving the town, to eat later for lunch, since we didn't know what would be around the beach to eat. Brent got a "Mexican Chicken" sandwich, against the advice of the rest of the group -- I wouldn't recommend getting a Mexian Chicken sandwich in Wales...something just doesn't sound right, haha. Oh well, we would find out later if it was any good. We headed to the beach, following our directions. We were taken through villages, through paths in the trees, past a bay filled with yachts....it felt like the Amazing Race! :) We got lost a few times when the directions were unclear -- it sounded like the directions were made for people already familiar with the area. But we had all day to explore, so we enjoyed the adventures had when we got lost, haha. Finally, after going through another village and more trees, we could see the water! There were lots of little beaches that we passed, but we wanted to get to the "big" beach, Black Rock Sands. We decided to take a lunch break on one of the little beaches, and then figure out how to get there. Everything was so beautiful! The beach, the trees, the villages, the weather (thank goodness it rained yesterday and not today!)....We were loving every minute of it. We were also really glad we didn't make plans for the weekend - we just found things to do, which helped the stress level of the group, haha.
Josh and I being raptors like in Jurassic Park, haha:
Brent decided never to order a Mexican Chicken sandwich in Wales again...
After lunch, we kept walking for another 15 minutes (picking wild blackberries the whole time - they're everywhere!) and finally arrived at Black Rock Sands. I loved seeing the beach, with the mountains in the distance - the best of both worlds :)
We walked along the beach for a really long time, and eventually we saw the castle far away in the distance! It looked like it was in the middle of a city. We really wanted to walk to the castle, even though we knew it would take a few more hours. It was about 2:00 pm now. The beach didn't lead to the castle, so we were forced to leave the beach and go in the direction of the farms and villages. We got lost at one point and had to ask a young man at a farmhouse for directions....I love their accents! He pointed us to a long winding dirt road that looked like it led to nowhere, but we took it anyway. This road eventually took us to another beach that was covered in stones of all sizes and colors -- it was so beautiful, although it did hurt our feet after awhile. Everyone else was eager to hurry and get to the castle, but Brent and I stayed behind and took our time admiring the rocks and keeping some.
The rock beach ended, and we arrived in a little village. Although we wanted to see the castle, we reaized we were really hungry, and we stopped at a tea room. It was such a cute place - we ordered tea and desserts :). Then, it was time to see the castle! I was surprised we had walked so long - it was 5:30 pm, and we had been walking since 9:30 am!
We could see the castle nearby, and we went to the ticket counter at the bottom of it. However, the lady behind the counter told us that it was going to close at 6:00 pm, so we would only have 30 minutes to see it! We all agreed it wouldn't be worth it to pay the admission for only 30 minutes of the castle, so we didn't go....but we were upset because we had walked a looong way to see it. Oh well, we definitely had some great adventures :).
The rest of the group was exhausted and ready to go back to the hostel, but Brent and I wanted to stay a little longer in the village. So we stayed behind and explored for awhile. Most of the shops were closed, so we just walked up and down the streets. We discovered a school playground and played on it for awhile, haha. We walked up a hill near the castle, where we had a gorgeous view of the city and of the beaches on which we had walked all day. Someone was practicing bagpipes, and I kept having to remind myself it wasn't a dream.
We caught a 7:15 bus back to our hostel, and we arrived there at 7:30!!! I could not believe it...it only took 15 minutes for the bus to drive what took us 8 hours to walk! Haha
We had a roommate with us this second night, a guy named Juan who was cycling around Europe. It was really interesting talking to him! We reserved the TV room again and watched Green Mile - not a good bedtime movie, haha. Our train tomorrow leaves at noon, so we'll have plenty of time to relax before heading home.
posted by Lisa @ 2:41 PM
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