September 2020 – Gone West

Saga Run to Sychpant and Beyond

Before summer fades . . .it’s time for a longer day trip. Back to Sychpant in the Gwaun Valley and up the steep hill to Penlan and the hills of the Preseli ridge. Has to be a longer trip as we’re booked in at the Golden Lion in Newport for 6 pm.

Helpful map – we’re going straight up and off the map at the top right.

And, Toby comes too! Very keen at this stage but in 3 hours time??

It really is a beautiful spot – no traffic, no people either.

Out of the standard path and through Penlan – marked on the old OS map as woods but they cleared all the non-native trees and put back the trad gorse and heather.

No map for this bit but not easy to get lost . . .?

It’s a warm day – we have sandwiches and drink – onwards and upwards

Lunch stop – even Toby got a few bits plus a rest.

Made it to the Bronze age standing stone at Bedd Morris – not much more “up” to do now.

Highest spot and grand views down to Dinas Head & Newport Sands

View down to Newport – Toby beginning to flag a bit – us too. Still it’s all downhill now.

Final pic – it’s just gone 1700, pub’s open and we can have our table early. They are very friendly and very efficient. Bluestone beer is on and the menu is brilliant! Nice end to the day – 15,000 steps!

https://www.goldenlionpembrokeshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Evening-menu-07_20.pdf

Seals 2

Back for a second visit – this time with Viv. Seem to be more seals around too. Quite a lot more activity, with mother seals feeding their young plus a juvenile seal squealing a lot and trying to get to the sea. We also saw one of the white pups go out for a swim – never seen this before they normally just laze on the beach waiting to be fed…

Some new characters today – a brown seal – undergoing the change from white to grey plus a slightly older buddie who is almost there – he/she was making a lot of noise – probably complaining that Mummy hadn’t come ashore to feed him – he was trying to get to the sea but made painful progress.

Looks like the parents are out in the water – sometimes calling to their offspring

Hmm, did see a batch of kayakers but thankfully they didn’t come any closer. One of the guard parent seals did start to head towards them . . . just in case.

Meanwhile Eric (or Erica?) continued to moan and after a minute’s rest moved another 6 inches . .

Back on the main beach lots of mothers came ashore to feed their pups

Eric makes it to the rocks but no more for today . . .

A rather bored Toby says “Won’t anyone play with me??”

Yep, another rather jerky video sequence! Focussing mainly on the trials of Eric but also some shots of Mothers feeding their young and even going for a swim with one.

Seal of Approval

It’s that time of the year! The seals come ashore to have their pups. The conspicuously white pups just lie around doing not very much – feeding off mother . . . . . here’s some photos from our nearest cove at Pwll Llong – I counted at least twelve in this small bay with probably six pups. The short film is about eight pieces joined together – it won’t be included in any Blue Planet but it is all mine!