Gone West – Page 6 – From living on a narrowboat to a village in Pembrokeshire – Steve & Viv have Gone West . . . . to Trefin !

April – lockdown continues . . .

Things starting to hit home about the devastating effects of this virus. Ten years of austerity & cuts, NHS sell offs plus losing 10% of NHS staff through Brexit (remember that?) . . . it’s looking dire but we count ourselves lucky and soldier on…

We’re all taking precautions here- Ted & Idris too, although there are a tad close . . .

Someone else taking things very slowly and calmly . . .unless it’s grub or time for walkies…

Good to see life going forwards . . .lots of wee lambs frollicking about . . .

The new phone (Oppo A9 2020) takes good shots with its 48M pixels… across the field to our house and that tree . . .

Remember that beer started two weeks ago . . .??

time to transfer to the barrel and then into some bottles . . .

Shed loads of dry hops were added to the process . . . .hmmm, house filled with such a glorious smell

Original gravity of 1080 and final one around 1020, so about 7.8% maybe . . .

Not too appetising at the moment but it will settle . . . .

More walkies around our permittted loop . . . all less than an hour and less than a mile from our house . . . .

Meanwhile, with the sun promising to shine this weekend. Here’s more shots of our garden and some of the wonderful plants

Hundreds of tulips plus lots of , what I call, “alpine” plants – maybe someone can tell me what they are?

I never grew tulips, always thinking they were hard to grow and get eaten easily, don’t last long etc – me, mind changed now!

Just to show there’s life in the old dog yet

Going South

Yes, Pembrokeshire looking more closed now!

They seem to be closing places where folk might congregate – other bits of the path are open but I’m not saying where!

Permitted Walkies

Strange times indeed. And perhaps not the best of times. We must count our blessings. Here are some outdoor photos to lift the spirit, if you’re cooped up indoors . . .

A lot of the paths are closed but we can still use some footpaths around us – this one is out along the coastal path a bit . . . never knew there was a stairhole (?) here

We do need to get out and the daily walk is good for the soul

We don’t go far – less than 1 k from home – here, circled!

And for those with the bandwidth, here’s a short video to give you a sense of the fresh air

We are trying to keep our spirits up and Up Spirits! As they used to say in the Navy . . . .
Ouer friends at the Bluestone Brewery have closed thier shop but are doing online orders and will deliver via UPS – see https://www.bluestonebrewing.co.uk/shop/

Carrying On but not quite Calm

I know we came here for peace and quiet; a kind of isolation and tranquility but it is spookily quiet now. No cars, trucks or planes. It seems, at last, people are taking things seriously and are staying home. We’ve had a delivery from Veg Patch in St David’s – fruit, veg & milk – many thanks. They’re doing a grand job. We are trying to occupy ourselves – chatting with folk on the phone, email, Alexa etc. Trying to limit our intake of depressing news. Exercising and going out for the permitted walk with Toby. They have closed lots of the coastal path – mainly areas where there are car parks and walks where people will have to squeeze together. Luckily, our stretch is OK and we can do a circular loop. The garden is coming along – orange tulips! There’s lots to do to keep us busy…..

Our bit of the coastal path – glorious day – temperatures reaching 16 degrees

Less than a kilometre from the house (see the big tree again? That’s us!) And if you look very closely, there’s a chap just down from the path. Looks like he’s clearing the path down to the beach (unofficial!!), prob for the summer . . .

Short, unedited videos of our walk . .

Must be Spring as there are lots of flowers coming out – we think this is Sea Campion

And violets? Tempted to make violet vodka but apparently, you need several 1,000 of them, so I’ll leave em be.

Meanwhile but at the house – our patch continues to amaze with some orange tulips, masses of primroses and buzzing bees

the F1 hybrid Italian chilli peppers are continuing to impress – should pot them on soon

Bit of an oops with the beer! I was awakened in the early hours of the morning with hissing – the yeast had gone bonkers, gorging itself on the sugar, producing shed loads of foam, which blocked the airlock and oh, oh, nearly blew the fermanting bin up. Luckily I removed the air lock and let it continue fizzing . . . bit of a clear up later. It’s OK and gently bubbling away . . .

Locked Down but Not Out!

Hopefully, not too little too late but we’ll see. I think we’re amongst the lucky ones, as we are not in work, not in the city or in a small flat. Our boating life has caused us to stock up on the basics anyway, so I think we’ll be OK . . . it’s just all the rest!!

So, isolation > routine> exercise> keep busy . . . Joe Wix (The Body Coach) has some good workouts on YouTube . . . I put my Muse & Trance music on the HiFi and do 3 x 15 minute sessions a week . . . you don’t need much kit . . . just a bit of space . .

Sit ups plus sooo much more with the big ball!

this little wheel helps get that six pack . . .hmm, a long way off I think

Star Jumps . . or any activity is good for mind & soul

meanwhile back in the garden, I found another item – two bagders!

I was tempted to “do” a Chris Packham piece to camera – this boring looking evergreen shrub, really doesn’t look much and some would consider hacking down for a more floral item . . . but come, look a bit closer . . . .

. . . it is full of bugs . . . hmm, shield bugs . . . not exactly good for the plants or are they?

. . but there were also dozens of ladybirds . . . all hibernating in the thick bush over winter . . . now bursting out and, um, doing what comes naturally . . . making more ladybirds . . .

. . .and meanwhile back indoors, the other displacement activity . . . making beer! This kit from lovebrewing.co.uk is Founders Double American IPA and had 2x3kg of concentrated liquid malt plus 2 x bags of Citra & Summit hops to add later. Plus 2 x 40g of US West Coast yeast . . . hmm, smells good. Will take a few weeks to complete its magic of turning sugar into alcohol but I’m collecting 1 litre tonic etc bottles to put the beer in.

The original gravity was 1080, which shows how much sugar is in the brew – rather a lot! . . . if all this ferments out, we’ll have a rather powerful beer – they expect around 8%!!

Viv’s been busy too – making Cawl, the famous Welsh soup…..

The Garden & Walkies

If you’re chewing on life’s gristle, daaaaan’t worry, just give a little whistle! And everything will turn out for the best . . .

Times may be tough ahead but we need to keep things light on here. . . so here’s a tip – get outside . . . a bit. We don’t have much of a garden here, thankfully, the last house had quite a bit and it took two of us over an hour just to cut the “landscaped” lawns! This wrap-around garden will do us and we must pay Veronica our heartfelt thanks for keeping this garden planted with such a variety of plants – I have counted over 100 tulips! So we have been doing of bit of tending and then we did a circular walk . . .

the front bed has alpine plants, tulips and so much more . . . we’ll not do much this season and just see what turns up

tulips are often tricky to grow and don’t last long but these are lovely

and the odd, unexpected surprise lurking in the undergrowth

Later, we did a stroll . . . the longer loop as we call it . .. down through the village to the old Mill, then up on to the coastal path and along to the Longhouse footpath, which cuts across fields to the “main” road and back home

it really is a lovely place to be and in the Summer, foxgloves grow along this path

I think Toby is getting tired these days and he starts to sit down if we pause to catch our breath – notice the very calm sea! Makes a change!

Aye, there’s ma wee humpshie tumpshie, just sublime . . .

looking back across the fields . . .the big tree in the middle is ours . . .

looking the other way to the Longhouse farm, with the Pwllderi ridge in the background

still *a bit muddy but it is drying out . . .looking forward to those dry and dusty days when T-shirts and sandals are the mode. Until then, stay safe. Stay put and lift a glass to us! Iechyd da!*

*A big thanks to our friends who read this stuff* & email nice comments. It keeps me going. And in some distant days, if we ever get that far, may serve as a reminder of all of these happy days. Xxx

Treffgarne Walk

Bit nippy but Viv wanted to walk up the Treffgarne rocks . . . .

These are the rocks you see on the way from Haverfordwest to Letterston – where the speed (should) drop to 30 mph. Parked in the lay-by, we walked up the very steep road to the track that leads to these very prominent rocks.

You can see all the way to Garn Fawr & Fach

Wind chill down to 1 degree – so we didn’t linger, except some Muppet made a selfie video . . .

These next photos are from Viv’s phone – better resolution than my old one I think . .

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . . Toby sits very obediently to get his dinner . ..

And after the walk and the food . . . it’s time to crash out . . .

The Sicilian Visit

Nice to see our old friends, Stephen & Lucia, from the marina who were following their football team, Brentford. They were playing Cardiff and despite atrocious weather, travelled over on Saturday at the end of February.They had booked an hotel for a few nights – to see us and our new home – very sweet.

Saturday was dreadful but on Sunday & Monday it did brighten up

Sunday saw us on a tour of the Gwaun valley and down to Newport – lunch at the Golden Lion and then a walk at Newport sands

Toby seemed a lot better and despite our best efforts to keep him out of the water – in he went and again…

Monday, the tour continued . . . Melin Tregwynt followed by St David’s

It is a terrific cathedral – the sloping floor and what an organ!

Gloriously sunny – cold but no rain! Let’s hope Spring comes along and things start to calm down weather-wise.
Great to see you guys! Hope it’s not too long before we meet again and one day…. in Syracuse!!

Decadent Dog

Taking the title rather literally, we have owned Toby, our dog, for about a decade. I came across some old videos – a snow scene taken pretty soon after we had him, up on the frozen Mendip hills – so slim and agile! He doesn’t head for water as much as he used to but he still likes a swim and yes, loves his yoghurt. Our little, faithful Lumix camera does a high speed setting so you can slow down the action – catching a ball or the amazing dog shake . . from nose to tail! There’s not a lot happening here – as we cope with storms Ciara and now Dennis . . . so, some distraction is needed.

Storm Ciara

We have had some wet n windy weather this year but also a few bright and sunny days, where walking the dog on the coastal path was lovely. Chris & Lynsey are here, staying at Beudy Gwyn. Their car is for repairs but they have their bikes.

No 7 is now up for sale – I believe it’s on for £180k . . . .

Meanwhile, Steve’s beer is going down well . . . .

This weekend sees a big storm heading our way – Storm Ciara – shed loads of rain plus the biggest gusts of wind (up to 80 mph) so far this year . . . .