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We travelling south from Cumbria down to West Wales for a week in a holiday cottage by the sea.

Once we were south of Manchester we left the motorway and took a more cross-country route

and reached the coast again at Aberystwyth.

This is the view from the roadside car park on the approach to Fishguard.

The long breakwater is part of the harbour for the Fishguard-Rosslaire car ferry to Ireland.

Earlier we passed Aberaeron and stopped off at the harbour for a photo and stretch of the legs.

The town is host to a reasonable number of sailing boats and local fishing craft

and is one of the few safe harbours on the west coast of Wales . . . provided the tide is in when you arrive.

A classic Pembrokeshire house with a cement-rendered roof to protect the tiles from the high winds.

This one was on the outskirts of Mathry and our destination is only a mile away now.

Actually a picture from later in the week but it gives you an idea how end-of-the-road Doves Cottage is.

Access during the week is via the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, around the back of the larger house with the conservatory.

The car has to be parked 100 yards away . . . but you can borrow a wheelbarrow to transport your bags and food to the cottage for your stay.

Our cottage by the sea . . . couldn't get much closer !	The island in the earlier photo, seen from our bedroom.

A quick view of the cottage . . . it is a one-up-one-down with a bathroom to the rear of the entrance conservatory.

The main room has been modernised since our last visit three years ago with a new floor and furnishings.

The other end is a nice modern kitchen with a shower room (off to the right).

The Rayburn Stove offers constant heating for the cottage and Aga-style cooking for meals.

Takes a little getting used to but cooks great casseroles and heats frozen croissants beautifully for breakfast.

Upstairs a large king-sized bed fills the gabled bedroom.

The other important bit is the outside patio which enjoys extensive sea views.

Wi-fi was non-existent but then the whole village only gets 1 or 2 mega bits per second via phone line so there's hardly any broadband anyway.

Mobile signal only available at the top of the garden so it is going to be a quiet and non-technical week . . . could make a pleasant change.

We can just sit and enjoy the view and watch the colours change as the sun begins to set.

We end the day with a quick dog walk up onto the cliff path to see the last of the colour out to the west.

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In the morning we were expecting our son and grandson to arrive so we had time to potter and watch the world go by.

The beach has a car park behind the low sea wall and a slipway down onto the beach for boats.

There is a long and proud history to the village that we would discover as time went on.

To the right is a stone lime kiln which used imported coal to burn limestone to make agricultural lime (fertiliser) for the local fields.

As the tide receded the gulls followed the tide line down and foraged in the newly exposed shoreline.

A number of them appeared to bathe in the closest waves, maybe the fresh water stream makes the water less saline.

The sheltered inlet was a great starting point for a canoe adventure.

This group went out to explore the islands and rock stacks and returned later in the morning.

They surfed in on the small waves . . . but even these caused a problem for the middle two canoes.

There were shouts and gentle abuse until the yellow craft regained steerage way and let the others catch the wave to shore !

Our son was due about midday and by the look of it he has just arrived.

We wave  but also go across to meet him and our grandson who have just travelled over from Ammanford, about an hour or so away.

A brief pause now as we indulge ourselves with Luke, our latest grandchild.

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