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Thursday we enjoy a relaxed day walking locally from the cottage.

The shipping forecast said " north easterly winds, rain later " so we decided to stay locally.

As it turned out, the rain stayed away, well away from us anyway, so we had another dry day.

Abercastle inlet . . . a local walk for Ann and myself.

At the top of the slip we noticed this quiet and unassuming plaque

but one that must rate up there with the greatest personal sailing achievements especially considering the date 1876.

The book describing his journey was on the bookshelf in the cottage.

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The Old Mill at Abercastle . . . no obvious signs of millstream but it did have an old mill stone outside.

" Harbour Cottages "

The harbour has other visitors today in addition to occasional people walking the coast path.

These canoeists set off to enjoy the views from sea level.

We took another walk around the cliff path . . .

But walked just that little bit further . . .

. . . to the pebble beach at Pwllstrodur Bay.

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Friday and another fine morning at Abercastle after a blowy night.

The weather is sunny . . . but sadly this is our last day at the cottage in West Wales.

Morning at Abercastle . . . looking across to the cottage and the old granary buildings.

Today we have chance to walk one last part of the coast path for this holiday so we opt for a visit to Abereiddi Bay.

In there too is an emergency public Heart Defib equipment like the one which is being installed in our phone box in Loweswater.

It is becoming much more understood that 'first aid resuscitation' (CPR) is often more successful if backed up by one of these clever heart-start machines.

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Over the hill and round the corner and we are presented with a view of Abereiddi Bay.

The tower on the end of the headland is Trwyncastell which we saw from our Traeth Llefn walk on Wednesday.

Parking is on the back of the beach . . . Let's hope the ice cream van will stay till we return from our walk.

[ Not a lot of people know that :-    Abereiddi, and the ice cream van that regularly visits it,

were the subject of a short promotional film called "Ice Cream" commissioned by the Welsh Tourist Board in 2009.]

There is a reasonable amount of parking space at the beach.

Abereiddi is famous for its flooded slate mine, now also known as the "Blue Lagoon"

With the slate mine came the worker's cottages and this is all that remains of "The Street".

We walk out towards the headland and the old quarry.

No doubt slate was exported from here by boat but a tramway was also constructed round the hill

to the nearby Porthgain harbour to take advantage of the safer harbour and the loading facilities that we saw on our recent walk.

The Blue Lagoon is 25m deep, according to a nearby information board.

During its working life it was a dry quarry, but the access to the sea was blasted through and the sea rushed in at the end of its life.

The Blue Lagoon here at Abereiddi was the location for one of the stages of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.

Some of the world's best high-divers launch themselves from a man-made platform, 27 metres above the Blue Lagoon.

The championships were successfully held here in September 2012 and 2013 and will be repeated again in September 2016

[ Information from Wikipedia with thanks.]

I climb up the side of the old quarry (the easy bits not the vertical walls) . . .

. . . to get a wider perspective.

. . . and the taller perspective.

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From the top of the climb we were able to see all the coast, both east and west of course.

Looking the opposite way to the beach at Traeth Llefn that we visited on Wednesday.

We walked the length of the cliffs in the lovely sunshine today.

Overlooking Traeth Llefn, the tide further in this time and the sands hidden by the sea.

Ahead once again is Trwyncastell out on the headland.

Ann chooses to stay on the main path with Harry so heads back down to the bay . . .

. . . but I take Dylan on a short scramble across the high level gap and onto the end of the headland.

( Spot the dog competition . . . no prizes.)

Looking over the high vertical edges of the old quarry.

. . . and out to the old tower of Trwyncastell.

I've no history to hand but it looks like another posh harbour marker in the shape of a folly.

Still, it makes a great place to visit.

Dylan searches every window to find Ann and Harry . . . does he succeed ?

Hold your cursor over the picture to see his face.

Ann and Harry are over there the other side of Blue Lagoon.

Time to be heading back.

Back towards The Street and then the beach . . . and yes, the ice cream van was still there and serving on our return.

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We returned to Abercastle towards the end of the day after visiting Solva and picking up the nicest of dressed crab for supper.

A local fisherman catches and prepares them himself and sells them from his house at the top of the village (next to the little supermarket).

Evening light on the patio after diner.

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Postscript:   Sadly yesterday saw the death of two Milford Haven fishermen off Abereiddi.   Their fishing boat got into difficulties on rocks near St David’s Head before it sank. Debris from the boat was washed ashore here and at Traeth Llefn.   A big rescue effort was made but only one person was found and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The second was recovered from the water overnight.   Our thoughts are with their families.

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