Cardiff, Castles and UNESCO sites (Wales)

Leaving the Cotswolds in our motorhome Vtee, we headed into southern Wales. Our first stop was the ruins of Blaenavon Ironworks.

Two of Blaenavon Ironworks giant furnaces

The Ironworks is a former industrial site which was important in the development of cheap, low quality iron, worldwide.

The site dates back to 1789. It is now under UNESCO protection as a World Heritage site, aimed at preserving the Welsh industrial landscape. There is a wonderful display there that shows how the iron was extracted and processed.

The mind boggles at the amount of heat, soot and smoke that was produced in making the iron.

During the ironwork’s history, it was decided to house the workers within the main operational area. Dad, Mum and the kids all worked there in the smoky, fiery environment.

Ironworker's house (19th century)

There is now a row of worker cottages from that time which have been restored. It was so interesting.

Our next stop was Cardiff at Ty Coch Camping. This proved to be a lovely peaceful camp in a countryside setting.

The only disadvantage was that we had a 3 mile walk to the main road, to catch the bus into Cardiff city. And later, we had a 3 mile walk back at the end of the day. However, the bus ride itself was quick and interesting.

We spent all of the next day walking around Cardiff.

Cardiff Castle

A highlight was Cardiff Castle which dominates one corner of the city. It is a wonderful stone fortress that has watched over central Cardiff since the 11th century.

We walked along the battlements, and explored the dungeons and many other rooms.

Behind the visitor centre was a piece of the original Roman, wall which was amazingly intact.

Marg-Cardiff Castle room

The Palace within the fort has beautifully decorated rooms and apartments, which we found fascinating. The whole castle was interesting.

Cardiff has a nice pedestrian centre and lots of arcades. We thought it had an interesting mix of architecture, and was a pleasant city to explore.

After a good break in Cardiff, we drove on across southern Wales.

Leigh outside Castle Coch

On the way, we visited Castle Coch, a fairy tale looking castle not far from Cardiff. It is a 19th century Gothic Revival castle built on the site of one built by the Normans in 1081.

The interior, like Cardiff Castle, has some beautifully decorated rooms. It was a stunning place to visit with its tall towers and imposing spires.

Keeping the castle thing going, our next stop was Castle Caerphilly.

Caerphilly Castle

It’s quite different to Castle Coch, and is now a ruin. It sits proudly on a mound surrounded by a moat, in the centre of Caerphilly village.

As we drove this southern part of Wales, we passed through lots of countryside and villages. We couldn’t help notice how different the houses and villages were compared to southern England, which appears much more tidy and affluent.

Driving on, we headed across Wales to the coast, arriving at a wee fishing village nestled in a beautiful sandy cove.

Salva

Called Salva, it’s right on a wild piece of coastline in the south-west of Wales.

As we came into Salva, we had noticed signs in the front of houses, offering fresh fish and lobster for sale. We pulled in to check what they had, and luckily, they had some of the day's catch left. We ended up buying fresh lobster tails for lunch, which proved to be very yummy. 

Then we carried on along a very narrow road until we reached St David’s which is the smallest city in the UK. 

After managing to avoid a very skinny bridge, we found some Vtee-sized parking then had a walk around.

St David's Cathedral

This is where St David, the patron saint of Wales is buried, and where he founded a monastery in the 6th century that grew into a cathedral.

The town is based around the cathedral and the huge Bishops Palace ruin beside it. The ruin is quite amazing, given its age and exposure to the weather.

St Davids village is very quaint with lots of tiny hilly streets, and attractive houses and shops.

St David houses

Moving on, we passed through several small towns and villages, heading toward Pembroke and our campsite for the night.

Then our GPS decided it knew a much more interesting route, down a narrow and overgrown track, instead of the nice wide main road.

Silly us for believing in it !

After a nervous deviation, we came around onto the correct road and found our campsite, Windmill Hill Caravan Park. This was another peaceful site with very well set out pitches in a pretty location, and an easy walk into Pembroke city.

Pembroke's colourful houses

From the camp, we took a short cut across the fields, then followed a pathway down into Pembroke township.

Pembroke is an interesting, walled town dating back 900 hundred years. There are lots of green spaces, and many old and colourful houses and shops along Main Street, which runs the length of the town. It is all very attractive.

The west end of town is dominated by Pembroke Castle, the birth place of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty.

Pembroke Castle

It is one of the most complete Norman Castles in the UK, and we found it an amazing place to explore.

It originally started off as a wood and dirt building, then over the years, successive owners added turrets and rooms in stone. It is now quite an impressive structure. There were so many nooks and crannies to explore; it was great fun.

After several days in southern Wales it was time to move on, so we booked a car ferry to Ireland.

Getting on the ferry proved to be a very easy operation, with a smooth drive onto the boat and comfortable lounges for us to sit in. There didn’t seem to be too many people on board and the 5 hour crossing passed quietly and quickly.

After a bit of a passport check at the other end, we were allowed off the ferry, and drove into Ireland.

This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium and Luxembourg. The first blog is called "Off to do the UK in a motorhome".