Taken from Google StreetView

Google StreetView’s coverage has been extended to about 90% of the country and that now includes Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire. The images are pretty high quality. I have heard there is a bit of an anomaly with the High Street in Pembroke Dock as part of it was filmed in once season and the other part in another, with Christmas decorations still visible.

Taken from Google StreetView

As I did and most of the people I showed this to, also did, we went and had a look where we live and where we used to live. So go on, knock yourself out.

http://maps.google.co.uk/

The Sunday between Christmas and the New Year I spent hiking around Pembrokeshire and this time I went for walk no. 12 (Around Ynys Barry) taken from the book mentioned in some of my previous posts There is a local attraction called the Blue Lagoon that is just a few minutes away from the Aber Eiddy (also known as Abereiddy) car park where the walk originates from. The lagoon is actually an old man-made slate mining pit. The wall between the pit and the sea was later blasted to open it up making an artificial bay for ships to find shelter in high tides in case of rough seas.

A bit of trivia:  The Aber Eiddy Blue Lagoon was also used as a filming location for the video for the techno anthem Silence by the Canadian group Delirium (Featuring Sarah McLachlan). By the way the video was also filmed at Newgale beach.

As I entered the lagoon I saw a sheep on the cliffs about halfway between the top of the cliffs and the lagoon floor. I though it was a ledge that the animal accessed to get to some grass and didn’t think much about it. A few days later I overheard a colleague at work saying how her dog got fixated on a sheep on the cliffs while walking and it transpired that she was walking the dog in the Blue Lagoon and that was quite probably the same sheep. I went to check as soon as possible half expecting the sheep to be gone or even worse, dead. To my surprise she was still there and I took these pictures:

The problem is the rocks are vertical and very slippery below. Above, from the top of the cliff, there is a very steep slope. I managed to report about the stranded sheep to the RSPCA and they confirmed they have already received reports about this incident and that there is also a farmer that is checking it daily. This all happened yesterday, Saturday January 3rd. Today I went and checked it again and it is still there, alive. This makes it at least 9 days since it has been stuck on that ledge.

Does anyone else know anything more about it? The RSPCA call centre mentioned that a rescue is considered but also mentioned health and safety which fills me with a bit of a worry. I don’t want to start an upset but I don’t want to see an animal suffer further and am quite willing to go and get the sheep myself. I have tried out rock climbing a couple of times and this should be an easy climb/descent with the proper equipment. The only problem would be restraining the sheep and convincing her that I its supposed to be rescued and should not feel threatened.

I have also tried contacting the local newspaper to get them involved. So far no reply. I would appreciate any suggestions or help. Will post any updates as they arise.

Update Monday, 4th January 2010 at 13.15

Checked on her again yesterday at about 2pm. Was still looking relatively OK. Just spoke to the RSPCA inspector. A rescue is planned this week. The farmer who is checking up on her is the owner so if all goes well she should be back with her hers by the end of the week unless she has any medical condition that needs to be treated first. Apparently sheep often get stranded in those parts and a lot of times will get themselves out of trouble.

Update Tuesday, 5th January 2010 at 19.20

Sheep still OK, were a couple of people from the RSPCA that were trying to get some food down to her. The problem today were very strong winds and icy snow. The snow was only up on the junction with the Abereiddy road which is where I had to leave my car. When I arrived I though the snow would be on the beach as well – there is a rather steep road just above Aber Eiddy. The B4330 was quite slippery on the way there as the snow was just starting at about 13.40. I left Aber Eiddy at about 14.40. This was a photo of the road:

The Abereiddy road after the snow on January 5th

I came home at about 18.40. That is 4 hours later!!! The trip should have taken me about 45 minutes!. This was the route I took and my average speed was 5 miles per hour. The problem wasn’t the very icy B4330 – that part took me about an hour to the Ford roundabout. It took the rest to get from the roundabout at Ford to Johnston. Nuts!!! That part had an average speed of  1.7 mph (3 hours for 5.3 miles).

I have received some news from a journalist from the above mentioned local newspaper. She received information that the rescue was planned for tomorrow but due to the adverse weather conditions I doubt this.

Update Thursday, 7th January 2010 at 19.30

Received a call from the Western Telegraph newsdesk this afternoon. The reporter had learnt that the sheep was successfully rescued yesterday, Wednesday, January 6. I was just trying to get some feed arranged for her for tomorrow but it now wont be necessary. Great!

Update Thursday, 8th January 2010 at 19.35

Talked to the RSPCA inspector today who told me the sheep was so cooperative that it didn’t need sedating and lifting it up was not such a problem. There were also another two sheep further along also on the cliffs but they could have possibly got themselves out of trouble but they helped them out non the less.

Had a big snowstorm last night that covered Pembrokeshire with a bit of snow. These photos taken from a hike up to the highest peak in the Preseli hills – Foel Cwmcerwyn. Very windy at the top!

Near Foel Cwmcerwyn	Near Foel Cwmcerwyn
Near Foel Cwmcerwyn	Foel Feddau, looking towards Newport (Carn Ingli on the left)
This was actually taken near Stansted Airport just before Christmas

This is not a photo from the incident

Recently I haven not been writing about my treks round Pembrokeshire and how I have been working my way through the “Walking in Pembrokeshire” guide. I’ve done so many now I have been repeating some of them two to three times. This last walk I did for the first time and is worth mentioning as it was one of the more unusual.

It is the walk no. 24 starting in Landshipping Quay and the day wasn’t to promising as weather was concerned. I though there might be just intermittent drizzles, but it ended pouring down all day and soaking me throughout. I recently invested in some wellington boots as the grounds in Pembrokeshire were becoming more and more water-logged in recent weeks and months. They proved to be a saviour on this occasion starting as I took on the river banks of the Cleddau river in Landshipping Quay.

Not long after the start of the trip I ended up in a field that was filled with, what at first looked like bullocks (castrated bulls). However as I got much closer I realised that one of them, how should I say – did not have the deed done to him. He was entire, un-castrated, missing the two-brick job. Now I know they can be very dangerous and show aggressiveness against almost everybody, including their owners, however he just seemed to have that smug look on his face like “I could have you, I could break you like a little twig and squash you like a bug”. I got the hint and did not stick around to find out if I might have misread his intentions. I later found out that bulls of this breed even if un-castrated are very timid and not that dangerous.

About half way into the walk I came on this field (just after Beggar’s Reach) that, at first, looked like it was only populated by loads of sheep. Then almost out of nowhere three huge thoroughbred horses that looked like they were trained by “I’ll be back” Schwarzenegger himself. They were massive. Not like the many half feral horse mutts you see in the Preselis that are quite shy and will usually run in the other direction of you approach them. Not only were they not afraid of me, they took an uncomfortable interest in me. The fact that haven’t been many walkers on that public footpath probably for days made their curiosity even bigger. When they first came up they did that typical horse thing where they come right up to you but once you try to pat them they shy away. I am not a horse person and I had a very limited contact with them through my veterinary career so I tried to interact with them as best I knew. I soon got bored and continued on the path only to realise I was being closely followed by all three horses. The close-stalking continued as I tried to find a way out of the field and ended being cornered in the field with these three guy (they were probably female, actually). Then they started what looked to me like an increasing aggressive behaviour and for the first time I thought, “Shit, I might get hurt”. It was a bit like primary school with the older boys bullying. I wasn’t sure whether I have to take some command over them, shout at them or continue ignoring them. I ended up with a strange combination of all three but I think the shortness of their attention span did the trick in the end. Needless to say I hastily exited the field and thought little of the psychological damage I might have sustained

The next exciting bit (NOT!) came after the Broadley farm. The track and surrounding fields were so saturated with water that the mud was nearly getting into my wellies. The problem was also I got completely stuck as my boots got sucked into the mud and moving my legs became was very very difficult. Not a completely un-dangerous situation as there was no soul around and the mobile phone reception was patchy at best. I somehow managed to almost crawl out of the very thick mixture of water, cow excrements and mud only to get myself corned at the end of the track. To get back onto the path I had to crawl under a barbed wire. Of course it wouldn’t be me If I didn’t get stuck nice and proper. Luckily none of the clothing I was wearing sustained any serous damage.

I got back to my car in Landshipping Quay properly soaked, covered with all sorts of filth and with a new founded respect/fear of horses.

Slika z BBC strani, avtorja Scotty

Včeraj sem šel spet malo na ogled do lokacije snemanja novega filma o Robinu Hoodu na obali Freshwater West in zadeve so se precej spremenile od prejšnjega tedna, ko sem bil nazadnje tam. Varnostnikov ni bilo veliko in tokrat so me vsaj spustili na plažo, kljub temu, da je na tam potekalo snemanje. Povsod sami statisti, večinoma v horizontali. Če se nisem spotaknil ob statista, sem se pa skoraj ob kako sulico. Mnogi so bili pokonci že od 4. ure zjutraj, da so jih ustrezno pripravili na snemanje in ko sem bil tam so morali biti pokonci okoli 10 ur, povrh vsega pa je še sonce žgalo. Ti res, spet so se mi zasmilili. Vsi so bili obleženi v obleke iz tistih časov (vsaj upam, da so bili iz tistih časov, kakšnih ustreznih prič nimam na voljo), na severnem delu plaže so bili, tako kot teden prej, statisti na konjih. One glavne zvezde me niso zanimale in opazovanje snemanja od blizu mi je bilo precej bolj cool.

Najprej sem se sprehodil gor in dol po plaži – svetovali so mi, naj hodim bolj vkraj pa se mi zdi da to ni bila najboljša ideja saj so ves čas po tem delu drveli avtomobili in štirikolesniki raznih vrst. Eden se je celo ustavil in mi ponudil prevoz do produkcijskega tabora na južnem delu. One hute, ki sem jih videl prejšnji teden, so že podrli. Od varnostnika sem izvedel, da trenutno poteka druga faza snemanja, in sicer snemanje podrobnosti, kjer glavni zvedniki niso vpleteni. Prav tako je bilo zaključeno snemanje večjih scen, kjer so bili vklopljeni številni statisti in konji.

Danes so se v lokalnem časopisu tudi razpisali o gospodu Crowe-u – kaj sočnih podatkov niso razkrili, so pa potrdili, da je njegov plan, da bi se vsak dan prevažal na snemanje s helikopterjem iz prijateljeve posesti v Buckinghamshire-ju, ni bil izvedljiv, tako da je snemanje preživel v produkcijskem taboru ob snemališču. Verjetno je malo precenil oddaljenost Walesa od Londona. Matr sam smo res daleč od prestolnice, mi noben ne verjame !!!

So pa v zgoraj omenjenem lokalnem časopisu tudi objavili, kako je šel na večerjo s soigralci in čisto lepo se je obnašal in popolnoma nič zvezdniško. Gostilna se imenuje Carew Inn in je v neposredni bližini srednjeveškega gradu Carew. Še celo toliko se je sprostil, da je pobral kitaro in zapel par pesmi – ena od teh naj bi bila “Leaving on a jet plane” Johna Denverja. Za hvaležnost je uslužbencev dal 350 britanskih funtov vredno napitnino. Imam tudi nekaj fotografij s tega gradu, ki jih je posnela moja mama.

Ajd, dost je, sem dal danes ven modrostni zob in se mi ne piše več. Mi je zobozdravnik dal navodila in me ddrugim tudi piše, da se moram izogibat alkoholu. Ja, pa še to!!??

Nekaj super fotk z BBC-jeve strani…

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• Freshwater West meets Harry Potter and Robin Hood (martinmcdowell.com)
• Russell Crowe and his Robin Hood film crew take over beach (news.bbc.co.uk)
• The difference is in the Angle (martinmcdowell.com)
• Robin Hood filmset @ Freshwater West on June 23rd (martinmcdowell.com)
• Sir Ridley’s call for extras to fight Robin Hood’s band of merry men (news.bbc.co.uk)

V mesecu juniju 2009 so pričeli nedaleč od tod s snemanjem naslednje filmske upodobitve princa tatov – Robina Hooda.

Lokacija, kjer poteka snemanje, se imenuje Freshwater West in gre za eno lepših plaž v Pembrokeshire-ju in Wales-u nasploh. Tu so pejšnji mesec celo snemali naslednji film o Harryu Potterju. Produkcija za Robina Hooda pa je precej večja in vključuje veliko več ljudi in opreme. Pred tedni so imeli v bližnji dvorani avdicijo za statiste in prijaviti se jih je hotelo veliko več, kolikor je bilo mest na voljo.

Ogled galerije.

Ker je produkcija tega filma tako velika, so uspeli pri občini (izraz občina upoorabljam kot nadomestilo za county council, v tem konkretnem primeru Pembrokeshire County Council) dobiti dovoljenje za dvotedensko zaprtje lokalne ceste, ki poteka mimo plaže, kjer se bo snemalo največ prizorov. Očitno prihaja do manjših zamud, saj so morali zaprositi za podaljšanje tega dovoljenja za nekaj dni.

Sam sem bil priča snemanju prejšnji torek. Čeprav so govorili, da bo plaža odprta za javnost, to skoraj ni bilo mogoče realizirati, saj je med snemanjem tam ogromno opreme in statistov, tako da do plaže sploh nisi mogel, je bila pa odprta pot ob plaži in ima tudi posebno ime – Pembrokeshire coastal path. Na njej je bilo kar nekaj opazovalcev in fotografov, ki so opazovali dogajanje med snemanjem. Očitno so se pripravljali na snemanje spopadom med nekakšno srednjeveško pehoto s sulicami in konjenico. Stal sem ravno nad severnim delom plaže, kjer so ravno takrat počivali konji z jezdeci. Na sliki se prav dobro vidi, da so precej izmučeni in da se jim kaj dosti ne da. Ko jih je šef začel klicati naj grejo na konje, jih je moral včkrat nadreti naj že spravijo riti na sedla in odsmrdijo do snemališča.

Sredi zaliva pred Freshwater West plažo je bilo kar nekaj plovil, nekateri v stilu robinhoodovskih časov (baje) in nekateri malo bolj današnji. No, iz enega iz slednje skupine se je vsake toliko časa izpustil gost oblak dima – verjetno je šlo za posebno meglo, ki jo uporabljajo za snemanje. Ta megla se je najprej razprostrla preko zaliva in potem še naprej na celino in prav čudno je smrdela.

Tik pred snemanjem se je potem pojavil še helikopter za katerega sem najprej sumil, da je pripeljal glavne zvezde – najverjetneje pa je bil uporabljen samo za snemanje – na nosu je imel namreč namontirano ogromno okroglo belo ohišje s kamero v njej. Ko snemanja ni bilo, je šel začasno “parkirat” na bližnji hrib. Takoj, ko se je snemanje nadaljevalo, je zopet zaštartal motorje in nadaljeval delo. Meni je bilo vse skupaj precej zanimivo, ker še nikoli nisem bil na prizorišču snemanja filma, kaj šele za snemanje tako velikega holivudskega filma. Bi bilo kar kul, če bi me spustili na plažo, da bi si zadevo bolje ogledal in kaj poslikal – avtogram Russel-a Crowe-a me namreč niti malo ne interesira.

Na trenutke je bilo dogajanje na plaži kar gledljivo, prav kamlu pa se mi je začelo dolgočasit. Prav hecno pa je bilo gledati eno prvih vaj pri spopadu prej omenjene pehote in konjenice. Ko se je režiser zadrl “Action” in ko so planili eni proti drugim, se je režiser kmalu zadrl “Cut”. Statisti so bili očitno toliko zagreti ali pa so začasno oglušeli, da so nadaljevali z bitko, tako da se je moral režiser še večkrat zadreti Rez …  rez, da so končno prenehali s klofanjem. Fotograf, ki je spremljaj dogajanje mi je povedal, da gre za igralce rugbija, ki so bili precej zagreti za dober “fajt”.

Na koncu sem si še mimogrede ogledal prizorišče snemanja, ki naj bi še prišlo na vrsto – ob plaži, nad plitvimi pečinami, so postavili nekakšne manjše enostavne koče.

Na dan pa že curljajo novice iz samega snemanja. Čisto slučajno se je kolegičina mama uspela slikati z glavnim igralcem Russelom Crowom. Sem pa iz zanesljivih virov izvedel, da je nek statist, ki je bil zaposlen kot veslač v filmu, stopil do Russel-a in ga poprosil za fotografiranje ali avtogram. Russel mu je obljubil, da ni problema in se lahko zmenita, ko pride nazaj. No, nazaj je prišel le nek asistent , ki je tipu (veslaču) zabičal, naj ne nadleguje glavnega igralca in naj se pod nosom obriše za fotografijo in avtogram. Pijar, da mu ni para.

View towards the south. You can see a tractor "combing" the sand next to the wood stacks

Slišal sem tudi za novico, da se je pri snemanju prevrnila barka na kateri so bili konji z jezdeci. Kar nekaj jih je bilo pripeljano v lokalno urgenco. Konjem, po poročilih, ni bilo nič hudega. So pa imeli še eno težavo, ko so spet druge barke pri snemanju, nasedle na mivko. Pri tem je prišlo do hujših težav s posebnimi motorji Mercury Verado saj so se ti, kljub mehki mivki, poškodovali. Poklicati so morali neko lokalno podjetje, ki je zastopnik za te motorje, da so zadevo rešili.

Snemanje bo potekalo še kar nekaj dni in na dan bo, prav gotovo, prišlo še kar nekaj zanimivosti.

Ogled galerije.

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• Harry Potter heads for the beach (news.bbc.co.uk)

Še nekaj fotografij, zmontiranih v filmček, avtorja wizard327:

Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire

Of course not literally, but it was published today in the local newspaper that the Freshwater West (the location of one of my recent trecks: The difference is in the Angle) will be used as a filming location for the upcoming movies Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood remake.

The debate is now mostly concerning whether the beach will still be opened to the public and when the road will be closed during the filming in May and June 2009. The biggest problem I see is that there isn’t much parking available close to the beach anyway so I suppose that is why they will shut the road off.

See the gallery from the hike here and here are some photos taken of the beach…

• Beach assurance over Potter film (BBC)

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This one the walk no 27 taken from the book and is a bit of a deviation from the books theme – it being that there are 41 circular walks in Pembrokeshire. Well this walk is still in Pembrokeshire but it is not at all circular. However the authors can be forgiven for this as it is a very nice easy walk with some nice views, especially at the main Slebech estate (see their website for more details. If you are a birdwatcher then this walk should definitely not be missed. In quite a few places along the road you can reach the Eastern Cleddau and gaze upon the views of the river and the bird population that occupy it.

See the complete photo gallery here.

There is also quite a bit of history related to the Slebech estate and the church. It dates from the 12th century A.D. when the grounds were owned by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem who “have their roots” in the first crusade. Cool.

I just love this photo, I think it is good enough to be framed

This walk seemed the muddiest of them all, in fact I am wandering how exactly to wash my walking shoes and the washing machine is getting to be the favourite. This is the walk no. 32 and can easily be combined with no. 33 (Treffgarne Gorge) as they both start from the same point. That was actually my plan but my walking shoes got filled with lots of lovely mud hindering any furter hikes that day. OK, I admit, am being a bit of a wus, but I was lucky this happened towards the end of the walk.

The hike starts from the Nant-y-coy Mill and takes you on the right side of the valley north-westerly. The first part worth seeing is the valley in about mid-way into the hike – around the farm at North Hill. The path after that is a bit different from the one mentioned in the book as the Pembrokeshire County Council approved some modifications to the public path. These were made in September 2008. It now takes you round the farm to the left and then joins the original route at the top of the hill – the Great Treffgarne Mountain. That is the most spectacular part with great views in all directions. There are also these peculiar stones dotted on the top of the hill, each some way from another.

After that the path became very unpleasant as one farmer completely ignored the fact there is a path there. It was changed to a mud-bath instead of a field. At one moment, thinking I was stepping onto a reasonably solid mixture of mud and cow poo, I instead stepped into something much more liquid-like making my foot sink way beyond ankle deep. My left foot got completely soaked and my right one didn’t fare much better. Grrrrrrrr!!! I thought the farmers were supposed to be more considerate about the public paths – in fact it seemed that in that area the farmers trash the paths to discourage hikers from using them.

I was later told they have no such obligations and the paths are of secondary importance to their ownership of the land the path is on. I feel a bit nostalgic for the days in Yugoslavia (Slovenia) where a lot of land was nationalised for the common good.

Hmmm, gives me ideas

See the gallery here.

Coetan Arthur burial chamber on St Davids Head

OK, same book used from the last walk, but this time it was walk no. 11:  St David’s Head and Carn Llidi. You start off at Whitesands near St David which is convenient as there is lots of parking available – you will be charged parking if you come during the tourist season.

The Carn Lidi hill is a prominent feature in southern Pembrokeshire and you can see it from miles away. In fact I could clearly see it from the Preseli mountains from the a trek I did a couple of weeks ago to Foel Eryr. The walk is straightforward enough but by the time I got to the north-western part of the walk the wind was really really strong. In fact I was a bit tempted to do some skydiving practice by performing some RW (relative work) positions.

At this point I was barely able to stand up properly, yet alone take a photo

As I turned inland and looked towards the summit of Carl Llidi the slovene genes in me were starting to kick-in again and the unexplainable urge to climb on top of stuff was getting the better of me. As I got about mid way to the top I was met by these small thick and very thorny bushes for which I know somebody somewehere knows the latin name of. In my book they are probably something like Frutex dolens vulgaris (the common painful bush). There were some very narrow paths through this bushy thorniness and as I was scrambling up I surprised a few horses that were grazing below the summit. I tried to ignore them but the relation was not reciprocated. The presence of so many horses explained the huge ammount of poo that I was forced to walk around on my way to the top.

The poo tredding and thorny bush evasion was immediately forgotten as I came to the top – the views were just stunning, you could see for miles all around you 360°. I was a bit worried about lightning as there was a storm approaching from the north and as I was standing on the top of the hill I was really sticking-out towards the sky as a sticky thing on a stick on a sticky day.

Getting down the hill, however, proved to be even trickier than the trip up as I nearly got blown over by the gale force winds. I took a different route to avoid the above mentioned Frutex dolens vulgaris only to be met by more of the also above mentioned horse poo and your general bog-standard mud. It seemed like you were walking a path and came to a part where it was so muddy you had to take a detour only to find out the detour is covered in sh*t. So the choice was: wet and muddy shoes or dry and crappy shoes.

Just as I was approaching the Whitesands car-park I was met by these beautiful scenes of a sunset above the ocean facing east south-east. Sorry for the poor quality as I took it with my Nokia N95 phone cam. Not happy with it, plan on getting an iPhone anyway soon

Beautiful sunset above the sea at Whitesands

For more photos please visit the gallery HERE.

This morning was going to be a another great day for hiking as the skies were clear and there was no rain forecast for the whole day. I was, again, following the great book Walking in Pembrokeshire – 41 circular walks in the National park. By the way, this was walk no 21: Carn Menyn and the »Bluestones«.

It took me a bit to find the correct site for parking as I kept switching between the book and the Ordnance survey map. I found it in the and and I was the only parked car there, not that there was much more space for more cars, anyway. The hike was quite easy and the gradient was never that steep, the Slovene in me made the trip even easier, the only thing my Slovene side could not cope with with was the very strong and quite cold wind. It was just about 0 centigrade according to my thermometer in my car. Up on the hill it was probably less and the streams were beginning to freeze over. That was a blessing in itself as the slope is very boggy and in some places quite tricky to cross the numerous streams.

Anyway, great trip with one very intriguing trivia associated with it. The Stonehenge stones were apparently harvested from this exact spot according to a geologist’s discovery back in 1922, although this is disputed by some. By the way, Stonehenge is 135 miles  (217km) away from this spot and were are talking about the direct route and you couldn’t exactly stick one of those babies in your pocket and carry them to England and they sure as hell won’t fit in the back of a Vauxhall Corsa

See the gallery here…

I have tried to visit this place before but the last time got a bit dissapointed as there was the standard parking fee. Today was a very good time to see the place, sunny and not a lot of people on it. Oh yes, and the parking was free. By the way, I am all for conservation and good old cash goes a long way in conservation but ripping local of so that they can use the local nature is just wrong. The place sees a lot of tourists but the rest of Pembrokeshire-ians live here and want to enjoy the surroundings so why are the locals charges just as tourists are.

In any case, Marloes Sands is definately not to be missed if you visit Pembrokeshire. Different from lonf sandy beaches like Pendine, Newgale or Whitesands there is lots of interesting tectonics that make Marloes Sands very uniquie to the point of being eerie. I kept on expecting dinosaurs to come charging at me round the corner.

See the album by clicking here.

Tenby harbour with the Quay on left, lifeboat station above it, Castle Hill in the centre top

I have put it off for a long time but a sightee-er to Tenby was well due. The town of Tenby lies on the south Pembrokeshire coast and if leaving from Haverfordwest can take the road across the Cledau bridge or you can, by saving the 75p bridge toll and, depriving the Pembrokeshire County Council , go through Canaston Bridge.

St. Catherine's Island with Castle beach in foreground

I had the privilege to see it on a beautiful sunny July day in 2008. There are a few parking spots close to town but the multi-storey car park is your best bet. See map here. I have been to a few British seaside towns but this beats them all with it delightful charm and lack off cheesy entertainment that so often can be found in the stereotypical British seaside town. As I was born in Portsmouth I feel free to slag it off as an example to my point.

I wanted to take the opportunity and see Caldey island, which is just off the coast from Tenby but at is was a Sunday and the island is de facto run by monks it was closed. All you could take is sightseeing boat trips round the island. I was on the seal safari trip. Besides getting really up close to some curious seals I had the chance to get a first seat view of the Tenby lifeboat being pulled back up into the lifeboat house. For those who are not familiar with the procedure of launching the RNLI lifeboats in Tenby is that they keep the boat completely closed-up in the lifeboat and when an emergency demands the service of the RNLI lifeboat that is quickly released and the boat slides down the slipway and straight into the water.

The new Tenby lifeboat station with the lifeboat in the foreground

The new Tenby lifeboat station

When the mission is finished it then returnes and is pulled back in reverse into the boathouse as seen in the gallery and in the photos above.

Google Maps has recently updated the satellite photos covering Wales, Pembrokeshire in particular. I am not sure how other areas were covered before but there is a definite resolution increase in the photos in south west Wales. The enhanced photos were first available on Google Earth and soon after that on the web edition – Google Maps.

The image detail is very good and you should have no problem seeing cars and their colour as well as people. Here is a close-up of Little Haven in Pembrokeshire:

I have already tried to establish when the photos were taken but I have only been in Wales for just over a year and they were definitely taken before that. At the moment I have information that they are about 2 years old. If anyone has more precise information please contact me or drop a comment on this article.

There are some interesting mistakes that can be seen, this particular one on the second Severn bridge. The cars seem to be driving on the shade of the bridge itself. I presume an image server at Google misinterpreted the grainy image with lower resolution (seen here on the left) and then mistakenly connected wrong parts of the bridge confusing the bridge itself with its shadow.
I presume the two photos were taken at different parts of the year (the better resolution taken probably during winter, note the longer shadow.

Image via Wikipedia

Although this time I flew instead of drove to Lubljana it still seemed like it took ages, well in fact from the minute I set of from Johnston it was 8.45 AM and it was 8,45 PM hwn I arrived in Ljubljana, well Gradišče, to be more precise. So it took 12 hours to get here.
There were quite a few traffic jams to deal with and the morning rush hour in Haverfordwest added at least half hour to my journey. The other big delay was on the M25 (duhh).
Then the plane was delayed as there was something wrong with one of the fron wheels and it had to be replaced.
The weather here is a bit colder than in Pembrokeshire and not snowy as it was predicted. Weather aside I realy look forward to meet some of my friends here, especially those I didn’t get to see the last time I was here, in September.

Tale prispevek je čisto zares in žal pokaže tudi razliko med veterino v Sloveniji in Veliki Britaniji. Klinika, v kateri delam, že nekaj časa išče nadomestilo za veterinarko, ki bo šla v kratkem na porodniški dopust. Objavljali smo oglase v veterinarskih oglasnikih, kot je npr. “Veterinary record” in imeli celo neko dekle na razgovoru a se za službo žal ni prijavil nihče.

Res, da je Haverfordwest oz. Wales v celoti bolj stran od dogajanja a tu le ni tako slabo. Ampak očitno se le pozna pomanjkanje veterinarjev v tej državi in nam zato še do danes ni uspelo dobiti novega človeka.
In čisto zares so me spraševali, če poznam koga, ki bi prišel iz Slovenije delat na našo kliniko – bi ga/jo bili zelo veseli.

Torej, če si veterinar in te zanima delo v tujini, se lahko prijaviš

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