Post 64: 20 September 2016
Sometimes in the great outdoors you have a day that is etched in the memory forever – this was to be one of those days. The effort of driving what turned out to be a 750 mile round trip all became worth it on this day. It often occurs when you least expect it. It is often related to weather but also stunning scenery and the people you meet along the way.
It started rather well with this view to wake up to and breakfast.
After breakfast and the departure of hostellers the Volunteer Managers carried out their duties to get the hostel spick and span for the next hostellers. This was a sight to behold!
However, they did a superb job so I took some photographs of the hostel for posterity.
One of the dormitories.
Due to my ‘age and infirmity’, I had booked a 2 person en-suite for myself. Actually being a light sleeper, I just wanted a good nights sleep. Having stayed in over 100 hostels, mostly in dormitories, I am now an ‘upgraded’ youth hosteller.
The comfortable lounge
The hostel had certainly improved since I last stayed in 1971. It opened in 1957.
With all duties completed and packed lunches prepared there was time, before the next hostellers arrived, to go for a 6 mile circular walk to Strumble Head (Pen-Caer) and the fort of Garn Fawr.
We met some of locals en-route.
A farmer explained that some of the old buildings hereabouts were used to detect U-boats in the Second World War and others as viewpoints in the First World War. A posting here would have been much more preferable than to the Somme.
A slideshow of some of the delightful walk is below:
It was in evening after dinner that the view from the hostel developed, see slideshow:
It was time to open a bottle of wine, sit on the balcony and just watch the scene unfold. By this time four more German female hostellers had turned up and it was great for them also to catch this changing scene. I didn’t get to the bottom of why there were no young male hostellers, German, English or any other nationality. Perhaps they prefer to stay at home with their computer games, X-boxes or watch endless hours of football on TV? Some of these young female hostellers had got to this location solo by flying, train, bus and then walked the last quarter of a mile to the hostel with luggage. I was very impressed. As the slideshow shows there were superb light effects and eventually the sky started to turn red.
The finale was impressive. There is nothing quite like watching a sunset with old friends, new friends with an international perspective, in a stunning location. And a glass or two of wine! Very memorable. See slideshows:
A day to remember…………………….
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