Sunday and it is travel to holiday day. Of course I do not make the early start I planned but there is time for hot water and toast before the final loading of Elsie (the car)takes place. It seems we have packed enough food to last the entire week but eventually it is all packed away. Elsie (the car) being an SUV helps as there is plenty of room in the back to take the large number of bags we have stowed. So my partner and I finally pull of four drive at about half past ten and head for Tenby.
The journey turns out well, good roads and good weather, accept of course in Wales when it rained for a while. Elsie (the car) is a delight to drive now that I have found a pair of shoes that are good to drive in. The soft Sketchers are hopeless but a good old fashioned solid soled Chelsea boot is ideal. My co-driver, my partner, gives me regular up dates on mileage to go and time of arrival, This is all important as I can then judge when to make a pit stop. The last stop is always crucial as it is the one that ensures I am comfortable as I negotiate the final and always last wiggly bit of the journey. Nothing worse than busting for a piss as you are trying to find a little out of the way cottage or address.
We finally arrive at our apartment right on the edge of Tenby beach. Having lugged everything into the apartment we store the food and take a breath. We find the apartment has two bedrooms, electric blinds, good WiFi and a balcony, which of course we go out on.
We find ourselves just behind a beach side restaurant, which turns out to be a real bonus later. Being tired and travel weary my partner and I head for the beach restaurant for a bite to eat. Tuna melt toasties with grated cheese dusted on the outside of the toastie, it must be a Welsh thing, but very welcome as we looked out over the beach.
The weather turns a bit chilly so we retreat to the apartment where we settle down to watch the Strictly results show, thankfully the right person left. This was followed by a football match and a smidgeon of Mock the Week before I went to bed. The effort of driving had caught up with me and I was beginning to definitely wilt. The double bed was smaller than our usual giant bed so it was going to be a snug night except that when I woke at 1:30am my partner had abandoned ship and gone into the other bedroom. Apparently her tickly cough had got the better of her and she took to a space of her own.
Monday and I wake up after a long block of sleep, its a while since I slept for more than six hours in one go. It must be the sea air. I get up early for me about 8 o’clock and go out onto the balcony to write the blog and catch up in my head where I am. Over the last twenty four hours the last two of my poetry collections has been published in hard back. I have of course ordered authors copies of them. So now The Cancer Years: Man to Man, the anthology, and The Cancer Year: The Rechallenge are now in hard back as well. I start the blog as the sun tries to break through the clouds, but it gives up as the drizzle increases in its heaviness. I retreat inside to continue the blog.
I am soon joined by my partner and we settle down to enjoy a tortilla breakfast as we watch the drizzle fall. After some serious lazing we go out for a walk. Our way out is through the outside area of the restaurant/bar and onto the beach path that leads up the cliffs to the Esplanade above the beach. Its a challenging climb and has a large number of rest benches along the way. At the top are an array of benches on which to sit and look out to sea. Most of the benches are memorialised, so some poor bastards clearly did no make it up the slope.
We follow the Esplanade along the sea front until we come to the famous Tenby town walls. Tenby is a walled town (“by” means town in old English). It is like York and like York it is possible to walk the towns walls. We got as far as the nearest shop in order to buy a paper for the crosswords before turning back and retracing our steps back to the beach. Being knackered by the walk, I am clearly no Sherpa Tensing, we headed into The Lounges and ate. I was pleases with my chicken burger soaked in hot honey and adorned with chilli. With nothing to do but laze and watch other people pop in for a coffee, or in one couples case, two large glasses of rose wine, each. Further coffee took us into the realms of discussing the shorts wearing habits of older men and I had to explain to my partner that older men find trousers perilous to put on and that donning shorts means less risk of over balancing and/or catching your foot in the trouser leg and finding yourself in A&E being asked how frequently you fall over. “He’s of an age” is the usual response of less insightful medical staff. We finish our late lunch and return to the apartment where I do the cross words and play a word game on my partners i-pad until I am bored so start to draft the blog again.
Its been an ideal start to a holiday. A brief recognisance of the area, the nearest post office located, a lazy lunch and then a relaxing afternoon. There will be an evening snack, TV and for me an early night as tomorrow I expect we will tackle the slope again and venture beyond the town walls to see what goodies Tenby has to offer. Nothing exciting but then that is okay right now.
