The Ham Nomads

11 May 2014. <GB-WLS> Castell Henllys, Pemb; Cardigan, & Aberystwyth, & Tal-y-bont, Cered —

Took our leave from Salutation Inn — our host John Denley and his wife each came out to wish us on our way!

Castell Henllys

Drove a couple of miles and saw a sign for Castell Henllys, a reconstructed Iron Age hill fort. Turned in. Anther good choice! We were the only visitors there, but four times a year women from the spinners and dyers guild come up to spin and dye wool in the ancient ways. Today was one of those days! They were set up in one of the round houses, a fire going in the middle (the smoke going nowhere — there's no smoke vent in an iron age round house!). They were dying batches of spun wool, and spinning wool on simple spindles while they were waiting for the dyes to do their magic. The natural vegetable dyes react differently to various mordants that are applied to the wool beforehand — tin, copper, iron, alum, etc. — to produce different colours from the very same pot. Madder produces various shades of red, woad gives blues, and so on. We had a lovely chat with these people and with the guide who was up on the top of the hill fort with them, and we stayed for over an hour. The hill fort was reconstructed in the 1970s, and has been open to the public ever since. The archaeology was carried out very thoroughly, and the full report has only just been published. The whole site fleshed out our experience at Oswestry Hill Fort a week or so ago.

Driving north, we filled up with diesel at Brian Llewellyn, at Eglwyswrw — love these place names! Paid £1.35.9 per litre — fuel prices vary from this up to £1.38.9, dependent on place only, not on any crazy fuel price cycle like we have at home. I really see no justification whatsoever for the yoyo price regime we have in Australia!!!

We then drove up to Cardigan (Aberteifi). If you want a little insight into Welsh place names, the element 'aber' means the mouth of a river or a confluence of rivers, so Averteifi is a town at the mouth of Afon Teifi ('afon' is the word for river). There are a lot of "Aber'" towns in this region — a lot of rivers! At Cardigan we dropped into a Tesco store for a bit more food shopping. Tescos really make it easy for the traveller to keep well fed!

The Coast near Aberaeron

Llanrhystud

We kept on driving, up to Aberaeron, where the road starts to run alongside the coast. Spectacular views! Took a few photos, then went up the coast a little further to Llanrhystud, where we dropped out onto the forehore for a look around. Spectacular views of Cardigan Bay. We also noted the wonderful colours of the little houses along the streets. We then kept driving, up to Aberystwyth — yes, at the mouth of Afon Ystwyth! The wind was blowing a gale in from the sea, with breakers crashing on the foreshore. We parked right on the waterfront and walked up to the castle — where we were nearly blown away. Found it hard to breathe, the winds were so strong. But a fascinating site. In the middle of the ruin is a stone circle, a bardic circle placed apparently for the Eisteddfod of 1915, and the raised dais for that event is still there in the middle of the circle.

Susie at Aberystwyth Castle

The waves were rolling in!

The weather convinced us to push on — it was getting late anyway. So here we are in a layby near Tal-y-bont, about 7 miles north of Aberystwyth, setting up for dinner and sleep, overlooking a little graveyard. The views to left and to right were magnificent, and we could see Cardigan Bay in the distance!

Distance driven — today, 60 miles ( 97 km ); to date, 969 miles ( 1,560 km )