pembroKeshire
- ii
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to Part I
In the central square in
Fishguard this ancient cannon appears trained on the Royal Oak
pub.
Perhaps this is the reason?
A small force of French soldiers making for Ireland were blown
off course to Fishguard where local women, particularly
Jemima Nicholas, were instrumental in their defeat and capture.
From a footpath down to
Fishguard Lower Town, our first sight of Cwm Harbour - at low
tide, unfortunately.
A more comprehensive view
from a higher vantage point.
The quayside, where a British
Film Institute plaque records that this is where, in 1971, the
film version of 'Under Milk Wood', Dylan Thomas's masterpiece,
was shot.
Also celebrating that fact
is this racing skiff (?), named for the fictional town that was
Under Milk Wood.
The bustling port that was
the Lowertown or Cwm Harbour, with shipbuilding and with coasting
and fishing fleets, declined from its zenith with the opening
of the new port facilities at the railway terminus at Goodwick,
where the docked Stena Line ferry can be seen.
The old fort on Castle Point,
built in 1781 and armed with eight nine-ponder cannon to deter
Privateers who had been raiding the town. Beyond the North Breakwater,
the Stena
Line ferry sails for Rosslare in the Irish Republic, three
and a half hours away.
Looking east along the coast
to Dinas Head and showing the line of clouds formed by the presence
of the land.
Fifteen minutes after the
ferry departure the Stena Line catamaran Lynx slows as she approaches
the North Breakwater and the entrance to Fishguard Harbour at
the end of her one hour forty minutes sailing time from Rosslare
at up to 38 knots.
An hour later Lynx is heading
out again, here passing near a Navy ship anchored in the bay.
Dinas Head from the east
at Newport the mouth of the Afon Nyfer.
Looking south from the same
place over wooded Newport to the rocky top of Carn Ingli (Angel
Mountain - the subject and title of a book by Brian John that
I have bought but have yet to read).
The wooded valley of Cwm
Gwaun that curves around the base of Carningli and whose waters
discharge into Fishguard harbour.
The sunset over the Preseli
Hills. The pink was not significant, the clouds were.
Continued
in Part III
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VISTAS
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