We had a lovely time in Wales. Our main memories are the friendly people, the fish n chips, the nice pubs, the rain (the weather was below average) and the castles. It seemed as if there was a castle around every second corner.
By far the best castle to visit was Pembroke Castle which is in the pretty town of Pembroke (funnily enough) - not to be confused with the less picturesque town of Pembroke Dock - from where you can get a ferry to Ireland. The Castle is in very good nick, considering it's been around since 1093, and it's huge. The best part about it though is the way you can roam anywhere you like. There's no barriers, saying "don't go here" or "keep out" - you can basically wander wherever you like. To hell with health & safety they say, you can bump your head on low doorways, and fall down uneven stone stairs to your heart's content - it's fantastic.
We've had some feedback that more pictures/info on pubs would be nice. Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of the pubs in Pembroke, but I thought I'd mention them nonetheless. Enjoy the pics.
Here's Pembroke Castle from the High St. About 5 yards behind where the photographer is standing is a nice, but allegedly haunted, pub where we had lunch.
Pembroke Castle from the rear - there's another pub about 5 yards behind the photographer here as well.
Pembroke Castle from a bit further along the river - nearest pub is out of shot, off to the left
More of Pembroke Castle
We all got lost exploring the maze of steps and passages in the castle, but Keezee bumped into Jo and Lucy along one of the battlements. We joined forces to find a way out, but somehow got lost again in the next tower.
Caiti & Keezee somehow made it to the top of Henry VII tower - that's us waving.
Lucy taking a break during her adventures. That's the Royal George pub down on the right.
We could see Nana and Caiti waiting on the parade ground in the keep, but couldn't work out how to get down to them. Caiti had somehow escaped earlier!
Nana was happy to find Lucy & Jo when they eventually emerged from one of the doorways into the keep.
Note to parents - Lucy is getting a bit too big for the pram.
Caiti picked a couple of flowers (from where we don't know) and enjoyed running on the grass.
This is Carew Castle, which is a couple of miles up the road from Pembroke. We didn't go in - castle exploring is hard work, and you shouldn't do more than one a day unless your very experienced!
Just to prove we were really there.... by the way, there's a pub in the village just over the road.
And here's the castle at Haverfordwest, which sits on a hill overlooking the town. We didn't visit, as there were way too many shops to divert our attention. Closest pub is out of shot to the right across the river - called the Fishguard Arms from memory.
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