Day 3: Burry Port to Angle

Following a great night's sleep and cracking breakfast at the George Hotel in Burry Port (with many thanks to Hefin Williams for kindly putting us up) we were soon back on the road.


The day began damp and breezy, and rapidly became wet and windy! We were soaked within an hour and remained that way throughout the day. The wonderful easterly tail wind which we had yesterday had turned to a strong westerly head wind. This combined with our first taste of the Welsh Hills made for a challenging day.


By now we felt we were well into Wales- the country of dragons and leeks, Brains Beer and valleys, and apparently a lot of suped up cars!


After slogging our way through the elements for over 50km, we arrived in Tenby (our half way point for the day) and quickly settled into a cafe to try to warm up up and have an early lunch to recharge the batteries. What we hadn't realised was that we weren't in in Tenby at all, but rather the small seaside town of Saunderfoot. We therefore needed to get our wet kit back on after a brief lunch and plough on over several more windswept hills in driving rain before reaching our actual half way point - the picturesque seaside town of Tenby and it's phenomenal new RNLI station.

 

Although the weather was terrible, Tenby was teaming with people being the Queens Jubilee celebrations. The lifeboat station was also filled with visitors, however we received a very warm welcome from the crew including a fantastic cup of tea, and a photograph with 'Stormy Stan' on the boat!


Being soaked and cold, we decided to crack on and were soon in the saddle again, battling the elements and hills!

It was a tough afternoon, but after 95km, we arrived at Angle RNLI station. It really was a heavenly sight after such a miserable day!


Rich the Mechanic and Andy the Coxen, kindly came down to let us in and give us a coffee and a tour of the station. What an incredible place and absolutely amazing setting. Perched on the rocky estuary edge in a very remote position, the station houses a Tamar offshore lifeboat on ramp, and crew room above with 270 degree views of the estuary (our accommodation for the night). The estuary was more industrial than we had seen to date, with oil and gas refineries and shipping along the far shore, but this made for some incredible recounts of rescues by the RNLI crews. Rich and Andy looked after us like kings.

Following a much needed shower to wash and warm up, we headed into the local village for a pint and supper at the local pub. before heading back to the station for an early night.

Day 2: Porthcawl to Burry Port

What a day! The sun was shining the wind was on our backs (most of the time) and we were done and dusted by 4pm!After an early start after a large cooked breakfast from Olivia's house B&B in Porthcawl (which was excellent) we headed towards the Port Talbot. On our arrival we found about 50 women doing some form of military fitness on the amazingly long beach. We can confirm that there was the full spectrum of human shapes and sizes present all giving it their best 'rocky' style running up the steps from the beach to the promenade. This spectacle delayed our departure by 10 mins or so but it was well worth it.

Spurred on by their enthusiasm, We set off for The Mumbles. With a strong Easterly wind on our back and our heads down we were there by 11am and were very happy with our progress.

Greeted by Shirley and Tony who were managing the RNLI shop. They kindly filled our bottles and even bought us a bag of fruit sherbets each!

The afternoon cycle was a little longer heading onto then of the Gower Peninsula via the Horton and Port Eynon Station which was sat back from a beautiful beach flanked by cliffs reminiscent of the Jurassic Coast.

Heading East off The Gower meant tackling the wind that had been on our backs all day- this slowed our progress somewhat but a portion is scampi and chips eased the pain. All that remained

was the 30km left to Burry Port.

The last 5km of which was a beautifully tarmac'd cycle path running alongside the beach. We celebrated our completed day with a Mr. Whippy and headed to The George B&B which Hefin Williams (one of the crew) had kindly put us up in. We gave him a call and ended up having a few pints with him and some fellow crew mates who are all such genuine guys. What a welcome!

The sound of karaoke across the road is 'lulling' is to sleep albeit at 9pm! Rain is forecast for all day tomorrow so wish us luck!