Hanging Around in South Wales
13 July 2023 – Dale and Pennar Gut, Wales
We’ve spent the last week dividing our time between the ports of Dale and Pennar Gut in South Wales. Dale is a lovely little summer holiday town, with a beautiful beach and a small collection of restaurants and shops.
At the beach – Dale, Wales
At the beach – Dale, Wales
At the beach – Dale, Wales
Pennar Gut is less nice and a bit weird; there’s a small half-empty town there overlooking a factory with fire coming out of a bunch of smokestacks. Unfortunately, Dale is not a very secure anchorage so we could only stay there in good weather, while Pennar Gut, six nautical miles away, is much more secure. We ended up going back and forth a few times, staying in Dale when the wind was light and going back to Pennar Gut when it got too wavy.
While in Dale, we spent a few hours hiking along a beautiful coastal trail. The views were spectacular – cliffs, rolling hills, and beaches. We also wandered into a cow field and almost got stampeded when Sirius started howling at them.
Coastal hike – Dale, Wales
Coastal hike – Dale, Wales
Coastal hike – Dale, Wales
Coastal hike – Dale, Wales
Also in Dale is a delicious pizza restaurant and a pub, both of which we ate at.
We eventually set sail for Padstow in Cornwall, which we arrived at this afternoon. It was difficult to time the journey with the huge tides (23 feet!), strong current, and gated marina, but luckily we made it. Padstow is a bustling little town, with lots of cute shops and cafés, which is good as we will probably be here for a week waiting out storms.
