A Few Days Away

I've been busy working on my big book recently but we managed to get away for a few days together to visit Tenby on the Pembrokeshire coast in South West Wales. 

Most of the time was spent relaxing but I did manage to fit in a little research while we were there - useful because one of the characters in the book I'm working on was born, and spent the first few years of his life, in that area - so it was good to soak up the atmosphere. 

This plaque notes the birthplace of Bartholomew Roberts at Casnewydd Bach, a tiny village in Pembrokeshire. Roberts, known to many as Black Bart (though not in his lifetime) was one of the most successful pirates of the Golden Age - capturing over 400 ships in his short time as a pirate. Roberts is one of the main characters in the book I'm working on - but at the moment that's all I can say about it. As time goes on though, I will blog more about it.

As well as doing a bit of research and sightseeing we went on a boat across Cardigan Bay to see if we could spot any dolphins and other wildlife... it was great.

Here you can just see two bottlenose dolphins swimming side by side as the dive down into the water...

It's always fantastic seeing dolphins in their natural environment - there's something magical about them... it's no wonder they feature in so many children's books. We were also lucky to see Grey Seals, Guillemots and other sea birds high up on the cliffs. 

Now we're back at home and I'm busy writing... As always, I've got lots to get through. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.

Summer Holidays in Tenby

It's a wet Wednesday here in North East Wales... amazing how quickly the summer holidays have flown by and it's already time to go back to school and work... not that I haven't been working of course. Over the summer I've been busy writing but we've also had time for some really good days out. I will write and let you know about some of the things we've been up to over the next week or so.

Last week we were in Tenby, one of our favourite places to go. We had a great time with days of beautiful sunshine mixed in with a few heavy rain showers. For most of the week we had quite a lazy time just wandering around the town and along the beach - dodging the odd rainstorm like this one that had moved off over the sea.

I took my camera everywhere we went as there's always something interesting to photograph... great for helping you get ideas for stories or for adding interesting little details. One day we spotted these strange things washed up on the beach and had no idea what they were... 

And they look even stranger up close...

 

After a bit of research we discovered that they are Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles. They are normally found in warmer parts of the world but they get carried around on the bottom of boats and on pieces of driftwood.

There's lots of interesting things to see around the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast. The coastline is impressive enough with it's beaches, cliffs and caves but there's lots of wildlife too. 

This Kestrel spent a lot of time sitting at the top of a mast while it kept it's eye out for something to eat... as soon as it spotted something it took to the air. I was just in the right place to get this picture as it glided by one afternoon. 

It was Vicky's birthday while we were away from home and as a special treat we planned to take a boat trip and go dolphin spotting (I will write more about that soon)...

The Start of Our Summer Holidays

Even though it's the summer holiday it's still a busy time... I've been busy writing... working on a longer book for older readers, a short story for younger readers and tweaking and checking the History Heroes layouts that my publishers have  been sending me. So far they are looking really good and I'm very excited about them...

Vicky has been busy too, working hard in the library... Summer is always busy in the library with the Summer Reading Challenge, but despite all the busyness we've still managed to have a few days of fun and relaxation - though not everything has gone as planned.

 

At the start of the holidays we went to Barry in South Wales so I could take part in a big Author Day at Barry Library. It was great meeting other authors - especially, and in alphabetical order,

Phil Carradice (broadcaster, poet and author of The Wild West Show, and much more, and history blogger for BBC Wales - a great blog to look at if you are in search of places to visit in Wales)...

Anthony Lavisher (an excellent fantasy fiction author) and the brilliant Colin Parsons (fantasy and science fiction author) as well as 

Wendy White (author of the Tir Nar Nog award winning book - Welsh Cakes and Custard) It's always great to meet fellow authors as being a writer can be quite a lonely job at times.

On the way home from Barry our car broke down and we had to wait to be driven home on the back of a recovery truck... not a great end to the weekend. And did I mention that the lady in the hotel room above ours had left her bath running so it flooded our room and we had to move to be moved to another??? All part of the fun...

Our car was repaired just in time for us to go and spend a lovely week in Tenby - a beautiful seaside town on the southwest coat of Wales.

We were a little worried that the weather might not as good as we had hoped as the tail end of Hurricane Bertha had just reached Britain... but apart from a few showers and blustery days, the weather was good. We love visiting Tenby with its gorgeous beaches, fantastic scenery and lots of places to eat and drink... yum!

We had hoped to go on a seal/whale spotting boat trip but the sea was a bit too rough for that - but it still didn't spoil our fun. St Catherine's Island had just been opened to the public ( more about that in my next post) and we enjoyed our visit there...

  

And for most of the time the weather was great... looks almost tropical doesn't it???

I was able to take lots of great pictures off the sea and the harbour... especially nice as the sun was setting...

And quite impressive with rain clouds gathering overhead as we walked and paddled in the waves...

That's all for now... I will write more tomorrow and tell you all about St Catherine's Island and the rest of our holiday... including land speed records and another trip on the back of a recovery truck... Fun Fun Fun....

A Postcard From Tenby

It's back to work and school for everyone now but I hope you've enjoyed the summer holidays as much as we have.

I've got lots of writing to be getting on with and quite a few school and library visits already set up for the coming months. If you are interested in having a visit to your school, please get in touch as soon before all the best dates get taken up. I've managed to get a bit of work done during the summer but we've also had a few nice days out together so over the next week or so I will let you know what we've been up to and let you see a few photographs.

 

We visited Tenby again this year and had a lovely time. The weather was great (most of the time) and we even managed to have a little swim in the sea.

We thought it would be really nice if we could go on a boat to see whales, dolphins, puffins and who knows what else, so we drove to Martin's Haven to board a little boat that would take us out on a bit of a sea safari. The water was calm near the shore but got a little choppier further out so we were given waterproof clothes and lifejackets to keep us warm and dry. It was roasting when we put them on but I'm glad we did as it was certainly a bit cooler out at sea.  

  

 

The boat whizzed across the water, bouncing along from time to time and covering us is spray as we headed to Grassholm - a small uninhabited island about 8 miles off the Pembrokeshire Coast. Although no people live on the island, it's the home to thousands of Gannets. From a distance it looks like the island is covered in snow but as you get closer you can see and hear all of the birds (when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction you can smell them too).  

 

As well as the Gannets diving into the sea and circling overhead there were seals soaking up the sun on the rocks below... it was quite a sight.

 

After leaving Grassholm, the boat took us to two other little islands - Skomer and Stokholm - to get a closer look at the seals and see the Guillemots and Kittiwakes in the nests on the cliffs. We caught a fleeting glance of a couple of Porpoises as they came up for air but sadly we didn't see any dolphins. The Puffins had all headed off to see a few days before so we didn't see those either but we still had a great time.   



 We spent most of the time just relaxing and having a wander round Tenby and some of the other towns and villages, but we did go and visit Pemberton's Chocolate Farm where we saw how they make all of their delicious, handmade, chocolates. In the picture above you can see some of their chocolate animals and eggs. We even got to taste some of the chocolate and make one for ourselves... Yum! 

On Holiday

The weather hasn't been great over the summer holidays but that hasn't stopped us having a nice time. I've not had chance to write in my diary so there's quite a few things to tell you about - a few days out, news about what I'm working on and lots of other things.

In August we spent a lovely week in Tenby, a small walled town with beautiful beaches in Pembrokeshire, on the south coast of Wales. We had some lovely sunny days and a couple of wet days but we still managed to get out and about, visit a few places and have a nice time.

Here's a view of Tenby harbour and one of the beaches...

It's quite a long drive to Tenby so we didn't do a lot on the first day other than unpack and have a walk into the town for a nice refreshing glass of er... lemonade.

On one of the nice days we travelled down the road to visit The Manor House Wildlife Park (you might have seen this on television, but if you haven't you can click on the link above and it will take you straight to their website). The Manor House Wildlife Park is dedication to conservation and it was interesting to see the work they are doing to conserve animals and plants in the wildlife park. As well as seeing some of the animals in their large enclosures there's also chance to walk among some of the animals and feed them... Manor House Wildlife Park isn't a big as zoos like Chester Zoo, however, it's well worth a visit to see what they're doing there.

Here's Vicky feeding one of the wallabies with a special food pellet that are especially for them to eat - you can't just give them a piece of your sandwich or a packet of crisps.

We were very lucky to be able to see some baby meerkats whilst we were there too. The babys are normally kept hidden away in their nest as they can't see but the mother was letting them have a bit of sunshine. You can see one of them here with dad staying close and keeping guard.

We drove across Pembrokeshire to visit St Davids - the smallest city in Great Britain. Here's a picture of St Davids Cathedral which dates back to the 12th century, and behind it you can see the ruins of the Bishops Palace.

  

While we were in Tenby we read about the Cwm Deri Vineyard which was nearby so we couldn't resist going along for a visit. It was a bit of a damp day but we really enjoyed walking through the vineyard and sampling a little bit of wine and cheese - Yum!

The grapes on the vines were only tiny as they won't be harvested until October - it's also been a very wet year (you might have noticed) and that hasn't helped much. We brought a few bottles of wine home with us and are saving them for a special occasion...