To reach today’s hike, we drove for an hour down driveway-wide roads, hemmed by hedges of various plants outside my botanical ken. (Is there a botanical Barbie?) We passed between rolling, sheep-laden hills, the tallest of which (hills, not sheep) were smothered by the low grey sky. An occasional, brief porthole in the clouds allowed a ray or two of sun to sneak down, but the overcast soon returned.
The hike itself was a little disappointing, probably because I did the shorter, 5.5 mile loop instead of the full 10.2 mile option (which also gained a further 1400 feet of elevation beyond the 700 I’d already climbed). Most of that ascent came in the first mile and a half of the hike, which was on a gravel path. At the top of the climb there was a rather sad glacial lake; the downside of our unexpectedly dry weather is that the water levels are quite low. I ventured another mile and a half with my new friends Eddie and Caroline and then we trekked down through the sheep pasture, bypassing as much of the gravel path as possible.
After a delicious cheddar cheese and onion chutney sandwich and more nectar of the gods #1, Monika drove us to our new hotel, The Grove at Narberth. Monika is quite accomplished: besides being fluent in several languages, she is a three-time European karate champion and competed for Lithuania at the Nagano Olympics. She also handled an impasse with a phalanx of sheep and a dour farmer without employing her martial arts skills.
The hotel is gorgeous. I am in a two-room cottage (living room and bedroom) suffused with rustic luxury. The ceiling has exposed beams, the décor is farmhouse antiques, the floor is bleached wood, the bathroom has heated towel racks, a rain shower, and a deep tub, the free (!) minibar is well-stocked with several nectars-of-the-gods, and I have my own private garden filled with hydrangeas and other plantings, which the Photos app informs me include Speedwell and Lady’s Mantle. To top it all off, literally, the cottage is solar-powered.
PuffinlessTravel 