Saving the best til first..

We were up and atom quite oily on Sunday - there was the matter of getting a few provisions on board, so the plan was to head once again to The Moody Cow to load up on breakfast carbs. The weather, I should mention was now much much better...even the sun had come out - it was a bit breezy but things were on the up. Breakfast was good and we then headed off in different directions to leave the vehicles, cousin Clive let us leave Grant's car at his gaff whilst Ray left his in Penlanymor. We would then all head to Cei Bach Beach - We'd gone long on meatylicious items as an evening barbie was on the cards....also lots of alcohol had made it into already over heavy rucksacks...this would be a constant problem later on...

It was only a short walk for Grant & myself but Ray & Ian had decided to take the coastal path to Cei Bach....that's a short hop really of a couple of miles but we received a phone call asking for directions......again this would be a constant problem later on..... other members of the clan were already on the beach, Brother Dill had brought the boat over and that was anchored in the cove, Uncle Graham and Simon were digging into some cooked mackerel that Dill & Adele had caught. The sun was out but there was a bit of a wind. Usual British beach holiday weather. Gradually the rest of the tribe appeared. We then decided that we were going to camp on the beach that evening...so we looked to the left of the bay as that provided some shelter plus the tide was low and we'd be able to park on the sand. Grant said he wanted to sleep under the stars in the kipping bag. Our next problem was to collect wood for burning, we'd need enough for at least 10 hours and pickings were slim - we spent a couple of hours trawling the beach and managed eventually to come up with the goods. So with that done, I built the Chinese oven from pebbles and we stacked the firewood.

Ray and Ian set up their tents and I thought it wouldnt be a bad idea for me to set mine up as a backup just in case sleeping under the stars wasnt going to be as cosy as Grant & me thought. Once darkness appeared on the horizon I got the fire on the go and started cooking the food. Compliments to the Chef were in order and apparently I did a pretty good job at feeding the horde - Beer had been consumed and Clive and Gail came up trumps with a large quantity of Vinos Collapsos. It was a great night and felt like we hadnt done this in ages...well what with lockdown, we hadnt. It was a right laugh. Some members of the party seemed to have been overserved in the grog department ......and was particularly amusing watching someone thinking that heading to the open sea was their path to bedtime. Naming no names.......you know who you are.

It was great on that beach and I've meant to pitch a tent there many a time. Ray and Ian hit the canvas whilst Grant and me got the fire on the go and lay in the kipping bags looking up at the stars. The night sky in west Wales can be spectacular and it certainly was that night........a few hours later I awoke feeling very cold.....it was about four in the morning....the fire was just embers and Grant had bailed on the sleeping under stars notion and had stolen my tent. I swear it was about five degrees c. when I decided to bail and join Grant in the tent. It had been a fantastic start to our trip. As Ray said in the morning...we saved the best til first