Place: Carreg Cennen Castle Black Mountain, Dolaucothi Gold mines, home
Weather: Sunshine and showers
Sarah and Andy had lef to drive home last night and so Simon and I cleared the cottage and set out at 8.45am. The first place we visited on the way home was Carreg Cennen Castle near Ffairfach on the Black Mountain. The castle was perched on top of a craggy hilltop, the stone walls almost merging with the rocks on which they stood. There were fantastic 360 degree views toward the Black Mountain, which looked even blacker with the thundery clouds overhead and down through the valley where you could see the wall of rain moving towards us.
A vaulted paasageway led down into the hill and to a cave. We began walking into it by the light of SImon's camera flash and a very poor torch. It went on and on, it was only when I turned round to see how far we'd come to look at pure darkness, no natural light at all, that I realised how far we'd gone and still it went on. We turned round and came out at that point.
We got soaked walking back down the hill and so I changed my trousers when we got back to the car. Not much further north are the Dolaucothi Gold mines. These possibly date back as far as the Bronze Age, some mines are definitely Roman, VIctorian and some dated from the 1930s.
We had a excellent tour over the landscape (which is also a SSSI with red squirells, barn owls, etc) and through the mines. Apparently, Jason and the golden fleece myth came from gold minng; fleece was used to collect the tiny and heavy fragments of gold! I thought that was fascinating.
We had a go at gold panning, but only found Fool's Gold. Never mind, we'll have to find another way of making our fortunes.
The drive home was tiring but we were back in time for tea. We've had an excellent holiday despite the weather and I think my lasting impression of Pembrokeshire (excluding the rain which certainly left a deep impression) will be hedgerows and cliffs full to bursting with wild flowers of all colours. Fantastic.
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