Day 3: Burry Port to Angle

Following a great night's sleep and cracking breakfast at the George Hotel in Burry Port (with many thanks to Hefin Williams for kindly putting us up) we were soon back on the road.


The day began damp and breezy, and rapidly became wet and windy! We were soaked within an hour and remained that way throughout the day. The wonderful easterly tail wind which we had yesterday had turned to a strong westerly head wind. This combined with our first taste of the Welsh Hills made for a challenging day.


By now we felt we were well into Wales- the country of dragons and leeks, Brains Beer and valleys, and apparently a lot of suped up cars!


After slogging our way through the elements for over 50km, we arrived in Tenby (our half way point for the day) and quickly settled into a cafe to try to warm up up and have an early lunch to recharge the batteries. What we hadn't realised was that we weren't in in Tenby at all, but rather the small seaside town of Saunderfoot. We therefore needed to get our wet kit back on after a brief lunch and plough on over several more windswept hills in driving rain before reaching our actual half way point - the picturesque seaside town of Tenby and it's phenomenal new RNLI station.

 

Although the weather was terrible, Tenby was teaming with people being the Queens Jubilee celebrations. The lifeboat station was also filled with visitors, however we received a very warm welcome from the crew including a fantastic cup of tea, and a photograph with 'Stormy Stan' on the boat!


Being soaked and cold, we decided to crack on and were soon in the saddle again, battling the elements and hills!

It was a tough afternoon, but after 95km, we arrived at Angle RNLI station. It really was a heavenly sight after such a miserable day!


Rich the Mechanic and Andy the Coxen, kindly came down to let us in and give us a coffee and a tour of the station. What an incredible place and absolutely amazing setting. Perched on the rocky estuary edge in a very remote position, the station houses a Tamar offshore lifeboat on ramp, and crew room above with 270 degree views of the estuary (our accommodation for the night). The estuary was more industrial than we had seen to date, with oil and gas refineries and shipping along the far shore, but this made for some incredible recounts of rescues by the RNLI crews. Rich and Andy looked after us like kings.

Following a much needed shower to wash and warm up, we headed into the local village for a pint and supper at the local pub. before heading back to the station for an early night.