Tenby to Betwys-y-Coed

Monday, March 10, 2025

Woke to the news that while there’d been no damage to our house from the rain storm, Nambour had almost 400mm in four hours, and the op shop Grant manages has been flooded. At this stage, they’re saying the store will be closed for a week, but carpets, shelving, and all donated furniture have had to be trashed. (Update – as I write this in early May, the store is still closed…)

It was drizzling as we manoeuvred the car out of the carpark in Tenby this morning and quite cold. Perhaps we were finally going to need the rain jackets we hadn’t yet opened? (Spoiler alert, we didn’t).

Not that far up the road was another corgi tick-off point: Tufton. It’s described as a crossroads locality, which I think is a nice way of saying it’s not much more than a sign in the middle of flipping nowhere. A pity, really, as Tufton (the corgi) holds a very dear place in my heart.

We pulled into Cardigan for a leg stretch and a (very average) sausage roll, before heading to today’s scheduled lunch stop and the second corgi name for the day, Tywyn.

Tywyn (which we’ve always pronounced as Tie-win, but now know should have been too-win) is a pretty-ish seaside town that was mostly closed on this grey out-of-season Monday, but is, apparently, quite busy during summer.

Anyways, we had a lovely lunch at Millie & Sid’s with one of the best soups we’ve had in some time. It was the ubiquitous potato and leek (or leek and potato) but this one used roasted potatoes (probably leftover from yesterday’s roast), and was served with a wedge of cheese. The roast spuds gave it a really earthy flavour that made all the difference between a nice soup and a fantastic one.

The route to Betwys-y-Coed took us through some striking scenery that’s different to what we saw down south. It’s harder, bleaker, but stunning. Betwys-y-Coed (pronounced Bet-us-ee-coyd) reminds us both a little of Castleton in Derbyshire in that it had a similar sort of mountain scenery.

Pengwern and Betwys-y-Coed

Pengwern, our B&B for the next three nights, is lovely, although Gwawr, our host, (don’t ask me to try and write down how this is pronounced – I had to practice) has told us there might be night roadworks out the front of the property this week. I hope not.

Gwawr greeted us with a pot of tea and a plate of bara brith (more on that another time), and upstairs in our room was a plate of Welsh cakes. I think we’re going to like it here.

Heading down the Google rabbit hole, I find out that some historians believe Pengwern was a real kingdom that played a role in the power dynamics of post-Roman Britain. Others, however, view it as a literary construct, saying it’s a symbolic representation of the lost Celtic heritage, rather than a historical reality. It’s academic language that takes some of the magic out of it all.

I like Gwawr’s version. She says Pengwern is named for the gathering place of Welsh princes. Apparently Pengwern was located in what is now Shropshire (the Welsh and English borders were, shall we say, quite fluid back in the day) but I like the idea that it could have been here instead. As for the history (or alleged history) I’ll let you follow that trail.

It’s Monday and off-season and there’s very little open in town for dinner so we go to the Royal Oak. Grant had a burger and I had the fish and chips. The fish was over-cooked and the chips weren’t great. His burger was okay, but he’s now worried about finding something nice for my birthday dinner on Wednesday night. I tell him not to worry. I’m not.

Roasted Potato and Leek Soup

Oh my goodness this was good. To attempt to replicate it when we got home I used this recipe as a base, but recipes for soups, as you know, are starting points only.

The stats…

Temperature: 4-13

Miles travelled: about 165 miles*

*Even though we work in kms in Australia, all signage in the UK is in miles, so that’s what I’m going with.

These posts are taken directly from my travel journal … you can find the series here.