19/02
Midnight has just passed. My car starts for what should be a fun 24 hour excursion to this highly scenic part of Wales and the UK. The raison-d'etre is to cover all the lines to the west of Llanelli, diagramatically resembling a trident, with pointy bits ending at Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard Harbour.
I quickly scoot down the M6, M56, M53, A55 and A483 until my 70mph roads run out just north of Chirk and 60mph is my friend for the rest of the journey to Carmarthen. The traffic is quite light and the road is fairly straight and easy going until Newtown, where a gathering of traffic cones are in place, protecting the site of the Newtown by-pass. I pause here to stretch my legs and check out the good old atlas. The station is silent, with only the CIS illuminating the area for anyone interested in the first service of the day - a mere 3-hour wait from now.
I head out, passing a police car patrolling this large town (for the local area) and turn left onto the Central Welsh Corkscrew (A483 Newtown - Crossgates). I cut-off the beginning section with a nifty single track road leading up and over towards Dolfor IIRC and with a new bridge over the bypass. An option at Dolfor is to turn on and off the A483 immediately and follow another tight road. I decide to be safe and take the cat-eye studded curvy beast through foggy hairpins and punctuated by lots of roadwork signals. It is good to see all this work (won't be as good during a daytime rush however)
Llandrindod Wells is soon approached and bypassed to the east with the road to Newbridge on Wye which gives a good view back to Llandod, only illuminated in assorted street light colours. I take another road, cutting out Builth Wells entirely and aiming for Beulah and my next rest point at Llanwrtyd Wells. The station here is pitch black save for nearby red signals and the CIS. The town has a relaxing hum of fast flowing water underneath the now-locked toilets, teasing me to no end. I now leave and another misty patch almost obscures Sugar Loaf Halts totem.
The road stretches and stretches to Llandeilo but these stretches become straighter and my last few miles are at full pelt to Carmarthen, reached at about 4am.
I take my first steps out on to the car park, safe in the knowledge I'm in no rush for my 0450 and walk over the pedestrian bridge heading for Tesco and a toilet, not realising that they only open at 6am. Also the toilets near the bus stands are shut. Returning to the station, there is life and staff around and the toilets are unlocked.
I use the ticket machine and am now sitting on the lightly loaded Milford Haven service. Both ways it is lightly loaded. I doze on and off in periods until I reach Clarbeston Road. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this station but it's not the stations fault.
My first irk is not having the time to connect to the Fishguard Harbour service (but I prepared myself for this)
My second irk is the off-announcements. Audio is beginning to fade after repeated safety announcements.
My third irk is the Fishguard branch train dropping the passengers off, then driving just out of sight to the crossover, coming back to the opposite platform and then stopping there, before driving off into the distance. The CIS said I was on the correct platform. The guard did spot me waiting but we are both as bad as each other for not asking each other, however the guard missed an opportunity to take money off me and cart fresh air around for the next half hour at least.
I join the 5 people on Clarb platform now and we return to Carmarthen. I wash my face and drive to McDonalds for breakfast before taking the Pembroke Dock branch. This is a single unit which I find a novelty (Wigan's trains are rarely single units nowadays) I struggle to see why this branch takes such a long time to traverse but I now accept the constraints of gradients, long padding time at Tenby for trains to crossover and two awkward crossings that the train has to stop dead for and blow the horn. Instead I enjoy complimentary wi-fi on the train and check out Pembroke on Google Maps.
I walk off the train and go straight up Pembroke high street which goes all the way to the castle. Here photo opportunities are taken, especially down hill in the inlet too. I now begin to climb and cllimb up to a summit where a new school is being built. Descending into Pembroke Dock, I pass a council estate and notice the grim facades here. The walk has only took me 35 minutes so I go beyond the station to the water's edge to smell the salty air and take more pictures. I decline picking up refreshments in the local shop and jump onto a full but not standing train back to Carmarthen. The guard remembers me from jumping off in Pembroke but is in a rush to check other customers for a fuller discussion of my itinery today. I fall asleep after Lamphey and wake up near Narberth.
I notice drivers on the A40 really hammering it on the road as the train is also hammering it. Do I look forward to accidents later? Anyway, the timetables at Carmarthen now leave me with only 2 options for Fishguard, both after 6pm. I now go to Llanelli and back, after eating in the Coracle Cafe (simple but overpriced food) and purchasing tickets from the lady in the office. These ticket prices are pretty steep to be honest for the area. The river Towy and estuary scenes soon mollify my mood and I'm bouyant at Llanelli until I walk out and see the depressing sights of a poor town with very little money, save for some sewer remedial works. It reminds me of Platt Bridge but bigger. The train station is a base for the Heart of Wales Line company which is having building work taking place. The whole train station looks in need of repair, as well as the town. A train begins to approach and I leave...
Midnight has just passed. My car starts for what should be a fun 24 hour excursion to this highly scenic part of Wales and the UK. The raison-d'etre is to cover all the lines to the west of Llanelli, diagramatically resembling a trident, with pointy bits ending at Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard Harbour.
I quickly scoot down the M6, M56, M53, A55 and A483 until my 70mph roads run out just north of Chirk and 60mph is my friend for the rest of the journey to Carmarthen. The traffic is quite light and the road is fairly straight and easy going until Newtown, where a gathering of traffic cones are in place, protecting the site of the Newtown by-pass. I pause here to stretch my legs and check out the good old atlas. The station is silent, with only the CIS illuminating the area for anyone interested in the first service of the day - a mere 3-hour wait from now.
I head out, passing a police car patrolling this large town (for the local area) and turn left onto the Central Welsh Corkscrew (A483 Newtown - Crossgates). I cut-off the beginning section with a nifty single track road leading up and over towards Dolfor IIRC and with a new bridge over the bypass. An option at Dolfor is to turn on and off the A483 immediately and follow another tight road. I decide to be safe and take the cat-eye studded curvy beast through foggy hairpins and punctuated by lots of roadwork signals. It is good to see all this work (won't be as good during a daytime rush however)
Llandrindod Wells is soon approached and bypassed to the east with the road to Newbridge on Wye which gives a good view back to Llandod, only illuminated in assorted street light colours. I take another road, cutting out Builth Wells entirely and aiming for Beulah and my next rest point at Llanwrtyd Wells. The station here is pitch black save for nearby red signals and the CIS. The town has a relaxing hum of fast flowing water underneath the now-locked toilets, teasing me to no end. I now leave and another misty patch almost obscures Sugar Loaf Halts totem.
The road stretches and stretches to Llandeilo but these stretches become straighter and my last few miles are at full pelt to Carmarthen, reached at about 4am.
I take my first steps out on to the car park, safe in the knowledge I'm in no rush for my 0450 and walk over the pedestrian bridge heading for Tesco and a toilet, not realising that they only open at 6am. Also the toilets near the bus stands are shut. Returning to the station, there is life and staff around and the toilets are unlocked.
I use the ticket machine and am now sitting on the lightly loaded Milford Haven service. Both ways it is lightly loaded. I doze on and off in periods until I reach Clarbeston Road. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this station but it's not the stations fault.
My first irk is not having the time to connect to the Fishguard Harbour service (but I prepared myself for this)
My second irk is the off-announcements. Audio is beginning to fade after repeated safety announcements.
My third irk is the Fishguard branch train dropping the passengers off, then driving just out of sight to the crossover, coming back to the opposite platform and then stopping there, before driving off into the distance. The CIS said I was on the correct platform. The guard did spot me waiting but we are both as bad as each other for not asking each other, however the guard missed an opportunity to take money off me and cart fresh air around for the next half hour at least.
I join the 5 people on Clarb platform now and we return to Carmarthen. I wash my face and drive to McDonalds for breakfast before taking the Pembroke Dock branch. This is a single unit which I find a novelty (Wigan's trains are rarely single units nowadays) I struggle to see why this branch takes such a long time to traverse but I now accept the constraints of gradients, long padding time at Tenby for trains to crossover and two awkward crossings that the train has to stop dead for and blow the horn. Instead I enjoy complimentary wi-fi on the train and check out Pembroke on Google Maps.
I walk off the train and go straight up Pembroke high street which goes all the way to the castle. Here photo opportunities are taken, especially down hill in the inlet too. I now begin to climb and cllimb up to a summit where a new school is being built. Descending into Pembroke Dock, I pass a council estate and notice the grim facades here. The walk has only took me 35 minutes so I go beyond the station to the water's edge to smell the salty air and take more pictures. I decline picking up refreshments in the local shop and jump onto a full but not standing train back to Carmarthen. The guard remembers me from jumping off in Pembroke but is in a rush to check other customers for a fuller discussion of my itinery today. I fall asleep after Lamphey and wake up near Narberth.
I notice drivers on the A40 really hammering it on the road as the train is also hammering it. Do I look forward to accidents later? Anyway, the timetables at Carmarthen now leave me with only 2 options for Fishguard, both after 6pm. I now go to Llanelli and back, after eating in the Coracle Cafe (simple but overpriced food) and purchasing tickets from the lady in the office. These ticket prices are pretty steep to be honest for the area. The river Towy and estuary scenes soon mollify my mood and I'm bouyant at Llanelli until I walk out and see the depressing sights of a poor town with very little money, save for some sewer remedial works. It reminds me of Platt Bridge but bigger. The train station is a base for the Heart of Wales Line company which is having building work taking place. The whole train station looks in need of repair, as well as the town. A train begins to approach and I leave...
