Sunday June 3^rd - Three Castles Run

Weather! What Weather

Its June, the weather has to be excellent but no one told the weather man.
With only two days to go before our first "volunteer" run the forecast was abysmal with heavy rain predicted for the whole day. Thank god weather forecasting in this country is done using a crystal ball.
On the Saturday the car had been polished to a mirror finish ,just in case George Firth turned up with his show piece .At 2-30 and 5-30 am I got up to check if the rain had started .YES. Once again they've got it wrong, heavy cloud but no rain.

A Lie In for Once

What a nice change to have a lie in until 9-30 on the day of a run.
Our start point at Pont Abraham services was only a 10 min. drive.
Can you believe that Mike Paddick had arranged a local stop-over to save the 30mile drive to the start point on the Sunday morning.

Thanks Everyone

Well impressed with the 19 cars that turned up, I had already arranged an assistant volunteer to initially split the group into two. Stan and Kath had taken a trial run on the previous Monday and Stan assured me there was no problem ,He knew the route like the back of his hand and would be the lead car for the first group.
The route had been planned to take a picturesque view of south east Carmarthenshire and the theme was to visit three ancient historic castle sites.

Off We Go

With tops down we left Pont Abraham and headed for our first castle at Carreg Cennen. This site justifies a much longer visit, but not today. The heavy cloud spoilt the views of this most photographed castle but everyone enjoyed the tea break.
We then headed off to the old market town of Llandeilo, through the villages of Talley, Abergorlech and Llanfynydd and a drive past our second castle at Dryslwyn.
The light rain was now starting to spoil the view and as we passed by the National Botanical gardens the mist was hiding the huge glass domed roof which is normally in View.

Who's Lost?

Continuing on to our third castle site at Kidwelly we suddenly lost our lead car and three followers. Stan's mind had wondered off track for a moment when he suddenly remembered it was Kath's birthday next Saturday. Having gone this far he couldn't get lost, could he??
As Kidwelly castle came into view in the distance MX03 SUE was suddenly the lead car. Time to stop for Stan and his sheep to find us.
On a clear day this castle view is spectacular but not with today's heavy cloud.
O! !! ye of little faith, three minutes and Stan has found us and is at the rear of the pack.
With all cars now in one group we continue on to Kidwelly castle.
Tummies rumbling we then made our way to the Baltic Inn in Ponthenri for an excellent three course carvery lunch.
I lost count of those who took doggy bags home. How many dogs do you know that eat Strawberry Gateaux and Mandarin Cheesecake?

Overview

An excellent turn out and an enjoyable run with good company and a first class meal to finish.
Thanks for your support. Gary and Sue