To Pembrokeshire for Everest Trek Get Together No. 18. This autumn’s Nepal trek comes into focus. Frogs!

Tuesday morning, cool and breezy, a good time for admin: weeknotes, banking, emails, flights…. The morning brightened and I had time to rake some of the mown grass into more readily collectable lines and piles before lunch, and to take the ride on mower for a grass collecting (and more cutting!!) spin after. Just enough petrol….
We also topped up the pond with the 4 buckets of tap water we’d left standing for 24 hours to let the chlorine out.
Strawberries from the greenhouse for pudding at dinner.
Quite cold on Wednesday. Good for indoor jobs, and for an afternoon outing to Tescos. Second top up of the pond. More strawberries from the greenhouse for dinner.
The cool and cloudy weather continued on Thursday. Phil and I booked our Turin hotel for September’s trip, then on to more computer admin for the rest of the morning. I ought to feel like I’d achieved more.
In the afternoon – sunny, of course – I had my last under-the-radar 1-2-1 session with my LW successor. Good luck PH! P’s weekend guest, D, arrived and we had dinner in the conservatory before I headed on on a fast drive to AGV to collect H. Back for cheese and wine.
Another cool and cloudy start to Friday. P made two fresh loaves and we ate half of one for breakfast. Yum Yum. P and D headed out to walk Tremorithic while H and I waited for the courier to collect my work IT kit… in vain.
Just before lunch, as the sun came out, dad arrived with 2 bags charcoal ahead of the Annual Birthdays Party BBQ later this month, soon followed by D&G and P&D. Time for a potter around the garden, primarily to check on newts and tadpoles / froglets / frogs, then lunch on the patio. Lovely.
Mid-afternoon, D, G, H and I set off for Pembs taking the Bredwardine / Bridge Sollers route to avoid the Hay Festival. A gorgeous afternoon – blue skies and sunshine. Nice to be able to look out of the window; I’m usually driving.
We arrived at Steffi’s around 6.30pm. Gs&Ts on the deck waiting for CN to arrive – the M4 route turned out to be a bit rough – then the usual fantastic Friday night curry feast.
Then to the (still new) caravan!
Fantastic weather all weekend. Perfect for walking. Perfect for al fresco eating and (moderate) drinking.
On Saturday we caught the fflecsi bus Steffi had booked to Strumble Head and walked the Strumble Head Circular: 8.82 miles, elevation gain 1,460 ft; lunch at the memorial to the last invasion of mainland Britain; lots of wild flowers; TWO seals!


And on the return fflecsi, our driver was all set to drive us all the way back to the caravan until we convinced him we were fine walking up the final hill.
Back at base, drinks on the decking, dinner inside, wonderful sunset.

The glorious weather continued on Sunday. Breakfast outside, a stroll on the golden sands of Newgale Beach at low tide, then back to Steffi’s for one of Maurice’s wonderful, table-filling Sunday lunches.

D&G drove me home, dropping off H at Carmarthen for the new direct train service to London. Back at 40A we found Phil & D had done some scything, the first of the year. Much easier than last year, Phil says.
Bit of a blue day Monday. Pembs took a bit out of (introvert) me, plus arranged to see JC when we’re in Birmingham in July and planning to visit Temple Fields.
On the plus side, I bought flights to Kathmandu for our Oct/Nov trek. And prepped and published my Where Next: Kangchenjunga & Lumba Sumba blogpost.
It warmed up in the afternoon.
Phil did some more scything.

In the small pond I spotted fully formed (small) frogs, together with froglets (front and back legs, but still with a tail) and the younger generation still at tadpole stage.

Phil watched the Apple Keynote in the early evening. I’m all good to buy my Mac Mini. Thank heavens.
TV: Poker Face (finished season 1), Colin From Accounts (not for me), The Gallows Pole.
Podcasts: History Extra, Anglo-Saxon England, Empire.
Photos: Herefordshire week 179 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2023-06-04.