Dublin then Wales 10Jun-9Jul

[Deborah]

We are flying into Dublin on the 9th for five nights. Have a ferry booking to Holyhead on the 15th and picking up our rental car. From there we have five nights before we have to be in Abergavenny for the beginning of our week long canal boat rental from beaconparkboats.com. After that we have eleven nights before we drive back to Holyhead, drop off our car, take the ferry back to Dublin for one night at an airport hotel before flying out on July 9th.
My dilemma is where to go for those uncommitted days.
The first 5 nights (June 15-19), I'm thinking somewhere down along the west coast. Maybe between Aberystwyth and Fishguard so Dan can get his beach fix.
The middle 11 days I want to divide in half.
Perhaps the first 5 nights (June 27-July 1) somewhere in the center so I can check out some of my family's ancestral villages between Builth Wells and Newtown. The last 6 nights (July 2-7) in the north with a location that allows us to visit more ancestral villages in areas west of the A470.
So after that long-winded introduction, my question is...does anyone have suggestions for home bases in those areas mentioned? We like to drive and take short walks. Are not big hikers.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pauline]

We went to Abergavenny for a day trip when @Shannon was here a couple of years ago. We all loved the town. I remember years ago that Gavin from Australia (from ST) spent a week there and we met him in Bath for lunch. We were on vacation in the Cotswolds. He loved Abergavenny too. The town is lively and charming.

The Pembrokeshire coast of Wales is very popular, but it has been 25 years since we have been there. We spent a week in Fishguard.

There are lots of great vacation rentals in Wales. Most will be Friday to Friday or Saturday to Saturday. I have a list on Slow Europe. Have a look at this agency - Under the Thatch. @jonathan has rented from them and they have interesting places. And this one - Sheepskin. Have a look at Landmark Trust too - they have historic places that look great.

Here are my day trips that are near Abergavenny (there are many more great things in the area, but this is all I have listed so far):

Tintern Abbey - built in the 12th century in the Wye Valley, was the first Cistercian Abbey built in Wales and the second in Britain. Very little remains of the original buildings. The abbey was rebuilt in the 13th century and those are the ruins we see today. It is on the Wales/England border in the Wye Valley.

Caerleon Roman Amphitheater - built in 90 AD and excavated in 1926, is the only fully excavated Roman amphitheater in Britain. It seated about 6,000 spectators. The town of Caerleon has the remains of the Roman town mixed with the modern town on a hill overlooking Newport and the Wales coast. It was a military fortress, built in 75 AD. The "civilian" town was nearby. There are several other Roman sites to see, including baths, military barracks, a wall, and a good small museum.

@Deborah - you are going to be very near us. Maybe we could meet up for a day? Abergavenny is just an hour's drive from us. We are going to Switzerland on June 26.

 

[Deborah]

Thanks for all the info, Pauline. I'll check out those agencies your listed.
We'll be driving over from the west coast on the 20th to begin our week on the canal. So we'll be without a car from the 20th - 27th. We'll be tying up along the canal near little villages each day so we can take walking day trips and then for each night. I haven't received the detailed map and recommendations from Breacon Park Boats yet, so I don't know if any of those villages would be a convenient drive for you and Steve or not. I'll let you know when I get the package. We'd love to see you.

 

[Deborah]

We've booked all or locations using a combination of resources. We have an apartment for June 10-15 in Dublin on the corner of Arran Quay and Church street north of the Liffey. Booked through Airbnb. Listing #637185

From there we will ferry to Holyhead early morning on the 15th and pick up our rental car. Driving south to a costal inn at Tresaith on Cardigan Bay. The inn is called The Ship Inn and we used an unusual booking system -- a brewery. It seems that SABrains brewery has a booking service on their website for pubs and inns that serve their product. The one we booked is #20 on this chart: http://www.brainsinnsandhotels.com/findhotel.htm

We leave the coast on the 19th and drive to Abergavnney, where we meet my brother & SIL. Staying for just one night in another of SABrains' listings: PlasDerwen, number 19 on their chart. This one night stop allows us to be there early on the 20th to begin our narrowboat canal trip. We've booked the www.beaconparkboats.com boat, Condor, for the week of June 20th-27th. From there to the Vale of Glamorgan for two nights at a chain hotel east of the airport. We'll take public transportation into Cardiff to explore for just one day on the 28th.

My brother and SIL leave on the 29th and we drive north-east to Church Stoke for our next rental - a beautiful barn conversion - Airbnb listing #1267421.

On July 3rd we drive NW to our final rental, a Snowdonia quarryman's cottage in the little village of Gallt-y-foel. The Airbnb listing is #2885593.

We return our car at Holyhead and ferry back to Dublin on the 8th, fly home on the 9th.

Wales is 8,016 square miles -- smaller than Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, or Massachusetts and only an 8th the size of the state of Missouri, where we live. Yet, we will barely scratch the surface of all there is to see and experience.

 

[Pauline]

@Deborah we could visit with you when you are on the canal! I will send you a message.

 

[Pauline]

I think you are going near an ancient Yew tree that I would like to see - the Yew Tree in St Cynog’s churchyard in Defynnog near Sennybridge, in the Brecon Beacons National Park. They think it dates back to the Bronze Age (over 5,000 years old).

The Telegraph - The ancient, sacred, regenerative, death-defying yew tree, by Clive Aslet 09 Jul 2014
A yew tree in the corner of a Welsh churchyard is said to be 5,000 years old. Our Neolithic ancestors were as fascinated by it as we are

Now I have two reasons to drive over to Wales in June!

 

[Deborah]

Wow! That's facinating! I looked up Delynnog on my Welsch atlas and it looks like it is about 6 miles due west of the northern terminus of the canal at Brecon. Perhaps you could park there, ride the boat with us for few hours, then walk back to Brecon and drive over to Sennybridge? By the way - that area is ground zero for my ancestry. Llanfaes, Aberbran, Penpont, Trellong -- all places listed in the birth and death records of the Games family in the late 1400s and early 15oos.

 

[Kathy]

Deborah, I don't know if your itinerary will take you anywhere near Hay-on-Wye, but as a lover of books, I think you'd really enjoy spending time there. It would definitely be worth a detour for you!

We did not have anywhere near enough time there when we visited Wales in 2002 and I've regretted it ever since. When we're back in that area again in 2016 for the Offa's Dyke walk, we're going to stay two nights!

Hay-on-Wye Bookshops

 

[Pauline]

@Deborah I sent you a message on these forums about meeting up on the canal. Hope to see you soon!