After breakfast, we checked out and went into Hay to look in a couple bookshops...to get our last fix before leaving. Good thing we did too because we found a couple books we'd missed before!

After the bookshops we grabbed some lunch at The Granary Cafe, which happens to specialize in vegetarian food. Then we got on the road. We retraced our route from Hay back to Brecon to Llandovery to the A40. A few miles south on the A40 and we took a side road, A482, through Lampeter to Aberaeron on the coast. It was getting to be late afternoon and the weather was what the English call "pants" which means terrible. We cruised around Aberaeron (left) a little but didn't see anything interesting. Unfortunately, towns often feel dreary and nasty when it's raining so we left this town and headed down to New Quay (Key not Kay).

New Quay turned out to be a traditional seaside resort...loads of arcades, a sandy beach and a boat harbor. The link above makes the place seem very friendly, and I suppose it is, however in the rain in the late afternoon when you're tired and want to find just the right place to put your head, this place wasn't where we wanted to be, so we pressed on.

We ended up in the next big town, which was Cardigan. The next town from Cardigan is Fishguard. We suffered the same plight as in New Quay and Aberaeron. Cardigan didn't look like anything special when we got there. It was raining, getting dark and we were really tired. We had a really hard time trying to find a B&B and when we found the handful in the town we were ultra-UNimpressed. We finally just decided to settle for the one with car parking off the road. Peter waited on the road while I went to see if there was "room at the inn."

I think our problem was that we were too picky. We'd just spend 4 of the greatest nights in a fabulous B&B in an equally fabulous town and nothing was matching up. But we were tired and at that moment and time it was this place or sleep in the car. We were just tired of driving, wanted a meal and sleep.

Maes Y Dre B&B (right) (maze-ee-dray, which means house in the town) turned out to be anything but just a place to lay our heads! I knocked on the door and was met by a slight woman who said she had room. This house is a completely renovated Victorian townhouse and was truly a gem. There was a small foyer with a wonderful stairway to the side. The banister was a beautiful dark, rich oak that was original to the house, as were the numerous leaded stained glass windows throughout the house. Our room was the largest one in the house. We were the only guests, but by breakfast another couple had checked in...another couple who had been wandering around looking for a nice place to rest for the night before getting the ferry the next day.

The Mason's were really nice people. I had a chat with Tony and Jan, and Ben their Golden Retriever, before we left. Tony is retired military. He and Jan have traveled around Europe quite a bit...wherever Tony was stationed. Jan is originally from Cardiff but they decided to settle in Cardigan because it's such a lovely town and on the sea. We would have enjoyed another night at Maes Y Dre but we had to catch a ferry. We still had until 3pm check in and the day started nice so we headed into Cardigan to see what the Mason's saw in it. The previous night we were fairly unimpressed.

Well, you know what they say about first impressions...don't always go by them. Cardigan turned out to be a really super town!

Cardigan is an medieval market town with a cobbled main street, colorful old world architecture, winding side streets, old pubs and colorful window boxes and hanging baskets that were still well maintained as the tourist season was drawing to an end.

Cardigan saw its beginning in 1110 when Cardigan Castle was first constructed. The castle was originally wood, as was traditional in those days, but was rebuilt in stone in 1171 when rulers took the practice of stone masonry from the churches and fortified their keeps. The castle changed hands many times during clan and clan wars. It had been sold to King John, but the local

clans still managed to wrestle the castle from the English ruler for themselves.

The main destruction came with Cromwellian forces in the 1640's. Cromwell's soldiers also ripped through Ireland during this same decade. Cromwell was the self-made ruler of England during that time. He wasn't a king but titled as Lord Protector. Part of his mission was to wipe out those that refused loyalty to England, and him, and who refused to convert to the more puritan side of Protestantism. Basically, he used any and every ploy to rid the British Isles of anyone who wasn't English.

By the the 1800s a manor house was built along side the castle.

We didn't visit the castle but there is some question if it's still in private hands or not. There certainly aren't any signs around the town directing you to the castle as an attraction.

The town of Cardigan built up outside the castle gates, typical, and over the centuries Cardigan grew into a large prosperous community. In its day, Cardigan was also one of Wales's most prosperous port towns. Today the town is thriving with business, trade and tourism, but it still maintains its connection with the past. Part of the appeal is in the historic quaintness of the place, which includes many winding side streets off the main street.

Another side to Cardigan is as the regions main market town. Like Macroom, where we live, Cardigan was the hub for farmers to bring their livestock and farm made goods to town to sell in the market square, such as baked goods, eggs and chicken, cheese, fruit and veg...whatever was grown or raised on the farm.

Market days were quite the social affair! Traditionally, the men would drive their livestock to the market with their sheepdogs (such as Daisie and Poppy) and hang out with the men for the day nattering over the price of beef or fleeces, wheeling and dealing over the best prices for their sheep or cows, bargaining with shepherd's for working dogs, and other manly things. The women would travel into town the same day to do their shopping. Ladies would gather to gossip while shopping for fabric, food items that weren't grown on their farms, and maybe some window shopping for a personal luxury, like sweets or a trinket for the home.

Today, animals are sold in "marts" (livestock markets) and the old market square is where you'd typically see colorful tents and umbrella's over tables full of locally made or specialty goods, such as bread and other baked goods, preserves, cheese, dried fish (sometimes a fish monger would also set up selling fresh fish), soap, tools, organic fruit and veg, hand crafts, sometimes pet supplies, clothes and shoes, etc.

I don't know the history of the Cardigan market, but today there is a building (above left) that could very well have been used in the past as an indoor market.

used for the larger animals, such as cows and sheep. The floor is certainly strong enough for this.

Today Cardigan's market is indoors. Downstairs (above) the stalls are now rented to sellers. There are stalls selling locally made handcrafts, fabrics and needlework supplies, pet supplies, used books, etc. It's like an indoor bazaar.

There's a small cafe upstairs, and around the floor are tables set up for produce vendors. Along one side there are several tables set up with colorful awnings over each table (left). The building has been restored magnificently and a skylight has been added to give more natural light during the winter months as there is limited internal lighting.

There is a terrific stairway on one end of the building (right). I've included this photo because I just loved this stairwell. It's a huge clunky thing about 7 feet wide. 3 BIG men would walk side by side and still have room to let someone squeeze past. There are layers and layers of thick black and white paint, which reminds me of my dad's first service station. That's probably why I liked these stairs so much. Nostalgia! Pretty sad, but there you go!

Cardigan is more than just an old market town though. There's a very Victorian feeling to the town too, and not just because we'd stayed in a Victorian B&B the night before.

The shops in the town sell all sorts of things. There's a bookstore, various shoe and clothing stores, restaurants and pubs (see the Saddler's Arms below), little cafes that specialize in tea and coffee, bakeries, newsagents, and specialty stores like the garden shop.

One of the coolest places was the candy store (left). The window drew us in because it was full of old fashioned glass jars full of sweets. Inside the store was more of the same. Shelf upon shelf lined with glass jars full of colorful candies. The place reminded me of the old days when chemist shops would have a soda fountain. This place sold chocolates of various kinds but their specialty was sugar confections. Sugar coated chewies, sugar powdered sucky-sweets, hard boiled sweets, gummy bears and other shapes, lollipops, bubble gum balls, hard balls, twizzler sticks, sweet and sours, lemon drops, and on and on and on with the varieties. One would get a sugar high just walking into the place!!

Cardigan Main Street