Tuesday 1st June 2010 - Rosebush

We planned to move further into the Preseli hills today but plotted a route via Fishguard and Newport. We had visited Fishguard in December so this visit was more practical, for shopping and Internet access. The Tourist Information Office offers free Internet access and this enabled us to catch up with emails. We also looked at the Pembrokeshire National Park site and found a number of walks in the Preseli Hills. There were no facilities for printing off the walks but we were directed to the library on the next floor and there printed off a few walks that we liked the look of.
Moving on to Newport, we changed into sightseeing mode. Jane had picked out a car park at Parrog, on the western side of the town and we headed for that. The car park was very popular and there was no space for Henrietta but there was plenty of on-road parking in a wide section of road.
Jane had picked up a Newport Town Trail leaflet from the Tourist Information Office in Fishguard and we used that to investigate the area. We walked up the long estuary with its abundant bird life and came to Carreg Coetan, a 3500 BC cromlech in amongst modern houses. We then walked up passed the Norman castle that was destroyed twice Llywelyns and attacked by Owain Glyndwr. In the 19th century part of it was converted into a private house and it remains private.
We walked through the town centre, out on the western side and back to the coast. Parrog was a fishing village until it was developed for commercial trade in the 18th century when herring, wool and slate were exported and coal, culm and limestone were imported. Storehouses, limekilns and a lime burner's cottage are still to be seen.
We drove to Rosebush via minor roads, some very minor with grass growing in the middle. The view as we crossed over the Preseli hills were fantastic boding well for our planned walks in the area. I had picked out the Rosebush campsite from the Internet as it looked like a well kept site and was well positioned for walking. It was only a few miles from Llanychaer but gave us access to new walks without the need to drive.
Rosebush Caravan Park did not disappoint. Run by Gareth Williams who is in his eighties, it is an adults only site due to its major feature – a lovely lake. We had a choice of four hard standing pitches and chose a level one with good views.
Photos: View over Parrog; The Parrog harbour wall built from thousands of slate slabs; Rosebush's Tafarn Sinc – the zinc pub; Rosebush's station in the garden of Tafarn Sinc next to the campsite.