Check back soon for a step by step guide on skimboarding.

After a grueling 5 hour car journey we finally arrived in Tenby. The town of Tenby is situated in a dominant hilltop position in south wales by the coast. It's hilltop position led to its early settlement as a Welsh stronghold, which was replaced in medieval times by a Norman Castle and walled town. Part of the town walls survive to this day and are an attractive feature at the entrance to the old town.

St Govans Chapel



After watching an Episode of Coast on the BBC, we decided to head to St Govans Chapel. The Chapel is situated at the bottom of a cliff face with stone steps leading down to it. The Chapel dates back to the 6th century and is named after the hermit and saint who lived there, St Govan.

Tradition says that pirates tried to capture St Govan resulting in a large ransom demand to the monastery, the wealthy house of the day. Luckily or so the saying goes, a cleft in the rock opened for St Govan to hide in till the pirates had gone away.

Pembroke Castle


Located in the centre of the town of Pembroke, it is one of the most impressive Norman castles in south Wales, first established in 1093, when the Norman Conquest of Wales was far from complete.

Most of the damage to the castle was done during the English Civil War, when its owners changed sides at an inopportune moment. After the war Oliver Cromwell encouraged local townspeople to disassemble the structure, stone by stone. Today the castle is open to the public. It is the largest privately owned castle in Wales.


We took a tour of the castle and I had to climb all the vantage points just for the hell of it. The most impressive part of the day was when I stood balancing 75 feet in the air on top of the Great Tower. I sorta acted as a flag pole flapping in the wind.

Sporting

Also learnt to skimboard, see post below.

I've just come back from a weeks break in Tenby, South Wales. One of the main highlights (sporting) was learning how to skimboard. Unlike surfing, skimboarding starts on the beach.

Skimboarding is a sport similar to surfing that takes place near the shore. The skimboarder stands about twenty feet from the ocean with skimboard in hand and waits for an approaching wave. When they see a wave they run towards it with their skimboard in hand. Upon reaching the wet sand they drop the board and jump onto it as quickly as possible. Once on the board, the skimmer must remain as stable as possible and prepare to make the transition to the ocean. The skimmer then (hopefully) glides out into the ocean toward the oncoming wave, banks off of it, and rides it back into shore.

Because the waves where really small in Tenby, and I was learning, I just skimmed across the shore as seen in the videos below. I really got into it and by the end of the holiday was managing to skim large distances. I'd love to take the sport up but need decent local beaches!

For added effect play the following music while watching the videos. (copyrighted music)