Pembrokeshire Coastal Walk

In June of 2007, we visited Wales and stayed in St. Davids for a week. One afternoon we had a delightful walk along the coast from St. Davids to Solva. The coastal walk was a memorable experience. We continue to enjoy the vision of the waves crashing against the dramatic cliffs as we walked a well-traveled path winding our way among ruins, foxgloves and wild ponies.

It is a coastal path and well-traveled but don't think you can't get lost, you can. Fortunately, there are great maps at the Information Offices and pleasant travelers walking from from Solva to St. Davids. One point to remember is that it is a bit better to take a bus out to Solva and walk back to St. Davids so that you're not watching a clock and wondering if you can find the bus stop in a small town and make that last bus back to St. Davids. For a peak at the scenery along the coast take a look a compilation of photos from that day.

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Scotland: Standing Stones

A vacation to Scotland is one you will never forget. For a better understand of history and the development of humanity, take time to visit Kilmartin Glen. This is a beautiful place filled with monuments and burial cairns dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Cup and ring art is prolific and the Kilmartin Church and graveyard contains one of the largest collections of early Christian grave slabs and crosses in the West of Scotland. I've put together a short video of the standing stones and the photogenic sheep that happen to live among these monuments. When you visit the stones, be careful where you step ... the sheep live there full time.

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The Picts

As we traveled around Scotland in July of 2007 we discovered the Pictish people. The Picts ruled much of Scotland in the Dark Ages, however little of their culture survives today. Their origin, language and society are a mystery. Large stones found across Scotland, many of which are standing along the side of a road, in a church yard or are in small museums across Scotland are all that remains of the Picts.



Read more about the Pictish people.

Collecting Sea Glass

Some years ago I read Anita Shreve's "Sea Glass", enjoying the journey along the New Hampshire coast with Honora Beecher, a young newlywed who compulsively collected sea glass along the beach as the story unfolded. Sea glass are broken pieces of glass from undetermined, unknown sources that have possibly been tumbling for years through the ocean's currents. They arrive on the beach, edges buffed and softened by the sand and water, as a small treasure for the discerning eye.

For many years our beach walks in certain areas have involved the search for shark’s teeth. Every now and then we would pick up some pieces of sea glass. When we returned home we tossed them in with the shells, rocks and other highly collectible items that remind us that there are calm sunny places to go to in any weather.

On our recent visit to Nags Head Beach we began to see that beach in a different light. There were no shark’s teeth in this area but there was an abundance of sea glass. So we collected a number of very pretty pieces to add to our collection. I have a short video that shows how the glass looks on the beach. It’s not impossible to find sea glass but you have to look carefully. The ocean will replenish the beach with a new supply of sea glass several times during the day and at night. You just have to show up and take a careful look.

When you search for sea glass it's almost impossible to think of other things as the waves crash on shore, birds scamper across the beach and each step takes you to a treasure or buries it under your foot deeper in the sand where it will churn and continue to be buffed by the sand and salt until it is discovered on another day. This is a great way to add enjoyment and relaxation to your beach walks. At the end of a vacation, your collection can easily travel to a place in your home that can continue to remind you of that perfect vacation at the beach.

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Nags Head, North Carolina

What a great week at the beach! Labor Day should happen more than once a year. The weather was perfect and by Tuesday the beaches were not very crowded.

Nags Head beaches are the best in the world. I was a little frustrated to find so much litter on the beach. Maybe I'm over reacting to few bits of trash left by well intended folks just caught up in the splendid weather and great seafood, but I don't think so.

Great walks on the beach are a treasure and the value of those moments for some of us is beyond measure. When those highly valued moments are marred by trash carelessly left behind, I want to send a message to the litter bugs. So, I put together a little amateur movie of video clips and photos of the fascinating birds that entertained us on the Nags Head beach.

There is a message from my bird friends who live full time on the beaches and whose lives are severely affected by our conduct. I hope the message gets across to those who left some personal items on the beach.

If we take it to the beach, we should bring it home. This message is for the birds!

Travel Well!