Mountain Goats

On foot, with the possible exception of our 16 year old, we could not be compared to goats - really need to improve my fitness before a planned trip to Cumbria. In the van, we have very serious limitations on our mobility. In Pembrokeshire, we travelled along roads which we would hesitate to re-visit in the car. We survived - with a few scratches.

Our worst experience was my fault. Determined to visit, and if possible support, local crafts people, we were on the search for an angora goat herd/flock? with accompanying workshop. Signposts and directions were great. Roads were a metre or two narrower than we had imagined, and gradients much steeper. The drive way to the farm was steep, but newly laid and with a non-slip surface - absolutely no problem for a car but the van struggled. At the top - plenty of space to park a few cars, but, not surprisingly, not designed for us. There was insufficient space on the flat area. We pulled up at the top of the drive and got out. The hand brake creaked and groaned, the van started to move, husband jumped back in and we found ourselves abandoned.

This was not a hardship. Shelves full of packs of hand-spun, hand-dyed mohair of the lovely soft fluffy variety - quite different to the over-fluffiness of some commercial brands. Looms, spinning equipment, finished hand-knitted items, woven rugs - Bliss!. I bought enough yarn for a short jacket - I hope, in a lovely mottled, peacock shade. Now all I need is some spare time - too many plates again! And when I need more yarn - an on-line mail order service is available!

I thought I had shown you all my photos of Pembroke. Then I found this one. A beautiful village called Abermoyle, with a large enough car park for the van, just down the road from the goats: