Coracles

Wales - The area around Cenarth is known for its coracle fishing. Coracles are ancient and simple forms of boat, variations of which exist all over the world. They are light structures with a wooden framework covered with skin or tarred fabric and can easily be carried by one man, on his shoulders. They are ideal for rivers like the fast-flowing River Teifi with its falls, as they have flat bottoms. Being light and flat they don't disturb the fish and can easily be manoeuvred. They often use two coracles with a net strung between them. We visited the coracle museum in Cenarth which was interesting and worth a visit. There were newspaper clippings describing the epic voyage, in 1974, of Bernard Thomas, who crossed the English Channel in a coracle.

We enjoyed wandering round the village, which has some attractive buildings. We looked in the watermill, which is no longer used but which they are hoping to raise the funds to restore. Then we treated ourselves to delicious ice cream (mine was coconut and honey, yum) in the Ty Te tearooms. Holidays aren't holidays without ice cream!