Post No.4 B - A break in Wales & New Wine UK style

Last Sunday we traveled to the west coast of Wales to spend 2 nights at a cottage in the little village of Moylegrove. It's a few minutes walk from the Pembrokeshire coastal path that traverses about 180 miles of the Welsh coast. We were quite pleased with ourselves as we found our way there without a map or navman (GPS). My brother, Allan, and his wife and daughter, met us there; they had come up from Cardiff. On Monday we walked a section of the coastal path to a place called Poppit Sands, where we had the briefest

Looking at grey seals

Great views...

Welcome to Moylegrove

of swims in the Irish Sea(brrrr). The scenery was great; it is the section where the cliffs are at their highest  of any part of the coastal walk(over 135 m). There were lots of signs warning us that a fall from the cliffs would be fatal, but a number of times we crept up to the edge to have a closer look (in doing so we saw a few grey seals). The weather was gorgeous; the best it had been all summer. We were very fortunate as the weather in this part of the world can be extremely windy and very bleak for long periods of time. In the afternoon we walked back to the cottage via the lanes; the sign said it was 4 miles, but by the time we arrived hot and tired we were sure Welsh miles were quite a bit longer than English ones. Later when we talked with the owner of the cottage he assured us this was true, and that they stretch in the sun. We always knew the Welsh were a bit different! Certainly their language is! The next day we did a short walk along the path going south, then with some regret, because we would have loved to have stayed longer, headed for Cardiff via the charming town of Carmarthen and following my brother along back-country roads and lanes (he had a navman); it was fun! In Cardiff we had a beer on the water front (all the locals were wilting in the heat-wave - we felt most at home), saw the Millennium Stadium where the ABs always beat the Welsh, and the very impressive Cardiff Castle.The next day Allan & Barbara drove to London to begin their journey home, and we, using their navman, made our way to Shepton Mallet in Somerset via the quaint and ancient town of Bath, to spend 2 days at New Wine.

Worship in Venue One

The Leaders Lounge

Francis Chan in the flesh

New Wine UK was quiet an experience! Camping-wise, it looks a bit like Parachute Music Festival; there are 1000s of people camping everywhere (about 10,000 people on site for 6 days), and logistically, a huge operation to set up and manage. Very impressive indeed! We met Francis Chan (see photo) and thoroughly enjoyed the 3 sessions he spoke at. Venue One held 5,000 people (not bad for a portable marquee-type building) and the worship and atmosphere was wonderful. Venue Two was smaller catering for 2,500, but equally impressive to be in. The other venues, and there were about 15 of them, were smaller, but continuously used for seminars, prayer, worship or para-church promotions. There was even a sporting cafe to watch the Olympics. What was impressive for us was that there was no central venue as such, and you chose the speaker or event that interested you; they were on a first come, first seated basis. For example, the main morning and evening speaking and worship events were held simultaneously in Venues One and Two. The leadership of New Wine hosted us extremely well (Mark Melluish) and we felt very blessed to have free access to the Leadership Venue and the benefit that went with it. On Friday afternoon we said farewell and made our way back to Birmingham via the M5 and the ancient town of Glastonbury. This is the so-called cradle of Christianity in the UK and the legendary burial place of King Arthur; the ruins of the abbey are over a 1000 years old! But what was eye-opening about Glastonbury was that it has become a centre of paganism. We have never seen so many weird little shops offering every type of spirituality imaginable; everywhere we turned there were witches, goddesses, charms, crystals, buddhas, things indian and things from India; if you could imagine it, it was there.... As we walked around I had this overwhelming sense of Jesus lamenting over the place like he had with Jerusalem... "Oh Glastonbury, Glastonbury, how far you have fallen...!" It was a very sobering experience! It made the drive home along a very busy and congested M5 a bit of a dawdle. Until next time.... Ian & Lenda