Talley Abbey

Talley Abbey is about 7 miles from Llandeilo. It is located in a small but attractive village in a lovely valley. I suppose some of the pretty houses nearby have been built from some of the stone originally used in the Abbey.

It is hard to imagine from the photo just how high those arches are, but I would estimate that the large arch must be 30 - 35 feet, and the smaller arch around 20 feet tall. It must have been quite majestic when first built.

Sadly, like most abbeys and monasteries, it fell into disuse and disrepair following the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII in the 1500s...

Carreg Cennen

Carreg Cennen castle, near Llandeilo.
The castle is built on a huge rock, and there is a sheer drop on the other side...
It was a wild, wet & windy day, and I didn't take too many photographs.
If you want to know more, check this site out:

http://www.castlewales.com/carreg.html

The walls are pretty dilapidated - the 'doorway' near the person is actually the exit shute from the garderobe (toilet) in the apartments high above...

A good example of an arrow slit, also showing how thick the walls are.

A close up of some of the stonework (apologies for raindrops on lens!).

A musket hole - unlike the arrow slit you don't seem
to be able to see who/what you are firing at...

The walkway down to the cave.... which was steep, dark, and spooky!

The cave entrance, we didn't venture in too far,
as our torch batteries were running low.

Deeper and deeper - next time I visit,
I will take a wind-up torch, and go deeper into the cave....