UK - Wales - Newcastle Emlyn - Mary

This is my friend Mary Lloyd Lewis. I met her 10 years ago while serving my mission in West Wales. She lived around the corner from us and was always fun to chat with. She's a sprightly 84 years old and could put many 50 year-olds to shame with her vigor and stamina.

She has led quite an amazing life. She lives in the house in which she was raised (the picture is her sitting in a tree she used to climb when she was a little girl) but has traveled all around the world. She lived in London for a while and also went to America for a while, finding odd jobs (at a restaurant, dentist's office, and insurance firm) to support herself. She went back to school as a mature student and is now retired from teaching primary school.

One of my favorite stories that she has told me was when she was teaching. She was getting ready to retire and had told the children (always children and never "kids." She hates when they're called kids) that it was because she was getting old. One day she told the children about Methuselah.

Mary: Methuselah lived to be ninety-nine years old!

Child: Is he older than you Miss?

While I was visiting we went on several walks. I was impressed that she would always keep up with me (especially since I'm a fast walker). We went along some difficult terrain and up some steep hills but she always kept up.

The first day I was there we went on a walk in Cenarth (ken-arth) and had great weather for it. Here are some pics:

The next day wasn't as nice but we still saw quite a bit. We went to Ceibwr (kay-boor) trying to find the Witch's Cauldron, which is a narrow canyon where the sea crashes in and sprays and churns like a cauldron. We didn't make it there but had a good adventure. Then we made our way down to Nevern and stopped in at the old church. We also made it up to Newport (there are several Newports but this one is in Pembrokeshire). We drove up to a castle and half of it was falling down and the other half was being lived in. That would be a cool place to live!

After we went home and relaxed we decided to take a walk around the block... Newcastle Emlyn is divided by a river. Mary's side is called Adpar and walking around the block involves walking down the river to the next village, then taking the country road across the top of Adpar. There were some great views. Mary used to play in this area when she was a little girl and she found a tree that she used to climb. I boosted her up to take a photo for old time's sake.