Rain has made walking on the Pencaer peninsular north of Fishguard slippery. In Llanwnda churchyard, some alexanders were in flower, but looking battered and disconsolate, as were the lesser celandines.
We sought shelter inside the welcoming church. It is small and seems to grow out of the land. It holds a Parry Bible with missing pages, which were probably used to light fires for the invading French when they came and ransacked it. Invasion on a day like this sounds improbable, but February 22, 1797 had 'a fine afternoon, the weather mild and balmy'. The sea was likened to a mill-pond as four French vessels anchored off Carreg Wasted point to allow 1,400 soldiers to clamber up the cliffs en route to Chester and Liverpool. Luckily for Britain the legion noire had been assembled from the jails of France, army deserters, troublemakers and Irish nationalists. Even calm seas had provoked mal de mer. Their eagerness for dry land was enhanced when the first farm they came to proved to be full of wedding meats and drinks. By the time they surrendered, four Frenchmen had been killed and two Welshmen done to death as they protected their livestock. The Fishguard cobbler, Jemima Nicholas, climbed the hill and captured 12 Frenchmen, earning a state pension of £50 a year, £10 more than the one awarded to the rape victim. To celebrate the bi-centenary, a group of 77 people worked together to produce a tapestry celebrating the event. It's a real delight. Standing in Llanwnda, you see Carnwdda, where the tricolour was raised.
