Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Tenby
Q2. Cymbeline
The initial clues would seem to place us near the village of Coedcanlas, which is where, according to some of his biographies, the author Dick Francis was born c 1920 and one of those biographies was called 'The Sport of Queens'. (They might as well just have published the answers in the paper with this huge giveaway hint). Coedcanlas lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and depending on which reference you check, this is though to be around 240 to 243 square miles in area.
Southeast from Coedcanlas, would bring is to the town of Tenby and it was here, between the years 1920 to 1936, according to some reference sources, that the author Roald Dahl spent his holidays, at a house known as 'The Cabin'. Dorelia McNeil may have been the common law wife of the painter Augustus John, who's bios claim was born at 50 Rope Walk Field, Tenby c 4th Jan 1878.
I found some references to a 'Royal Victoria Pier' in Tenby, which opened c 1899 and was demolished between 1946 and 1953. There does not appear to be much left of the castle in Tenby, which is thought to be of twelfth century origin. There is a watchtower marked on the OS map of the area, which can be found by following the one hundred and eighty six mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path, to the south west of the town. The island which lies one mile off shore, is probably Caldey Island.
The cave in question, could be 'The Cave of Belarius', who was a character in William Shakespeare's play 'Cymbeline', which was published c 1609 and is about a Roman caper around the Milford Haven region of Wales. Belarius used the alias of Morgan, while he hid out in the caves. There are some caves marked on the OS map, to the south west of the town (possibly Hoyle's Mouth Cave, according to some sources).
N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment or quip relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.
Hi East Ender, I think he started at Lawrenny which is about a half a mile south west of Coedcanlas Farm where Dick Francis was born and the quote at the end of the puzzle is from Roald Dahl's novel The Minpins, which was probably the last book he wrote. It was published in 1991, a few months after his death in November 1990
ReplyDeleteCheers,
David Smith.
As you say, the first part was stupidly easy, particularly for those of us who live in South wales, but I was stuck on the cave, so looked to see what you had landed on - I think that makes very good sense.
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