Nelson's Nobbler

“Why wouldn’t anyone want to take part in a race called Nelson’s Nobbler?”

Seiriol's crew having finished second in the race

Having spent a few weeks in Neyland and Pembroke filming a programme for S4C about the Cleddau River a few years ago, I was keen to visit the beautiful surroundings of southern Pembrokeshire once again and therefore popped my name down for this wonderfully named race.

As race day approached we put a plan in place for a weekend of rowing, relaxation and refreshments! The eight intrepid rowers, as well as our vital support team of Ron and Elaine, split the Friday morning trip down Wales’ coast to Pembroke with a stop off at Aberaeron for a lunchtime picnic and honey ice cream, before heading off to visit Fishguard’s Lower Town for a second stop of the day.

A sneaky visit to the Jemima Rowing Club

BRC enjoy a beer in the sunshine outside Jemima Rowing Club

Lower Town was the setting for the 1972 film, Under Milk Wood, starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Victor Spinnetti and Siân Phillips, however ours was less of a cultural visit and more of a chance to visit the Jemima Rowing Club’s headquarters.

The Jemima Rowing Club, named after Jemima Nicholas, the local woman who thwarted a French invasion of Wales in 1797, have a bar in their headquarters at Lower Town.

So after a nosey around their Celtic Longboats, a quick beer and envious glances towards their club’s ‘erg’ rowing machines, we headed off to our base for the weekend in Pembroke a few miles from Milford Haven and Neyland, where the race would start

Milford Haven was founded in 1790 as a whaling village by wealthy landowner, Sir William Hamilton, before the surrounding area, including Pembroke, became a Naval Dockyard in the early 1800s.

This is how the town came to have a connection to Admiral Nelson. Horatio was a regular visitor to Pembrokeshire having fallen in love with Hamilton’s wife, Emma whilst Hamilton was British Envoy to Naples … I’m not sure if this is why the race was called Nelson’s Nobbler, but it seems like a good enough explanation to me!

A little bit of local history

Milford isn’t the only town in the area with a famous connection. Pembroke Castle is the seat of the Tudor dynasty, which, of course, has its roots here on Anglesey. Maredudd ap Tudur of Penmynydd was a cousin and supporter of Owain Glyndŵr following the Welsh rebellion and Glyndŵr’s seizure of Beaumaris Castle.

Maredudd’s son, Owain ap Maredudd Tudur, became a courtier following military service at the Battle of Agincourt alongside several hundred other Welsh archers and, as Owain ap Tudur ingratiated himself in royal circles, he became Owen Tudor and later secretly married the widow of King Henry V, Catherine of Valois.

Catherine gave birth to Edmund Tudor who, in turn, was the father of Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle, and is more famously known as Henry VII following his victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.

From Bosworth to Brunel

Neyland, the starting point for the race also has a famous connection. The town was developed in 1856 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the westernmost point of his Great Western Railway and with a transatlantic terminal for ships sailing to the USA and Canada - Brunel originally wanted to build his terminus at Milford but the town’s burghers, thinking they held all the cards, asked for a lot more money than was on offer. Brunell was as astute a negotiator as he was an engineer and decided to develop the nearby fishing village instead!

The 12 mile race would take us from Neyland Sailing Club, up the Cleddau river to Black Tar near Llangwm, a few miles south of the confluence of the Cleddau Ddu and Cleddau Wen (which explains the Welsh name for Milford Haven; Aberdaugleddau; “Aber” meaning “the mouth of the river” and “dau gleddau” meaning “the two cleddau rivers”) and back to Neyland.

The race

Seiriol heading for home in hot pursuit of Llangwm Rowing Club

The two crews from Beaumaris were the only north Walian boats in the race with the other crews coming from Neyland, Llangwm and Clevedon, however we did manage to ensure some local knowledge as Justin had roped in two coxes from Neyland for Justin, Ingrid, Mari and Gary in Seiriol and for Becky, Jacques, Pippa and Rosemary in Siwan.

The start was incredibly frantic but Seiriol’s cox was not going to be bullied, even by the boats from her own club “It’s our line, Neyland. Neyland, give water!” she bellowed as, with oars clashing and cries of “come on Beaumaris”, we headed under the magnificent Cleddau Bridge.

It was a stunning day for sightseeing, less so for rowing 12 miles! The sun was baking hot but thankfully there were times when the sea breeze made rowing bearable. We didn’t manage to take in the beautiful coastline as we headed northwards past the luxurious houses and the villages of Burton and Lawrenny.

As expected the home water crews of Llangwm and Neyland set the early pace but Seiriol managed to keep up with both early leaders, as well as holding off a strong Clevedon crew. On approaching the buoy turn at Black Tar, Seiriol were in second place with Clevedon a few boat lengths back and Neyland a further boat length behind, but a determined “hard 10” (which, perversley, turned into a “hard 30”) saw us pull clear of the third and fourth placed boats.

Siwan's crew at the end of the race

We managed a quick “Come on Siwan!” as we passed each other near Llangwm before heading for home. The last few miles were incredibly choppy as we returned to the main estuary near the Pembroke Ferry Port and were passed by speedboats, fishing vessels, small leisure cruisers and a Jetski who was insulted several times in perfect French!

Once we heard Ron’s cheering from the Marina carpark we knew the end was in sight and we managed to finish in second place overall with a time of 1:36:53. Siwan also completed the race within their personal target of two hours and so Ron got out the fizz and celebrations ensued on the quayside!

A night on the town

BRC enjoying a visit to Dylan Thomas' house in Talycharn

After a celebratory meal and a tour of Pembroke’s pubs, Saturday night gave way to Sunday morning and what better way to recover than a lazy walk in Talacharn (Laugharne), where Dylan Thomas lived from 1949 until his death in 1953. The sleepy fishing village is generally accepted as the inspiration for Thomas’ play, Under Milk Wood - see, we don’t just throw these tours together you know!

Tea and cake in Thomas’ old house was followed by crab tacos and chips on the beach in Newquay as we paid visit to the home of the Sion Cwilt club to complete our Celtic Longboat themed tour of southern Wales!

The Cleddau rivers and their many estuaries would be an amazing place to revisit for a more social row, but I, for one, am already looking forward to next year’s Nobbler!