1982 Blizzards - Pictures & Memories
Peter recalls the blizzards of 1982 - read his diary and take a look at his photographs of the storms:
My friend, Patrick Holmes and I had decided to walk the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path from St Ishmael's to Fishguard, and arranged to leave the car in the Mariner's Hotel carpark at Haverfordwest.
Two days later, the weather had become tremendously cold and we found our B+B in St David's. The next morning we woke to a Christmas card scene, but attempted to resume our walk to Fishguard. The cliff path was more dangerous than usual, with deep pockets of snow concealing the gullies. Carrying on was out of the question.
Instead, after a day hanging around St David's, we walked the 17 miles from St David's to Haverfordwest, along the road, but sometimes over the fields where the road was deeply drifted.
Reaching the Mariner's Hotel, we entered the lounge area to find a bunch of guests crouched over a huge colander which contained Brussels sprouts. They were making preparations for dinner as few of the hotel staff had managed to come to work. I remember, One guest arrived on the hotel roof in a helicopter.
We stayed the night there, making us a day later than intended. It was important to get back, because we both had meetings, so we decided to dig the car out of the carpark and try to reach Carmarthen.
We successfully reached the Ivy Bush in Carmarthen, and got chatting to the County Civil Defence Officer. He said that although the M4 at the Cross Hands end was closed, we might ignore the signs and travel along it. He was right, and we did, finding that the westbound carriageway only was traversable.
That evening's TV news showed this one car (ours) travelling along the motorway in the wrong direction amidst a forest of abandoned lorries and other vehicles! We did reach our destination, but unfortunately too late for my important meeting in London."
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