Solitary cabin

New Quay, October 2026

I really enjoyed the solitude and quiet of the little cabin near the coast of West Wales. One end has a bed, then there's a sofa, table and chairs, toilet and shower, and kitchen, and there's also a wood burning stove although it was mostly too warm to need to light it. Outside there's a shed with a washing machine and washing line, bins and recycling and spare stuff. The owners live just up the track near the road but far enough away that I didn't hear anything from them.

Going out to explore I reached the local village, with one shop on the main road and a church at the top of the hill. There's a garage with a Post Office in it, a school, a plant nursery and a pub with rooms. I was quite excited on the way back from the village to catch sight of the sea not all that far away, and consulted the map to see how long it might take to walk to the nearest beach - it looked entirely possible on foot (my intention was not to use the car during the solitary). And I did walk there a day or two later, and it wasn't until I got back to the cabin and looked around while standing at the front door that I realised I could see the sea from there too.

The weather was very variable. There was sun, cloud, rain, wind and everything in between, sometimes all on the same day or even within the same hour, but it wasn't properly cold at any point. I'd taken my fleece and raincoat on all my walks and had to take them off and carry them every time, so on the longer walk to the coast I thought I'd take a chance and just go out with a fleece. I was lucky that it only rained very slightly on that trip. 

I am very sad about my poor sense of direction, having to retrace my steps so many times. I didn't get properly lost, just realised, usually quite quickly, that I'm not where I should be. On one long walk I was so proud of having found two very non-obvious footpaths, but my hubris never went unpunished. Although in my defence, half of the marked footpaths have lapsed. I got about two thirds of the way on a long new route, only to encounter a man on a bicycle who told me the footpath was long gone, "disappeared 25 years ago". I had to go back the way I'd come, but I find that following a route in reverse is just as good as the outward journey: new views, with the added bonus that I know I'm going to be able to get home.

A 'cabinet of curiosities' that I passed on one of my walks

Because I'd been told there was only a small freezer I'd had to make plans for cooking, and typically my plans were quite detailed - every meal mapped out and ingredients weighed and taken, judging what might last the longest and what should be cooked first. Twice I cooked enough in three days for eight days, so had five days without needing to cook at all. As well as cooking and walking there was lots of reading and listening to books, some studying ahead of a retreat that's happening in November, a bit of writing for a journal, cards and letters, laundry, and that's about it. If I felt even a tinge of boredom I could remember how in normal life I sometimes long for nothing at all to do, which switched my mind immediately into a state of gratitude and pleasure.

It did get very slightly colder one morning, so I thought I'd explore the wood burning stove. Unfortunately, the wood supplied was in the form of sticks of hardwood and huge tree trunks, with no kindling, firelighters or smaller blocks of wood. I had a go anyway, using a tealight candle, but it was like trying to set fire to a tree trunk with matches. I had a warm bed to sit in if I wanted, and a hot water bottle too, and it wasn't really very cold at all. I could have got in touch with the owners if it had become really chilly.

After two weeks of solitary living, I decided to have two days 'holiday' before going on to my next retreat at Adhisthana. I hoped to do a stretch of the coast walk, but the weather wasn't particularly nice so I drove up the coast to Aberystwyth. It seems like a lovely university town, and I had a pleasant lunch and then went to the cinema. The next day was a bit better, so I took myself off to New Quay, which lays claim to being the model for 'Llareggub', the fishing village described by Dylan Thomas in 'Under Milk Wood'. I had a nice walk along the beach and up to the highest point above the village, then it started to drizzle so I went back.

From the cabin I drove to Adhisthana for a weekend retreat to finish my trip. Seeing lots of my friends from Leamington and Birmingham was a little too stimulating after nearly three weeks without any company at all. Added to that was the fact that the author and teacher Vajragupta was actually there, and had received the postcard I sent him from my solitary cabin, so I was completely starstruck. He was very gracious, as you'd expect.

So my big long break went very well, and I came back refreshed and full of purpose, ready to tackle the ongoing task of clearing out more stuff - GRUHI isn't over yet.