I’ve just got back from a thoroughly enjoyable few days in West Wales visiting old haunts I used to go to often when my sons were small boys. I set off on Monday with my friend Ben, a Chinese friend who I look upon as another son as he is a year younger than my own youngest. We loaded up his car and set off on his first ever camping trip in his life! His reaction when he saw the pile of stuff I deemed necessary for 2-3 days set the tone for the whole trip - ie a laugh a minute - as the car was piled high to the gunnels by the time we fitted everything in. Ben’s own luggage was minimal - a small bag plus his duvet and pillows, a tripod for his camera and that’s it!
The journey to Wales was enjoyable and the weather seemed to improve the closer we got to our first destination. Using the SatNav in his phone we made it to Stackpole Quay in 3 hours which is the starting point for the coastal walk to Barafundle Bay. We parked in an old quarry (relief car park as the main one was full up which cost £5 compared to the 50p they used to charge when I was last there!) Our first stop was the Boathouse Café for a spot of lunch. I chose the hog roast bap which was delicious - Ben chose the Welsh Caul to see what Welsh food was like and was mightily disappointed as it turned out to be a bowl of soup with two bits of lamb in it and piles of carrots whereas in his mind he had imagined a huge steak!!!
After the food we set off on the walk to Barafundle Bay which I was keen to show to Ben as he so loves coastal walking. We, I mean I, puffed up a load of steps and then it was a cliff walk of about half to three quarters of a mile with splendid views. When we arrived at the archway leading to the steps down to Barafundle Bay it was great to see that stupendous beach again. We went down a load of steps and finally hit the beach where we found a nice spot in the soft sand to lay out a picnic blanket on which we played a few games of Scrabble, a game we are both addicted to. By this time the sun was gloriously warm and Ben had a paddle in the sea and later after Scrabble he wandered off to explore and take photos while I relaxed with my book enjoying the sun.
In the early evening the beach was getting emptier so it was a long haul up the steps and then the walk back to Stackpole Quay. I was dying for a cup of coffee when we got there but unfortunately the café was closed by this time. We lingered taking more photos and when we programmed St David’s into the SatNav around 7.30 pm we were surprised to find it was nearly 40 miles to the campsite we had decided on at Whitesands beach by St David’s.
When we eventually reached the campsite it was getting dark and we just about had time to get the first tent up which was an easy pop up one which just needed the tent poles banged in, although in the rush it looked terribly lopsided by the time we finished. It was almost full dark by now and although we tried to get the other tent up it proved impossible in such poor light so we gave up. I couldn’t stop laughing at the state of our tent compared to everyone else’s especially when Ben was exclaiming that nearby tents even had fridges and televisions in them whereas we didn’t have even any light to see by nor cooking equipment!!! One disaster while pumping up my little single airbed, the plug fell out so it would not inflate and when I checked my sleeping bag I found the zip had gone on it!!! Luckily I had chucked in my sunbed cushion as an afterthought and a few fleecy blankets in case they were needed. All the while I could not stop laughing it was all so hilarious.
We were very hungry by this time so headed into St David’s and found an Indian restaurant called Saffron and enjoyed a nice meal. Then back to the campsite and I was already asleep by the time Ben had his shower and probably kept him awake at times with my snoring but he was too much of a gentleman to say so!!! He did get up early though as he wanted to take photos of the sunrise at St David’s Head. While he was gone I had my shower and when he came back he told me he had found a campsite much closer to Whitesands beach so we decided to dismantle the tent and move on there. Although my tent is easy to take out of its bag and it pops up and is ready apart from the tent pegs, you try getting it back in the bag! We had a go and eventually gave up and shoved it in the car folded as much as we could to get it in. Luckily he has a big car as we would have been engulfed in it in the front seats if we could have even got it in my car and shut the hatch at all!
A short drive later we arrived at the campsite right by Whitesands car park and were delighted to find a prime spot by the car park entrance with enough room to park the car and erect two tents. In broad daylight the second tent was easy to erect except we found when we had finished that we had only erected the inner part of the tent and the other part which goes over the top had been left at home!!! We decided that it probably would not matter, unloaded our stuff and then headed into St David’s first to get some breakfast. We enjoyed a full Welsh breakfast in the Soul Café and then went to the office of Adventure Tours as Ben was keen to book himself onto some kind of boat trip in the afternoon. There were wonderful tours to choose from but with rain forecast for the next day, the longer trips were not so appealing and he had missed the best ones on offer that day. He eventually booked a fishing trip leaving St Justinian’s at 4.45 that afternoon.
We headed back to the campsite, parked our car by the tents and took a couple of chairs and a mini coffee table with us down to the beach and enjoyed a few games of Scrabble first there and later at a table and bench set overlooking the beach and sea and were lucky to be able to enjoy another fine warm day. We stayed there until quarter to four then headed to nearby St Justinian’s and I found a nice little sun trap to set up my chair and read my book while Ben went on his fishing trip. The plan was to barbeque any fish that he caught for our supper! Although I could not find my camping stove to take we had brought a couple of disposable barbeques with us to cook on, just in case.
When he came back he had caught no fish so it was a good thing we had a back up plan, having seen a café very close to the campsite where he could enjoy the burgers he loves so much and I could enjoy a fish pie which is one of my favourite dishes. It was a BYO café too so we took the bottle of rose wine that I had brought from home. We lingered there until 8.15 finishing the wine sitting outside the café overlooking the sea, and then I retired to read until it got dark whilst Ben walked back up to St David’s Head in order to see the sunset and photograph it.
Both nights I managed to sleep quite well and Ben quite enjoyed the experience of camping even though his only real comfort was his duvet and pillows …. Until Wednesday morning when he woke up. It was 6 am and I was just contemplating going for a shower when I heard Ben call out to me to tell me it was raining inside his tent!!! That was when we realised that the inner part of the tent is not waterproof, which set me off in peals of laughter all over again. Poor Ben’s pillow and duvet were pretty soaked through when he transferred them to the car and he said his tent reminded him of his Japanese hot water bottle with the water sloshing around in it as he put it in the car! We managed to get my tent in the car as well and by the time I got back from my shower we were ready to go although it was still too early to get any breakfast anywhere.
Our plan on this last day was to head for Tenby and we did this but the weather was so dismal with rain that when we reached it we just drove around for a bit, saw the seafront and beaches and then decided to continue on home and stop somewhere for breakfast along the way. We ended up at a Morrisons supermarket at Saint Clears where he enjoyed another Welsh breakfast while I tucked into cappuccino and croissants. We made another stop just before reaching Cardiff where I had another large coffee while Ben had a quick nap and then continued home.
Despite the soggy end to the trip luckily it hasn’t put him off camping altogether. The week after next we plan to drive to the Isle of Skye beyond Scotland which is about 800 miles in each direction and camp there as long as it isn’t raining and find a youth hostel if rain is forecast. I have never been further north than somewhere near Fort William so it will be great to see that beautiful place and enjoy some coastal walking around there. I have good walking shoes and hopefully the exercise will help with my weight loss which seems to have plateau-ed lately.
This has been a great summer. I went on some great holidays with Mum - to Southsea Holiday island near Portsmouth, to Solent Breezes near Southampton, a couple of holidays in Weymouth plus two other resorts in gorgeous woodland settings - the first at Warmwell outside Weymouth which even has an artificial ski slope. The lodges were luxurious and we had the pleasure of seeing squirrels on our verandah each morning waiting to be fed morsels. Our favourite place of all was Sanford Park resort near Poole which is so nice that we hope to book another holiday there next year. What with day trips to Weymouth and a visit to Salcombe with a fair bit of coastal walking and now the trip to West Wales it really has been a fun summer. Next week I am in London all week in order to spend time with my Algerian friend Khali and his son Nadir, all of us staying at my ex husband’s house, then back here in time for a barbeque on Saturday and setting off for the Isle of Skye on Monday - returning from there also on a Saturday in order to spend another day at Reggie’s gorgeous home near Cheddar, followed by a few days in Swansea just before going on a 10 night cruise with my Mum, my sister in law and her Mum in September.
Whilst in London I hope to finalise my visa for Algeria with a view to going over there to stay with Khali and his family - this might be next summer or quite possibly the summer of 2015 as my dearest wish is to head for China in summer of 2014 and spend three or four weeks there with Ben and his Mum Shumei who stayed in my house for nearly 6 months until she returned to China in February this year. And even after the lovely cruise this September, Mum and I still have a whole week in Weymouth to look forward to at the end of September, so all in all it will have been a great summer in the 6 months from March until then.
I will write about the cruise later. We are sailing on the same ship we went to the Norwegian Fjords on in June of last year - the Msc Opera.
