Friday 11 to Monday 21 Sept 2009

For our main Summer break we decided to visit some areas of Britain we hadn’t been before and after some thought and research we chose to take an 11 day tour across to the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. En route we would visit Vanfest 2009, the Brecon Beacons and Forest of Dean.

Wales & Vanfest 2009: An 11 Day Roadtrip from Devon 21 on Vimeo.

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Day By Day
Friday 11

We left London in morning sun and were soon soon crossing the Cotswolds. The first stop was for coffee at Great Tew, a lovely quiet village a couple of miles off our route to The Malverns. Thatchers were roofing one of the picturesque cottages and birds were cooing in the trees.

We went to Vanfest in 2003 and last year. This time we were hoping for a year like 2003 and we haven’t been disappointed. We’ve decided to camp away from Vanfest this time to have a more relaxing experience and although Kings Green has distant motorway noise, it’s lush and peaceful. The weather today has been equally pleasant. The electric hookup cable works well and seems solidly made. Tonight we went for a walk in the farm fields and settled in to watch The Wire on the laptop.

Saturday 12

For a sunny breakfast we had beans and sausages from a tin with an egg. It tasted much better than it sounds!

The short drive up to the Three Counties Showground was an inspiring start to the day. The Malvern Hills rising and falling majestically to our left. Inside thousands of VW transporters had pitched camp and their very different owners were mingling in the trade areas and halls. We browsed all the stalls, stopping to look at 1970’s melamine crockery and awnings. We came away with a large canopy, a new wing mirror and a camper cookery book.

The displays of well traveled campers and 4×4 Syncros made us wish we could be embarking on an epic transcontinental journey, but the Welsh coast will have to do!

Back at Kings Green we put up our canopy and cooked some burgers with grilled peppers and sat out watching The Wire.

Sunday 13

We woke to a misty morning, the sun burning through. After breaking camp we drove the pretty loop of Eastnor Castle deer park, home to The Big Chill festival we hope to return for one year. Onwards then to Much Marcle, and Weston’s Cider Mill. A few samples later we had the van stocked up with a crate of Special Reserve and motored on to Hereford. Squeezing the van around the narrow alleyway we parked next to the cathedral for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we stopped at Oakchurch farm shop and bought local fillet steak, strawberries and vegetables for dinner. Our destination for the day was the Lakeside campsite by Llangorse Lake in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons National Park. We had a pretty sunset to accompany our steak dinner, and stewed apples from Kings Green for dessert.

Monday 14

In Llangorse lake is the only ancient man-made island, or crannog, in England and Wales. A dug-out log cannoe was excavated last century and is on display in Brecnock Museum in Brecon, which was our next stop of the day.

We took a side road off the main A road out of Brecon that twisted up to the Usk Reservoir. By the dam we pulled over to heat soup and coffee for lunch. The road led on over the moors and had stunning views of three peaks to our left. Rare Red Kites wheeled above us. One dove in and settled a short way from the van. Quite a sight.

We were turned away from a site just off the moor and after a quick look at our map decided to try a place down by the main A road. We were concerned about road noise but need not have worried since the site stretched up along a stream which we camped by at its furthest point.

Before dinner we set out across the fields and climbed a pine and bracken covered hill to look back on the lush green Brecons. With a warm feeling we returned to camp for a simple dinner. We drifted to sleep with twinkling night light candles, briliant stars, the burbling stream and Kind Of Blue playing. A perfect day.

Tuesday 15

There was a long drive ahead of us this morning so we were up early and on to the nearby Carreg Cennan Castle by 10.30. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed descending in to a cave within the castle walls. From there we took the A40 to Carmarthen to stock up on provisions for our time out on the somewhat isolated coast of Pembrokeshire.

Mark needed a coffee to perk him up from all the driving so we stopped in Haverfordwest. It was swarming with police apparently looking for some miscreant so we were happy to soon after hit the lovely coastline. Our drive took us up around the bay to St Davids and Carfai Bay. There was no-one home at the breezy cliff-top campsite so we picked a spot with electric and a great seaview. We made an abortive attempt to put up our canopy but were beaten by the wind. A properly attached awning rail would be neeeded in these conditions. We rewarded our efforts with a large bottle of Weston’s cider each!

Wednesday 16

Mark had a well earned rest from driving today. There was barely a cloud in the sky again as we had a leisurely morning around the campsite and then packed our bag for a walk into St David’s and somewhere along the coast. Just a short walk up the lane from our campsite, the tourist information centre is a nicely designed building. We picked up a map and walked on into town passing several nice looking restaurants, pubs and cafes. Our kind of place.

The cathedral which gives St David’s its city status is nestled in a natural bowl down from the village centre. The crooked interior reeks of the history it has seen and feels quite unique against the other cathedrals of Britain we’ve visited.

We had decided to walk out to St Justinian’s and from there along the coastal path to Whitesands Beach. Following the road to St Justinian’s we picked and ate some blackberries as we went. The view of the lifeboat station was picturesque against the sea, Ramsay Island and the blue sky.

The coastal path winds tightly around the inlets of the coast and it took longer to cover the distance to Whitesands Beach than we’d thought looking at the map. We’d walked about six miles. A cool wind kept the heat of the sun off, but it was still nice to sit in the shade of the cafe in the car-park.

A local bus service took us the two miles back to town where we called in to the deli. We were happy to find that they stocked un-pasturised organic cheese from the Caerfai farm we are staying on. We chose the garlic and leek Caerphilly.

The rest of the afternoon was lazed away reading and listening to Radio 4 in the shade. Before dinner we took a stroll down the lane and found another more developed campsite we had seen online. We had confused the site we are on for this other one but are glad to have done so. Our farm site is much more informal and we like its organic and ecological philosophy. There are no caravans allowed, which suits us muchly. Modern caravans really do look like ugly white meringues on wheels!

The cheese was delicious and even Mark found its ripe flavour agreeable. We are looking forward to another day of the same tomorrow.

Thursday 17

Today we walked from our campsite on the cliffs at Caerfai Bay to Porthclais via St Nons Chapel and Well. We lunched by the harbour in Porthclais and looked at the Roman harbour walls. From there we walked inland to St David’s where we had coffee.

We relaxed in the van this afternoon and Mark walked to get fish and chips with Welsh sparkling wine for dinner. They were all tasty although the Welsh sparkling wine was refreshing but a bit lemonade like. Tomorrow we start the return journey but still have four days of adventures to come.

Friday 18

A few more clouds in the blue skies this morning. We got off to an early start and motored south out of St David’s at 9.30. The first stop was Pembroke where we walked the perimeter of the castle and small high street. We drove on to the sputh coast and looped through Tenby which was pleasant but even out of season had nowhere to park with a view. The weather had got back to blazing sunshine. At Saundersfoot we gave up trying to find free parking and paid £2 to park on the quayside for our lunch.

We still had a large distance to cover in the afternoon to get to the Brecons. Just out of St Clears on the A40 we were motoring up up the dual carriageway when Mark felt a sudden loss of power. A minor panic set in as we tried to cross two lanes of busy traffic to the grass verge. We didn’t quite make it and the traffic streamed around us. David was instructed to get out and push us off the dual carriageway. Failing to push forward due to the uphill we were on he switched to the front and began to push us back in to oncoming traffic as Mark steered us just on to the narrow verge. It took a minute for our heart rates to settle.

Being so close to thundering traffic was unnerving and we were glad to see the AA man pull up 20 minutes later. Immediately that he looked in to engine bay he and we saw the fuel reservoir looked almost empty and we realised our non-functioning fuel gauge was probably the cause of the drama. Our technique of noting the mileage when we filled up and expecting a certain number of miles from a tank, had clearly not accounted for the amount of stopping, starting and uphill travel we had undertaken today. 35 minutes after the drama began we were back on the road and pulling in to Tesco’s at Carmarthen to stock up with food.

We camped in the same spot by the stream at Abermarlais as we had the last time and it was just as tranquil.

Saturday 19

There was a heavy dew on the grass at Abermarlais this morning. But it evaporated as the sun rose higher.

Reading the Lonely Planet entry for Abergaveny we realised this weekend could be the annual food festival and checking online we confirmed it is. We joined the throngs of arrivals parking on the grassy castle meadow and walked across to the town centre. The streets were mostly shut to traffic and filled with food stalls. Organic vegetables and gourmet cakes predominated, as did hog roasts. We grazed out way around and bought a few different ciders.

We drove back in to England and pitched up in the Forest of Dean. The campsite was large and only half open at the end of the season. It felt a bit municipal but was just right as a base to explore the area and spend the night.

Sunday 20

It was a peaceful morning at Bracelands and quiet on the roads as we drove to Symonds Yat. Picturesquely nestled by the river it was a busy spot for canoeists and kayakers so we didn’t stop. On through the countryside to Ross-on-Wye and to our main stop of the day The Three Choirs Vineyard.

It was a shortish cross-country dash to Folly Farm in the Cotswolds (where we had started this year’s camping season at Easter). As the afternoon drew long we crossed the fields to Cold Aston and waited for the Plough Inn to open. We had a nice dinner including some vegetables that were dropped off by a local chap, presumably from his garden.

Monday 21

A quite incredible clean sweep of sunny days! Not a drop of rain. We were on the road by 10am and were back at the Hemel Hempstead caravan storage site by 1pm, where we were met by a very sad sight.

Somone had clearly reversed their caravan into the back wheel arch of our car. This was a terrible end to a fantastic holiday. With a sick feeling we unpacked the van and dwelt on the expense and inconvenience that the culprit had caused us. We tried to not let this affect the great time we’ve had but it doesn’t make us feel any better about ugly white caravans!

Tags: 2009, adventure, bus, campervan, camping, cotswolds, journey, roadtrip, travel, trip, vanfest, volkswagen, vw, wales

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 08:26 and is filed under Adventures, Video.

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