A trip to somewhere new. Planned for early September but pushed back a week because of the weather forecast and was it worth it! First night was an overnight stop at Upton on Seven at a pub with a campsite. What lovely food at the pub. The beer wasn’t too sketchy either. Onward to the Gower peninsula heading for a campsite at Nicholaston which turned out to be full. So full in fact that it would seem that we were stupid for thinking we could stay there or anywhere else, or at least we were made to think so by the dwarf receptionist. So we had to find somewhere else and the drizzle which was forecast arrived. We went to Oxwich Bay and navigated a very narrow lane which our sat nav said was un-passable to a strange campsite with only 2 tents on it and not an inch of level ground. We pitched on a bit of sloping concrete outside reception helped by a very friendly lady, but kind of wished we had looked further afield. Anyway we hunkered down for a drizzly night expecting sunshine the next day which arrived and we moved to Port Eynon and Skysea campsite. We couldn’t get electric but were offered whole fields to choose from. We went in the middle of field 3, ad 1 was full of statics and 2 was steep. there was 4 and 5 to use as well. This site has the CLEANEST MOST AMAZING shower block we have ever ever been in, but unfortunately it was at the far side of field 2 so a bit of a trek. The views across the bay were ace and we went to the pub the first night for a beer and a meal. The second day we had a huge adventure with the air ambulance as someone at the top of our field in a VW had a heart attack and needed airlifting to Cardiff. We had a lovely walk around and meal at a beach bar in the setting sun. We walked back along the beach and were washed over by shoals of whitebait at high tide. We picked up loads with a view to eating them, but we had already had tea and bottled out the next day! We were due to move but could arrive at the next campsite till after 4:00pm so we had another walk along the beach and took our time.
The next site was close to where our friend George lives near Camarthen. Quarry Lodge Camping. Its a small friendly site where they try hard to be unusual and keep it clean. George came to tea and the next day we went for coffee at Georges, then drove to St Davids. We had planned to stay 2 nights at a campsite we could walk into St Davids from and still see the sea. The campsite was too far to walk in the end but the view down the coast was spectacular. The weather was warm and we went for a walk down a steep path to a secluded beach. On the way back Sandra fell, tripping on the last of a flight of concrete steps and going down like a sack of spuds. We didn’t like the site and had already decided to leave and go to Whitesands Bay. We parked just outside St Davids and walked into town the following morning,had a coffee and a look around. We drove to the supermarket to stock up on stuff then went to a local pub for lunch. Sandra needed the beer to help with her aches and pains. We had a look at Whitesands but the officious car-park attendant put us off parking because no dogs were allowed. We retreated to one of the several campsites we had passed – Lleithyr Farm Park. This was a very pleasant site with another fabulous sunset. They ran an honesty box system which we were honest about.
On our way home now with 2 more stops planned. the next site was at Aberarron, but we had a leisurely journey which included lunch at Fishguard and a look at and a cup of tea in Cardigan. I wasn’t sure about Aberarron, but when we drove through it looked busy with cafe’s with tables in the street, so we hoped to walk back later. The site was pleasant and flat. We discovered you could walk to town down the seafront so we did and found a pretty harbour and an even prettier inner harbour, and a nice, if expensive, pub which sold lovely beer. In the morning we found we had to leave by 11 when someone turned up having booked our pitch. He was so early we hadn’t walked Izzy so we did that and packed up and still left on the dot of 11!
Still moving north and heading for our last night at Corris, we stopped in Aberystwyth for coffee. We drove the whole length of the promenade looking for parking, and eventually had to use the Blue Badge. We got coffee at a bikers shop which did drinks across the road from the main promenade. Sandra went for the drinks and fell again up the sharp metal steps, crashing down on her knees. She seemed alright and we drove on. We stopped for a while in a layby then headed towards Bala and stopped for lunch. Sandra noticed her leg swelling alarmingly so we went back to the cottage hospital at Dolgellau, where they suggested A&E at … Aberystwyth – so back we went. While Sandra was waiting for attention I booked a campsite and explained the situation. Once Sandra was discharged with a compression bandage, we pitched up for the night high over Aberystwyth and got the most amazing sunset. At 3 am Sandra was in extreme pain, grey and sweating so we called for an Ambulance. I followed her to A&E and she was discharged at 10 the following morning. We decided that although it was a long way, we should just go home. So we did!! Phew. Sandra is still unwell because of her falls 4 weeks later. Her leg is better but her shoulders are a mess.
All in all despite the falls, it was a lovely holiday with late summer weather and some fabulous ‘been properly away’ and French type feelings.
Our Route: