We set off for Wales on the 28th February as we had to collect our trailer by the end of the month. On route we popped in to see our wardens from last year at Brecon, and had a cuddle with their dogs, Peggy (Shih Tzu) and Betty (Border Collie).
It was lovely to catch up with Billie and Shaun as we’re now all refreshed after having the winter off.
Trailer duly collected, we set off for Pembrokeshire and made perfect progress until two miles away from our destination. We had checked both map and satnav and followed the route set out, but as we turned right the road narrowed significantly.
We decided that I would go ahead in the smart car and effectively block the road off (it was only single track so it was quite easy, even in a tiny car!) and this plan worked a dream. Dean pulled into the lovely campsite we’re now on called Tretio Caravan and Camping Park.
It is about four miles away from St Davids and only 1.5 miles from the coastal path. The site is immaculate with a pitch and putt course adjacent and what looks like a climbing wall to the bottom of the site.
Brian and Margaret could not have been more welcoming, with plenty of advice about the area. We plan to make this site our ‘getaway’ during the season, using our two-man tent to get back to ‘proper’ camping. In the summer holidays, Brian plays the guitar every Wednesday evening and there is a burger van that visits too.
The day after we arrived, we drove out to investigate the nearby beaches and villages. Our main reason for arriving here a week early was to explore as much as we could, so that when the campers turn up on site we at least can say we’ve visited these places and know a little bit about them.
Our whistle stop tour took us along the north coast to Abereiddy beach (the location for the Red Bull Diving competition 2016) and then onto Porthgain beach. Both of them have free parking, but Porthgain does have some places to eat.
Along the south coast we drove through Solva and Roch, ending up at Newgale beach. There is a pub/restaurant in Solva that hosts a Ukulele evening apparently so we need to investigate that a bit more.
For those interested, it looks like there are quite a few walking routes from Solva and the car park at the harbour is free. Newgale looks like a great beach and we spotted windsurfers and surfers already in these cold waters! There is parking here but it is not free and we were unable to drive in to check the prices as the access road was flooded.
The largest town in this area is Haverfordwest (17 miles away) and we need to visit it for work, so we headed off there. It is about Parking was 70 pence for two hours maximum but that was plenty of time. It is not the prettiest of towns but there is a Morrisons, along with a few nice coffee shops. One little gem is a little department store called Matthews where I struck gold.
A few years ago I had a lovely wax Barbour hat, but I set fire to it by accident when we had the yurt and despite a friend’s sterling effort in repairing it sadly it perished earlier this year. To my surprise, this traditional shop had one in the window display…on sale for £12!
On our way back we called into St. Davids to visit the Cathedral. There is no formal charge but they ‘suggest’ a donation of £3 per adult… They offer services every day and it is well worth a visit.
We will revisit all of these places in depth during our stay in Pembrokeshire and we’ll add any worthwhile information we come across at a later date.
