Thursday 18th, Friday 19th and Saturday 20th August 2022

Thursday 18th August 2022

We spent the day looking round Hay On Wye which was really nice - a lovely town! We didn’t buy anything from the Market but it was good to see so many independent sellers and shops. The bookshops are amazing! Hay Castle was free to look around, and there was an exhibition on showing portraits connected with writers. 

As we are here for a few days, we went to the tourist information office to find out about the walks and to plan one for tomorrow. The volunteer there was really friendly and helped us find a walk, as well as a discussion about music and festivals! I’m really glad we have visited Hay On Wye, it is a great town.

Friday 19th August 2022

Our aim for our walk was to get to Hay Bluff, a hill at the tip of the Black Mountains. It was quite far from the town but walkable, with some views of Hay On Wye and River Wye in the distance. It took us about 2 hours to get up to the top of Hay Bluff from Hay Castle. 

It was quite windy at the top, but worth the walk again! We had lunch on the way down, before walking back into Hay On Wye to have another look around. 

Saturday 20th August 2022

Our last full day in Hay On Wye! We decided we wanted to visit River Wye, having kayaked on the river when in Hereford. Before we got there, we went to The Old Electric Shop for coffee and cake, one of the nicest cafe/ shops we have visited! What made it so nice was having the bookshop and other items for sale with tables dotted around.

We followed the river, finding a nice place for a picnic. Someone who lived locally walked past with a very sweet dog who kept jumping into the river chasing sticks! It was interesting to have a chat about Hay and hear what it is like to live here. 

The rest of the day was spent at the campsite doing things like washing so not very exciting! 

Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th August 2022

Monday 15th August 2022

The people on the next pitch at this campsite told us of some good walks, so we decided to follow their advice. The walk went through woodland to reach a disused mine at the top of the hill. It was so interesting to see the mine! We had lunch by the river before getting back to the campsite, as it was due to rain and potentially thunder. 

Tuesday 16th August 2022

Today we followed another walk, this time towards Mynydd Mallaen. Mynydd Mallaen is a plateau, so we didn’t get to the standing stone, as it was too far away, especially as it looked like it was going to rain again! Quite misty, but I bet the views would have been really nice on a clearer day. After lunch at the campsite, we went on another walk to a gorge. We also saw this hollow tree, big enough to stand inside! It looked as though owls have nested there. 

It has been really good to see different parts of South Wales, so much to see in each area. Two weeks to go before we return home! We have had an incredible time away, although looking forward to seeing Dad and Rusty and getting back. However, still embracing the last few places scheduled for roadtrip 2… Hay On Wye is next, followed by a brief stay at Broadway to get ready for our last festival, Shambala! 

Wednesday 17th August 2022

We made a slight mistake when booking the last campsites, and accidentally booked both this campsite and the next one in Hay On Wye for tonight. We weren’t sure whether to stay or to move on early - the facilities are great here and we are surrounded by nice walks, but given that the weather has been overcast and it is quite remote here, we decided to travel to Hay On Wye. 

On the way, we stopped in Llandovery, as it was too far to walk when staying at Rhandirmwyn. Parking is often an issue due to the size of Marvin, but here the car park was huge, very quiet and free until 2pm! The town is quite small but nice, and a good vegetarian pub that we decided to get lunch in, as we have planned to visit it for a while. 

Continuing on, we reached Hay On Wye around 2pm, and walked into the town after setting up. As its known for its bookshops, we will spend the day tomorrow looking round properly as we didn’t have enough time to look around today. Plus there is the Thursday Market - very popular!

Friday 12th, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th August 2022

Friday 12th August 2022

We travelled from St David’s to a campsite near New Quay today. It was a bit of a difficult journey- there were lots of narrow roads through busy small towns. We were also a bit early, but struggled to find a supermarket with suitable parking and in the end had to pause in lay-by until check in time.

On arrival, we weren’t sure which pitch was ours, as our names weren’t written on the board. Luckily, some other campers has also experienced that when they arrived, so we knew we had definitely booked a pitch. It took about an hour until we found out our pitch number, and then could settle in. We are only here for two nights but it is a great campsite- such a beautiful house, lots of space, and a view of the sea in the distance.

We have mostly run out of food so thought we would walk to the beach nearby first, before getting the community bus there to New Quay. However, we were standing in the wrong place for the bus so it had come and gone whilst we had been waiting for it! Thinking that New Quay was 3 miles walk along the coast, we decided to walk there instead. It was a very hot day so in retrospect this was insensible considering that the path was mostly in the sun! We got there in the end, despite it being further than we thought. Had it not been a very hot day, it would have been a lovely walk to continue past New Quay - amazing views of the sea and we tried to spot dolphins. 

The nearest beach to the campsite

Reaching New Quay, we bought a few food essentials. As no bus was scheduled to go near our campsite at this time, we contacted a taxi firm, as it was too hot to walk back facing the sun. It was a relief to be back at the campsite! The facilities are really good - it is one of the best campsites we have stayed on. Although the beach is slightly too far to go to watch the sun set, there is still a good view from our pitch. 

Such a lovely house!

Saturday 13th August 2022

Our aim staying in this area has been to try and spot some dolphins in the sea, having missed a great location near Inverness. This area is known for dolphins appearing daily, so we decided to go into New Quay and watch from the harbour. 

Catching the bus into New Quay proved tricky! There is a small community bus that travels around, passing near our campsite. We waited for about 40 minutes before deciding to start walking to New Quay. About 6 minutes of walking, along came the bus! We managed to stop it and got a ride to New Quay which was a relief, because again it is a very hot day so walking in the sun wasn’t the best plan. 

Our first stop in New Quay was ice cream, with 5 vegan flavours to choose from! Mum had biscoff and I had raspberry and white chocolate. Part of the beach was very busy, but there were lots of space on the harbour to sit and watch the sea to see if we could spot any dolphins. This was our main plan for the day, so we were going to sit there for as long as it took. However, it didn’t take long after all! We spotted quite a few dolphins, including one that jumped right out of the water!! It was really exciting to see!! 

New Quay - very busy in some areas!

Watching for dolphins!

It started to get very hot, so around 12.30 we got some chips before thinking about heading to the campsite a bit earlier than planned, as the town was very busy. It was hard to get home due to bus delays and other reasons, but we eventually got back to the campsite around 4pm after a two mile walk from the bus stop. This is one of the problems with having a motorhome over the last three days - it has been hard to get around without a car or bikes! But we usually find a way.

We should have perhaps stayed here longer, as two nights has gone so fast again. However, we move inland to a campsite near Llandovery tomorrow which should be nice.

Sunday 14th August 2022

The journey was quite challenging, especially trying to find somewhere to stop to buy food supplies, as the campsites we have booked at the moment are too far from any shops. We managed to find a Sainsbury’s eventually after getting a bit lost, and then got a bit lost later on trying to find the campsite. 

The campsite is very remote! It is about 7 miles from Llandovery down some narrow lanes, but the surrounding hills and woodland make it a great location to stay. It was too hot to go for a walk this afternoon, but we sat by the river instead. 

The narrow lanes!

Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th August 2022

 Wednesday 10th August 2022

As the city of St David’s is only two miles from our campsite, we walked in. We could have got the minibus, which drives round the area hourly with a £3 day ticket, which is a really good (and popular) way of getting to the beach and to and from various campsites, but the walk was nice. 

We first came across Bishop’s Palace and the Cathedral - both impressive. Bishop’s Palace has theatre performances in the evenings during the summer. We tried very hard to organise a way home by taxi, as As You Like It is scheduled for tomorrow evening. However, no taxis are available and it will be too dark to walk home at 11pm so we won’t be able to go which is a shame, as it would have been a great location to have seen a play!

We looked around the city and had a picnic back in the Cathedral grounds, in the shade! After spending a few hours in St David’s, we walked back to the campsite.

This evening, we went to watch the sunset on Whitesands beach! It was still busy, and so nice to watch the sun go down whilst talking about our roadtrip. It was one of our favourite evenings of our roadtrip, so we will try and go to Whitesands tomorrow evening too! The moon was also magnificent. 

Thursday 11th August 2022 

It was due to be hot again today, so we went out for a walk during the morning, so we would be back at the campsite and out of the sun during the hottest part of the day. We walked up a hill which we could see from the campsite, which had stunning views of the sea and coastline. Although the top was covered in flying ants so we didn’t stay up there too long! 

The walk reached the Wales Coast Path which we had followed on Tuesday, so we ended up walking back to Whitesands beach and then back to the campsite to do some laundry. As it was so hot, it dried very quickly! 

This evening we went back to Whitesands beach to watch the sunset whilst eating chips. Being honest, when we first arrived in this area, we weren’t quite sure whether we would like it as much as it is very busy. But we have really enjoyed being here! We travel again tomorrow, the past three days have gone very quickly. 

Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th August 2022

Monday 8th August 2022

We went back into Swansea for the third time today, and hired bikes again! This time, we cycled towards Port Talbot a little way, before turning back and cycling to Mumbles and back, because the cycle lane is so good. 

One of the reasons I really like the beach at Swansea is the green areas separating the beach from the road. It has been hot and so to have shade from trees but being able to see the sea at the same time makes it even better. And a great picnic spot! 

We travel to St David’s tomorrow, to a campsite located about a mile from the beach! 

Tuesday 9th August 2022

The journey to St David’s wasn’t too bad - there were a few roads that we decided to avoid due to being quite steep and tricky for motorhomes, but got there for exactly 1pm. Once setting up, we walked to Whitesands beach as it is so close by. It was very busy compared to the beach at Swansea, but really nice. 

Ramsey Island in the distance

Whitesands is located on the Wales Coast Path, so we followed that to St David’s Head. From here, you can see Ramsey Island, as well as several smaller coves and beaches. As the end of St David’s Head is very rocky, we didn’t go right to the end but got as far as we felt safe to go. We saw a seal swimming, and a family also mentioned that it is possible to see porpoises here, although we couldn’t see any. Towards the end of our walk, we think we may have seen an adder!!! 

At St David’s Head, looking for wildlife out at sea!

The adder!

We are staying here until Friday. We may consider going on a boat trip to Ramsey Island, and will definitely walk to St David’s, which is the smallest city in the UK! It is forecast to be hot though on Thursday, so we will make sure not to overdo it in the sun that day. 

Sunday 7th August 2022

Sunday 7th August 2022

The trains weren’t running until later today so we got to Swansea at 11.30am. Quite a few of the roads are shut due to Iron Man taking place today. This is a triathlon event, where the swimming took place in the dock, the cycling around the Mumbles and the running along the sea front. We saw the first two female athletes cross the finish line, and it was great to see the support and crowd cheering everyone on! We arrived too late to watch the first male athlete win, but found out later that it was Alistair Brownlee who won. 

After watching a bit more of the event, we headed to another cafe! I realise it sounds like our roadtrip has really just been a food trip - we have prioritised walks and other things as well!! I tried tofish for the first time, which was actually quite nice, Mum had satay noodles. 

After our lunch, we decided to try and hire bikes. Swansea University have a bike rack for the Santander Cycles so we headed there. It was fairly easy to hire the bikes, and worth it! I struggled at first as its been a long time since I have last ridden a bike, but it soon came back. Swansea was the perfect place to hire them - very bike friendly and a beautiful sea view the entire way! We’d like to hire them again tomorrow! 

Having done a lot of walking and cycling, we were so tired this evening. 

Friday 5th and Saturday 6th August 2022

Friday 5th August 2022

Our walk was from the campsite this time, which was nice not to have to rely on any public transport and set times to get anywhere. We walked to the top of Skirrid, another hill with beautiful views! Some of this route was quite steep near the top, but so worth it to get up for the picnic spot!! It wasn’t so windy as yesterday so we were able to have lunch at the top before walking back to the campsite. 

Saturday 6th August 2022

We travelled from Pandy to Gowerton today. It was a tricky journey!! Lots of road works, and we thought at one point we were travelling the wrong way down the road which was scary - it wasn’t clear whether we could drive in that direction! I was relieved once we were out of that area, as I had been navigating and not finding it fun! 

Once we had pitched up at the campsite, we caught the train to Swansea. It was quite cheap - we have found public transport to be really expensive in some places! One of the vegan cafes we had researched to visit closed at 4pm, so we got there around 3pm, it was a really nice cafe. One of the staff members suggested we visit Mumbles, so we decided to catch the bus following her advice. Buses were free Friday to Monday each week until 7pm, which is great! 

Mumbles is a nice area - quite popular. The beach is so nice, sandy and stretching to Swansea and beyond, so we walked back that way. Compared to other beaches, it is so quiet, despite such nice weather! Along the seafront is a cycle lane and there are Santander Bikes that are available to hire per 30 minutes. I haven’t ridden a bike for years but it is the perfect place to do it, and we feel cycling is one thing we haven’t done during this roadtrip, so we will aim to do this tomorrow. 

After looking around at Swansea having caught the bus back, we got the train back to the campsite. I can’t believe it was travelling day today - we have done so much!! It has been really enjoyable. Looking forward to tomorrow and the next day.