Saturday 19 August 2017

Cali has been to Pembrokeshire

Cali has visited Pembrokeshire for our two week holiday.  This is our first two week holiday in Cali and we decided to split the time between three sites.

The first five nights we stayed at Morawelon Camping and Caravanning Site, a private site near to Newport Sands.  Although we hadn't stayed at this site previously, we have walked in the area when we stayed at Fishguard a few years ago and knew the site would be in the perfect location for our walking.  There's also a good local bus service along the coast.  We arrived on a lovely sunny afternoon and went to Reception (a till at the back of the cafe) and were shown to the top field where we could pitch.  On our way we passed flower pots of weeds and dead flowers, weeds growing around all the paving slabs and overflowing refuse bins - a general air of neglect on the site.  Pitches aren't marked but we were allocated 'a spot' near the road on the top field.  We kept a decent space between us and the next campervan, sadly when the next person arrived next to us he parked so close we felt like we were on a car park.  We did have a brilliant view from our pitch but had to put the windbreak up to stop people from driving and walking too close to Cali as we were right next to the road

Top field at Morawelan

As we had a lot of rain during the five days the site got very muddy as vehicles churned up the grass trying to get up the hill.  The toilet block was grubby and didn't appear to be cleaned regularly, the gents were so bad that Steve wouldn't clean his teeth there as they were so smelly!

Dinas Head

The site is perfect for walking the coast path as it passes the entrance.  On our first day we walked from the site to Dinas Head - unfortunately by the time we reached Dinas Head the rain was almost horizontal as it was so windy!  We had better weather during the rest of our stay and had a lovely walk around to Newport Sands and into the village and spent some time on the beach too.

Overall our thoughts are the site was in a fabulous location but the facilities were awful - definitely not a site to use again.

After leaving Newport we stopped in Fishguard to top up supplies before heading to St David's Lleithyr Meadow Caravan and Motorhome Club Site for five nights.  We visited this site many years ago when we had our caravan, so know the area quite well and also know that as it's a CMC site the facilities would be good.  We weren't disappointed and found a lovely pitch behind the hedge which gave us some shelter when it became windy.  The site also has laundry facilities so I could wash our walking clothes and also dry our jackets after a very wet day in St David's.   The pitches are all grass so after the heavy rain there were plenty of puddles on the site, but these soon drained away and it never got muddy.

Pitch 5, St David's Lleithyr Meadow

There's a local bus service that stops outside the site that we used it on a couple of days so we didn't need to move Cali and it also enabled us to do 'one way' walks. There are also plenty of walks from the site, including a circular walk to Carn Llidi.

Carn Llidi towards Caravan Site

Carn Llidi looking north

A great site, fabulous quiet location and spotlessly clean facilities. Due to the weather we didn't do all the walking we had planned, so we'll definitely return to this site.

After leaving St Davids's we replenished supplies at Haverfordwest before heading to Freshwater East Caravan and Camping Club Site for the last four nights. This is another site we have previously stayed on when we had our caravan.  Although walking in the area is a little limited without taking Cali off site, we wanted to have a Spa Day as part of our holiday and booked ourselves a Revive Spa Package at Lamphey Court Spa.  As the weather forecast wasn't too good we chose a sheltered hardstanding pitch on the lower part of the site and decided against using the awning.

Pitch 28, Freshwater East

Our first day was very windy, but dry so we walked from the site to Barafundle, a beautiful beach that can only be accessed from the coast path.

Barafundle Beach

On the second day we took Cali off site early in the morning as I had to visit the dentist in Pembroke - it was surprisingly quick to pack away and were were on the road in less than 15 minutes.  After my dental appointment we headed to the Spa for a morning of pampering and lunch.  The weather forecast for the final day of our holiday wasn't too good so we took Cali off site again and drove into Pembroke so we could walk around the Castle and Millpond.  We had a heavy downpour in the middle of the day so returned to Cali for our lunch and to read the papers until the rain eased off - it beats trying to find a cafe!

This is another great site in a lovely location with excellent facilities.  However, as there is only one bus a day and limited walking from site we probably wouldn't return again.

5-19 August 2017

1 comment:

Sue said...

Well you packed a lot in. A shame the first site was so unloved. Glad you got a spa morning. Very impressed with the walking despite the heavy rain.

Looking forward to hearing about your next adventure. Sue