Wales – August 2017 – Hay-on-Wye

And so on to Hay for the final leg of our mini tour of mid and west Wales. Along the way we stopped off in Llandovery and Brecon for a coffee and food supplies respectively. We got to the Black Mountain View Campsite to be met by James, the owner. He had kindly reserved us an excellent spot that was at the higher end of the campsite. The featured image is a photograph of James’ map of the walking route to Hay and the local pub, The Baskervilles. At it clearly says it is not to scale, but it does not lack the necessary detail to be able to get to the various places. What’s really apparent is the effort that he has put in to make sure that there is an easy to follow path to Hay.

After setting up we set off to follow James’ route into Hay which takes about 40 minutes and is just short of a couple of miles to the bridge in Hay. After a quick mooch around we stopped off for a couple of beers in the Blue Boar before heading back.

Next morning we got up and set off for Llanthony Priory, the beginning of a walk in the Ewyas Valley. Many walks gently ease you in, this one smacks you between the eyes with a series of climbs virtually from the outset.

Once you’ve climbed up the side of the valley the path follows the contours before dropping down and returning via some very ancient paths.

On the way back we decided to go via Abergavenny and Crickhowell, mainly to find a replacement gas bottle as our existing one has run out in the middle of cooking breakfast earlier in the day. Webbs of Crickhowell not only supplied Calor but also the variety of Campingaz that we were after. What a wonderful shop.

After a shower we headed off to the Baskervilles but we took the lazy option and drove there. Enjoyed the beer and food.

Our final day would be spent walking to Hay, wandering around, enjoying tapas in Tomatitos and then walking back. A great way to end a really enjoyable trip to mid and west Wales. We will definitely be going back to the Black Mountain View campsite as there is so much more we would like to do in the area, and James is a fantastic host.

Wales – August 2017 – St Davids

We left Red Kite with a promise of some sunshine and less rain. The drive down to St Davids took in Aberystwyth and Aberaeron. As we approached Aberystwyth both the town and sea came into view which continued the great views that we had been enjoying from Llanidloes.

We stopped off in the town of Aberaeron where there is clearly a lot of effort going in to present this picturesque town in a fantastic light. We toyed with the idea of going for a walk along the coastal path but decided that could wait until later.

After buying some food and meat for a BBQ later we continued on to St Davids, continuing to enjoy the sea views along the way. We arrived at the Camping and Caravan Club’s site at St Davids to discover a site on a slope, with a great view over the bay. In addition there is no mobile phone and very little radio signal – bliss!!! There is wifi, but as many campsites provide patchy wifi (Thornbrook being an exception) it was too good an opportunity to not be connected to the digital world.

After setting up, mainly fiddling with where to put the levelling ramps, we decided to go off to walk down to Abereiddy and then pick up the coastal path round to Porthgain. The coastal views were superb, especially as the sun was slowly setting. Once we got to Porthgain the initial plan was to stop and have beer before wandering back. The menu though at The Sloop was far too good to miss the opportunity to have a bite to eat and another beer. The walk back was uneventful but for some reason we walked quicker and quicker, strange people!

Porthgain

The only drawback to the campsite was that there seemed to be a constant wind blowing, constantly changing direction. Other than that, it was an excellent campsite, spacious, great views, nice mix of tents, caravans, motorhomes, campervans and folks young and old. The facilities were kept spotless, with one of the best showers that I’ve had on a campsite for a long while.

The following day was spent having a wander round St Davids, nothing to particularly write home about and then back to the campsite to spend some time reading. To break things up we decided to have another go at putting up the windbreak – yet another fail with the wind defintely getting the better of us! 🙂

In the evening we enjoyed the sunset over the bay and BBQd the food that we had bought the day before in Aberaeron.

Time now to head inland for Hay and the Brecon Beacons.

 

 

Wales – August 2017 – Llanidloes

When Betty departed Lincolnshire the weather was OK, the sun may not have been shining brightly but at least it wasn’t raining. That was until we got to Llandiloes. Checking in at the Red Kite Touring Park was really easy, and we were soon shown to our pitch, pitch 40, a great view over the valley on the front row. On the way to our pitch we got the impressions that each of the pitches were close to each other as in many instances the distance between some caravans and their awnings was relatively small.

Once we were plugged in and we’d popped up the roof, we had this great idea that we would put up our recently purchased windbreak. After some bent pegs and lots of laughing we decided to abandon this attempt. Only a few inches below the surface there is plenty of what we presume to be rock, and we couldn’t get our pegs in deep enough to be sure that they would hold the windbreak in place.

Settling down with a cup of tea and a book, we both heard a strange noise coming from somewhere near to us. It sounded like a blower, but who would be out at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon with blower? It wasn’t a blower, but the people in the next caravan hoovering their awning! Surely we should have better things to do on a Saturday afternoon that hoover awnings?

We woke up the next day, used the facilities which by the way are top notch, and then set off to Hafren Forest. The weather forecast was for rain later in the day so we decided to walk to the Source of the Severn before the rain arrived. The drive out to Hafren Forest was full of great views and scenery. From the car park it’s quite easy to pick up the route as there are white posts all the way. The walk sets off on the level, climbs up to awaterfall. All the time it has been seducing you into thinking that it’s a gentle climb up to the top.

Fools!! At this point it becomes more strenuous with plenty of uphill. You then arrive at a forest track before setting off on a boggy track to finally get to the Source of the Severn. The best bit is another 100 yards further on, with fantastic views over the Cambrian mountains.

The one good bit about walking up for four miles is that the return is all downhill. As we got back to the car it started to rain, great timing.

Back to the campsite for a bite to eat and a well earned glass of wine. The rain didn’t let up for quite a while, in fact when we woke up it was still raining.

Soon though the sun came out and we decided to go and investigate Lllanidloes. A lovely town, with lots of locally owned shops. In the afternoon as the sun was still out we popped off to Llyn Clywedog, a man made reservoir suppling water to the west midlands. There Sal spied a board showing a short walk around a peninsular. Yes the walk was short at just under 3 1/2 miles, but it didn’t say anything about the amount of climbing! As ever though, the views are worth the effort, and the views from the top of our unnamed peninsular were very good indeed. We think that we saw some ospreys above the reservoir calling to each other.

Back at the campsite we ended up BBQing under the tailgate on our last night at Red Kite.  In the night we could hear owls chatting with each other.

Off to St Davids