It was late August and we were walking home from the pub with two friends, Alex and Georgi. The usual question came up – ‘What are we going to do for the August bank holiday?’ The first thoughts were to escape the city and to take the tent on a second outing. Several destinations for camping were debated. Wales was decided as it was close to London. We had also heard good reviews of Pembrokeshire.
The criteria for being a ‘happy camper’ were judged as proximity to the seaside and good hikes, as well as the option for having a campfire at night. We found a campsite Celtic Camping and Bunkhouse just outside of St David’s and booked it.
Driving to Wales
On Friday night after work, Ivan and I picked up the car from the usual airport rental spot – Green Motion. The next morning, we left London early and drove along the M4, across the Severn Bridge to Wales. We wound our way around the coastline along progressively narrower roads to our campsite in Tremynydd Fawr. The campsite was made up of several fields, as well as an outhouse building for school trips, which looked onto the sea. We found a spot and set up camp. The next stop was the local pub.
Lunch in Porthgain
Five minutes drive east of the campsite was a pretty fishing village called Porthgain. The place, which has two pubs and a gallery, was packed with tourists. After all it was a bank holiday Saturday and sunny – a rare occurrence for UK! Once we completed a lap of the harbor we found a table outside the Sloop Inn for lunch. I had a mackerel salad which was pretty yummy.
Ramsey Island
The next day we woke up and drove to St David’s. We noticed there were lots of tours to Ramsey Island with the promise of dolphins and seals. After a very long description on how to get to the jetty by the man.. and an increasingly confused Ivan.. the woman in the shop gave us the postcode and we made our way to the old lifeboat station.
The tour company turned out to be a good choice. Although, our man was definitely a weather beaten fisherman – we had the boat (a R.I.B) to ourselves! The trip took about an hour. Whilst we missed out on dolphins, the seals and coastline were incredible. We even saw seal pups!
The end of the trip
On our final day, we made our way back to St David’s. We had a brief wander around the cathedral and gardens. This included a paddle across the ford.
Getting back to London
When we got back to London we returned our car back to the rental company. This left us with a slightly bitter taste, as the rental man found a a tiny dent on the car door. Whilst Ivan was a completely conscientious driver, you can’t really argue with them much – we had after all parked in a public car park. In the end we had to pay just over £150 for the excess.
Thankfully, Ivan had an excess insurance from a third party, who returned the full amount to us within 1 month. We’re glad we took it out and insurance from a third party tends to be much cheaper than what rental companies normally offer (a year’s coverage is around £30 in contrast to the £20 daily rate by the rental company).
So to save trip agro, when you rent a car, make sure you:
- Buy an excess insurance, preferably from a third party, which is much cheaper. Ivan was covered by Allianz.
- Inspect the car very thoroughly when you get it (and take photos of the vehicle particularly if you’re abroad).
All in all, despite the slight complications in the end, it was a fun, spontaneous break from London – a perfect bank holiday weekend.
