A Round up of our Motorhome Wander in South Wales

As the conveyancing for our house sale progressed at the speed of a sloth, we’d done enough staring at the walls so we jumped into Zagan, our motorhome, to spend a while exploring South Wales. We’ve spent so many years exploring Europe in our motorhome, that we have somewhat neglected our own shores, saying we were leaving them for when we’re too old to travel too far. We’re not quite that old – yet. We both turn 50 this year, with Jay reaching his half century later this month, but we still feel like we’re in our 20s. If we hadn’t retired at 43, we’d still have another 17 years until retirement. That just blows my mind.

After nipping out a couple of days before to fill up Zagan with LPG and diesel (the first time it has ever been over £100 to fill his tank), we stayed close to home for our first couple of nights as we wanted to check everything was working after having mice in the van over the winter. It turned out that while pretty much everything else had survived our unexpected guests, our fridge was playing up and not able to stay lit on gas, so we decided to book places where we knew hook-up would be available if we needed it. Yes, that’s right, book places. That’s not our usual method of motorhome touring, but having realised we’d set off just before a bank holiday weekend we hit the internet scouring searchforsites and park4night to do some planning.

Our first stop was at Measham House Farm, a small five van site just half an hour down the road from home and near the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. We just love the feeling of being back in Zagan. When we’re at home there is always a feeling that we should be doing something. Perhaps it’s a touch of guilt because all of our peers are at work, or perhaps it’s because we don’t want to waste this amazing opportunity we have given ourselves? Either way, that all melts away when we’re in our motorhome. I guess that’s because just by being in it, we are doing something.

We headed south west for a couple of nights parked up on ‘astroturf’ at a quirky motorhome stop hidden behind an industrial estate at Lydney. We picked the place because it was the bank holiday weekend, meaning more touristy spots were fully booked. However, we soon discovered that there was plenty to see and do in the area, with steam trains departing just up the road and a marina with lots of history just a mile along the canal we were parked next to.

With the bank holiday weekend over, we headed to the main destination of our trip – The Gower. We’d heard about how beautiful this area of Wales was years ago, but we’d never visited, so this trip was the time to sort that. We treated ourselves by booking a pitch on one of the top campsites in the area, Nicholaston Farm Campsite for four nights. Yes, our motorhome touring mindset seems to have changed.

When we first set off on our tours back in 2011, we would stay in as many free places as possible, if not free then cheap, and often only stay for a night at the most. Our days were basically – arrive; look around; write about it; sleep; move on. It’s was fantastic way to see a lot of places, but we were a bit like a stone skipping over the water, never really submerging ourselves into anywhere enough to see it properly, and could also be tiring. Over the last few years we’ve tried to stop at least a couple of nights in each place, this trip we wanted to relax, so we’d book in for two nights and extend it if we liked the place.

The Gower is as beautiful as we had been told, long stretches of sandy beaches with hardly anyone on them, reminding us of our tour around Norway. The campsite was ideally placed for walking down to the beach (although it was a bit of a slog back up the hill) and along the coastal path which ran past the bottom of the field we were parked on. However there wasn’t much else around without driving, so after four days we were ready to move on.

We squeezed our way a few miles across the peninsular roads to a campsite that our friend had recommended, parking up on a massive pitch at the virtually empty Hill End Campsite on a Friday afternoon. By the following morning a steady convoy of small campers and tents had filled up the pitches around us, with many more parked up for the day by the beach. The surf was up and in places the sea was like human soup, but there were still massive stretches of sand with no one on it. The fridge had started to behave itself, so we braved a non-electric pitch (although there were spaces in the family field if we needed to hook-up) and at £35 a night, it was our most expensive site on the trip.

After four nights at Hill End, and with the weather forecast to rain for the next couple of days we made our way off The Gower and headed west into Pembrokeshire. We spotted diesel for sale at £1.98/l, which did get us wondering how much this little trip was going to cost us compared to our usual jaunts overseas? There are so many free places where motorhomes are welcomed to stay on the continent, and while there are free places in the UK, we don’t always feel welcome. So, we tend to head for campsites, CL/CSs (small five van sites), temporary holiday sites or pub stops.

Realising that we may be stuck in the van for a couple of days while the weather passed, we found a low cost CS (Camping and Caravan Club Certified Site) not far from Tenby. Evening Star Farm CS was just off a main road with regular buses to Tenby, and at only £14 a night with hook-up (which now seemed cheap!) we booked in for a couple of nights. It turned that the weather forecast was wrong and the rain passed during the night, giving us time to visit both Saundersfoot and Tenby.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know we like to run. After a couple of nights near Tenby, our next move was to Haverfordwest to take part in the local free 5k Parkrun at 9am on the Saturday morning. On the way to Haverfordwest we took a slight detour to St Govan’s to see the tiny chapel wedged into the cliffs, and to walk another part of the coastal path which traces the entire Welsh coastline. Little did we know that the army were undertaking exercises nearby, so our visit was accompanied by live gunfire! In Haverfordwest we stayed at another Certified Site at Palmerston House, which was less than a mile from the start of the run – perfect for a warm up jog.

After a stock up in the Tesco at Haverfordwest (the only town in the area with big supermarkets, that have big car parks, which don’t mind motorhomes) we headed for the UK’s smallest City – Saint Davids. We arrived at Caerfai Bay campsite to find it very busy, partly because it was Saturday night but also because the ‘Tour of Pembrokeshire’ bicycle race was taking place, with many riders staying on the campsite. The site was just a kilometre along the coastal path from the birth place of St David himself. Our pitch looked out across the sea and being less than a mile from St Davids with its beautiful Cathedral, shops and restaurants and a great visitors centre it was a perfect spot and we could have easily stayed longer.

With the clock starting to tick for us to return home, we moved on to a campsite near Fishguard. Normally we like to park up Zagan at the place we are staying for the night and explore from there. With places being close together and campsite rules stating you must be off your pitch by a certain time and check-in usually not until a few hours later, we found ourselves with several hours to kill before we could get into our next site. Fishguard being the place where ferries depart for Ireland, we knew there would be a parking area near the port for motorhomes and lorries to stay before an early crossing or after arriving late, and there was. We parked up with several other vans in Goodwick and while they made their way into the ferry queue, we walked the coastal path and explored Fishguard. It was a good job we did as Fishguard Bay Resort was a few kilometres away from the town, and would have been a bit much to walk both ways and explore the town.

Our next stop was the small town of Aberaeron, where we found a great campsite just a short stroll from the harbour and town centre. We were booked in for a couple of nights, but liked it so much that we ended up staying until almost the end of our trip.

Finally it was time to head home, but knowing that the drive across mid-Wales wouldn’t be an easy motorway run, we picked an overnight stop near Ironbridge to break up the journey home. The Half Moon Inn pub allows motorhomes to stop in its (sloping) car park. You pay £15 to stay, but when you do, you get a voucher worth £15 off food or drink at the bar – winner, winner. With the sky filled with black clouds, we set off for the mile walk along the gorge to Ironbridge, to see the bridge (guess what it’s made of) as well as a look around the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in England. All too soon, the rain arrived, and we made our way back to Zagan before nipping across the car park for a slap up dinner to mark the end of our trip.

We were away for a total of 26 nights, stopping in 10 different places. The cheapest stop was the Evening Star CS near Tenby at £14 night including hook-up. The most expensive Hill End Campsite on the Gower at £35 without electric, however at the Half Moon Inn pub stop we spent just under £40 for our evening meal and drinks – so technically that could be classed at the most expensive. In total we spent just over £660 on overnight stops (including that meal).

We drove 943 kilometres which cost us just over £250 in fuel (oh how we wish fuel was still €1 a litre like it was in Spain a couple of years ago!). Add to that costs for eating out (£175 – we have a few nice meals out, some ice creams etc), supermarket food (£260), buses around Tenby (£12) and laundry (£5) in all we spent just over £1350 on the trip. Around £52 a night.

Back in 2017 we did a review of how much it cost to tour Europe for a year in our motorhome – the result was £47 a day – but this included things like MOT, insurance, depreciation costs etc, which are missing from this trip round up. Back then the average cost for a night stop was £5, this trip it was over £25. We knew we were busting the budget on this trip, staying in expensive campsites, but as it was only for a short time – yes a holiday – we didn’t mind and made the most of it.

As for the house sale? We got an email from our solicitor as we drove home to say they needed another piece of paperwork signing, and it had to be pen on physical paper then put in the post, and because it has taken so long, our proof of address (which had to be within the last 3 months) was now out of date, so we had to submit new ones. It continues, but it is getting very close now.

Ju x