Name: Gemma Chase, ‘Happy Camper’
Website: Pitchup.com
Gone are the days of tatty tents and cold caravans! Pitchup.com is an award winning free guide to all types of camping and caravanning in the UK.
It was Cardiff’s fault.
Doing my normal charming routine of inviting myself over to whichever place any hapless friend happens to be staying in, I found myself in Wales for the first time earlier this year. There was Cardiff Castle, Llandaff Cathedral and geeking about the city pretending we were in Torchwood. And there was shopping. And bars. Many many bars…
So, partly to pay my friend back for the use of his sofa, and partly because I was ruddy well going to see more of Wales, I took us camping after Cardiff. Camping because that’s how I normally spend a holiday, and because it was immense fun watching my camping-newbie friend’s face when I told him that’s what we were doing for the weekend.
I took pity on him and booked us into a yurt at Idos Camping in Pembrokeshire, because he’s a wimp and thought camping = leaky tent in muddy field. After two nights of luxury here, with campfire cooking and soaking in a hot tub, I think he might have the camping bug. Which is just as well as I’ve decided we’re going to this year’s Narberth Food Festival too.
So, he’s got the camping bug and I’ve got the Wales bug, having whiled away countless work hours recently plotting our next campsites in Wales trips. There’s the Abergavenny Food Festival soon for one, just to get me in the mood and my jeans properly filled in time for Narbeth, with plenty of camping options nearby such as Lower Porthamel Organic Farm in the Wye Valley with its fresh-range eggs for sale, campfires allowed and a nature trail along the banks of the Llynfi to spot kingfishers and otters. (We’re already plotting borrowing a campervan and going to the nearby Wernddu Farm Golf Club next spring as well – apparently golf is interesting, or something…)
We’ve also been making noises about going to Glamorgan’s Cefn Mably Lakes over the winter for some fishing as it’s only 15 minutes from Cardiff: there are nine different coarse and carp fishing lakes here for day and night fishing, a resident fishing coach for lessons (probably needed) and a lodge selling tackle and dishing up hot food. My friend did pale somewhat when I mentioned ‘winter camping’, but brightened up when he saw it was in camping pods, with a few on the edge of the lake too. Sorted.
For scenery – because there has to be scenery as well as the fish, pubs and wildlife spotting, a trip to Cardigan Caravan and Camping Site in Ceredigion is also on the cards for farm camping and views over Cardigan Bay and the Preseli mountains: we’ll spend some time in Cardigan at Cardigan Castle and the Guildhall market, but mainly want to go for birdwatching and dolphin-spotting in Cardigan Bay. And well, beaches.
The last trip we’ve planned – so far anyway; there may be sickies – is to Penisar Mynydd Caravan Park in Denbighshire, where we think we’ll pitch a tent with views of the Clywdian hills, trip over for the day to Rhyl, Llandudno and Colwyn Bay, and walk Offa’s Dyke and a few trails in Snowdonia National Park. Or most of these anyway. As I say, there may be sickies….
Find out more about Camping & Glamping in Wales
