A bright, sunny morning greeted us in Lower Fishguard and we were up and out early, driving to Whitesands Bay for a walk along the Pembrokeshire coastal path – Britain’s only coastal National park. Whitesands has a gorgeous Blue Flag sandy beach on the edge of the St David’s Peninsula and you could walk for hours North or South. The entrance to the car park is a bit narrow but its huge once you get in and was virtually empty when we arrived. You can’t stay overnight here, its just for daytime and costs £6 however long you stay. The beach itself has fine, white sand and a great surf, making it very popular with surfers and canoeists and busy in high season.
Plenty of room for Buzz Laika the Motorhome parked at Whitesands Bay
To walk the whole 186 mile coastal path would take almost 2 weeks so our sights were set on something just slightly shorter! We set off in a Southerly direction with a picnic and drinks planning on just going as far as we felt like, knowing we would have to take the same walk back as there is no circular option. We did find out later that there is actually a Coastal Bus Service, so you can walk one way and then get the bus back if you like.
A small part of the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast
It’s a very pretty walk through long grasses, wild flowers (weeds?) and an easy to follow narrow path. After a while we came across the RNLI St Davids Lifeboat Station with its red building standing out brightly against the blue waters. You can take trips from here out around the islands, its not just for the lifeboat. I had hoped and was relieved to find, that there were toilets in the car park nearby, always an issue when going on a country walk! There’s also a little food kiosk here selling some cool refreshments and simple food. A short while later we sat on the rocks to eat our picnic with a view over to Ramsey Island, the nature reserve.
RNLI St Davids Lifeboat Station
With only a few days of our trip left we had to start thinking about making our way home. There is so much more to see on the Pembrokeshire Coast that it was a shame not to see more but we’ve had a taste of it and now we know for ourselves how lovely it is and one day we’ll return. After completing our walk we went back to Buzz and took a look on Google for places to stop as we continued heading South and we were surprised to find a vineyard in the Pembrokeshire National Park! Not averse to a wine tasting or two we decided to take a look so drove to the Cwm Deri Vineyard in Narbeth where there’s also a small camping facility. There are 3000 vines at Cwm Deri, all planted by hand in 1990/1, with the estate producing 30,000 bottles of assorted wines each year including fruit wines and liqueurs. We bought a small tray of the full range of drinks to share for £7 and enjoyed them at the picnic table outside in the grounds.
Wine and liqueur tasting at Cwm Deri vineyard in the pembrokeshire National park
A couple of hours and a coffee later we were on our way again to Dryslwyn Castle. We’d found it online with no restrictions for parking in the woodland car park opposite so decided it would be a picturesque place to stop for the night. There were some picnic tables dotted around which we ate our dinner at and in the morning we walked up the hill to the castle to take in the wonderful views.
Dryslwyn castle with fabulous views
There are only fragments of the 13th century castle left but it’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area. There are several information boards which tell you what you’re looking at the outlook is just beautiful. We didn’t think about it at the time, but it would have been perfect to have brought up a flask of coffee to sit and enjoy while admiring the countryside.
After that we got back into Buzz and started heading East where the Brecon Beacons were beckoning ……
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