Weekend in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Published on 1 July 2024 at 06:57

We spent the weekend on a Glampsite in Lydstep in Pembrokeshire. This was about 15 minutes from Tenby.

This was a very quick weekend arriving late on Friday night (after a day at work) and heading home early Sunday afternoon. 

Although it was a short stay we managed to cram in a few walks, trips to a couple of beaches and even some gluten-free chips.

 

 

Day 1 (Friday evening)

We arrived at Headland Escape glampsite in the evening after a bit of traffic on the motorway.

 

Once we arrived we walked down to our Shepherds Hut for the obligatory photos before filling it up with all our luggage. Flossie had about as much luggage as we did combined!

 

Thankfully to get the luggage to the Shepherds Hut in one trip the glampsite provided a trolly. This made life so much easier as we're used to making a few trips whilst trying to keep an eye on Flossie.

Knowing that it is often difficult to find restaurants which are coeliac, vegetarian and dog friendly, we often 'meal prep' in advance and bring the food with us to cook during our stays. Although the utensils/facilities here were limited (to be expected for such a small place), there was enough to ensure that we didn't go hungry, including 3 gas hobs, small oven, kettle and a toaster.

We ate our first meal sat at the small table and chairs inside the Shepherds hut, underneath which Flossie would later make her bed. With the sun slowly setting we decided to take Flossie for a small walk down to Lydstep beach.

It was around a 10 minute walk mostly downhill to Lydstep beach, heading through the Holiday Park to get to the steps down to the beach. 

Lydstep beach is a beautiful pebble beach that spans about 800 meters. 

The right-hand-side of the beach (nearest Lydstep point) is dog friendly all year around.

We spent about a hour walking along the beach and letting Flossie play in the sea. Beware there will likely be other dogs on the beach and most likely off lead. 

Flossie was so eager to play in the water. 

Having walked from the first set of steps to the boat ramp we headed back up. There were some stunning views over the cliffs as the sun set behind us. 

We walked back across the Holiday Park looking at all the yachts and jet skis. We then headed back up the hill returning to the Glampsite.

Back at the Airbnb we settled in for some well deserved sleep ready for Day 2 and our first full day of adventures.

Day 2 (Saturday)

On Saturday morning we got up at 6am in order to have a quick breakfast and beat the crowds to our first adventure of the day.

After a half hour drive (some of which down a small lane) to the car park we headed straight to Saint Govan's Chapel. To access this, we had to go down 52 slightly uneven stone steps and then duck slightly to get into the Chapel.

After exploring the inside of the chapel, we went through a second doorway to be greeted by a stunning view out over rocks and sea. There were plenty of places to take photos, although this was easier said than done as Flossie was desperate to go and play in the sea,

Unfortunately it was a bit too much of a scramble to take Flossie down to the sea, but this would absolutely be do-able without a dog or children in tow.

 

Having spent quite some time at the Chapel we headed to the start of our walk. 

Starting at Saint Govan's Head we completed a there-and-back walk to The Green Bridge of Wales. Please note, this involves walking through a firing range which will be closed to the public when the military are on training. You can find the firing times here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/castlemartin-firing-notice--2

There were many things to see along the way -  Huntsman's leap, The Cauldron and Elegug Stacks, as well as a couple of points to access the beach such as Bullslaughter Bay.

There is a platform to aid viewing of The Green Bridge of Wales. We spent some time there taking photos and watching the birds fly and swim. We then retraced our steps back to the car park.

 

 

Once back at the car we drove back up the small lanes for a second walk of the day, this time just a short walk around the outside of Carew Castle.

We didn't go into the castle even though it is dog friendly. 

Our walk took us down the road over Carew River, looping back around before crossing another bridge to reach Carew Tidal Mill. We had views of the castle from pretty much every angle!

Behind the mill was an easy place to access the river and allow Flossie a quick Doggie Dip.

From the Mill you can head straight back to the car. Making this about a 20 minute walk.

We extended the walk by heading up the road and through some fields, eventually reaching a couple of main roads to cross. Personally we wouldn't recommend this route, as the roads were very fast and hard to cross (luckily a kind driver waved us across).

 

 

Getting back to the car we decided that we really fancied some gluten-free chips. Luckily D.Fecci and Sons just 15 minutes away in Tenby. This fish and chip shop isn't 100% gluten-free, but they cater very well to coeliacs. 

We parked in Tenby Multi-Storey Pay and Display car park, sending Meg to fetch the chips and Ady to fetch some White Magnums (although sadly Ady had no luck! ☹)

It was just a 10 minute drive back to the Airbnb and we sat outside on the picnic bench to enjoy our chips. 

After finishing our chips, we started preparing the wood-fired hot tub. It was empty, so required filling with water (using the hosepipe), before we could start heating it.

It took around 30 minutes to fill with water and then around 2 hours to heat up. We accidentally added a bit too much wood to the burner - This made the temperature about 45 degrees (around 37 is the perfect temperature! 🥵) so we  then had to add some cold water to make it more comfortable.

We then enjoyed a couple of hours sat in the hot tub drinking the complementary prosecco, before bed. 

Day 3 (Sunday morning)

Day 3 started with another early start, packing up and checking out of the Airbnb before heading off on our next adventure.

Our adventure for the day started at Whitesands car park. This was about a hours drive from Headland Escape.

We arrived at around 8:30am, at which point the car park and beach were almost empty.

Unfortunately this beach wasn't dog friendly, but luckily the coastal path went straight from the middle of the car park.

Setting off on our walk we were treated to fantastic views over the sea immediately and the views just got better and better.

It wasn't long until we found Porthmelgan Beach, a dog friendly beach where Flossie was able to go and play in the sea.

We then continued on our walk which took us to the cliff edge where we lost our path on AllTrails. It was very windy there making it hard to communicate, but it didn't take us long to get back on track.

We headed across the marshland with some more great views and even saw some wild horses.

The walk took us up Carn Llidi, but unfortunately we couldn't get quite to the peak as it involved a bit of scrambling, which we didn't feel was safe for Flossie.

But the views from where we got to were still amazing. Having stopped for a few windy photos and a water break we headed back down towards the car park.

The final walk back towards the car was the single track lane used by cars to access the car park. This took us a little longer than it should have, because we had to keep getting into the verge to let cars pass by.

Once back at the car park we saw how lucky we were with getting there early, as it was significantly busier than when we had arrived.

This was our last adventure before driving home.

The whole weekend was a great recharge and a lovely location for a short break away. 

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