Carry on Camping

Tried to escape London this weekend but not for long enough!

The plan was for Jess and I to meet up with friends in South Wales for a few laughs and a mini summer break, and both things did happen. There were plently of laughs and good times to be had by all and the good old British summer (the nasty Welsh variant of this phenomenon) turned up too!! (100% success!) This might have ensured that laughs were confined to tents as we hoped and prayed that we would not be either blown or washed away, but this was okay!

What wasn't planned was the 8 hour journey to Pembrokeshire... Perhaps it was sheer lunacy to attempt such a journey on the businest of all summer weekends anyway, but events here in London and accidents on the M25 caused autogeddon in the whole of South London, ensuring those of us unlucky not to have RDS or the latest sat nav systems in our otherwise futuristic hire car would spend three of those hours trapped between Bromley and Croydon...

Departing at 4.30pm and reaching Reading at 9.00pm, our surreal experience thus far only served to reaffirm our commitment reaching Wales and escape the magnet that is London (like Royston Vasey, in situations such as ours it felt that we would never leave...). By Bristol, the Percy Pigs had run out (tried to find a decent link here but couldn't - cannot believe these sweets have not yet created an emotive debate on t'in'ternet yet) but by Swansea, we had certainly picked up a pace, covering the intermediate distance in less than two hours. A

Another hour or so later, we would eventually find our goal, in the dark, only to then face the challenge of erecting a tent, also in the dark - glad Jess and I practised the weekend before, on a very sunny Sunday afternoon - this real life situation was anything but!

The next day proved equally bizzarre - after an excellent breakfast served under the morning cloud (but open air, in true camping sty-lee, with gas powered portable stoves and those multi-purpose mugs you only ever see on camp sites that whilst they hold tea, they could also serve as a dinner plate for an entire feast) we then departed dressed for scaling down a cliff path in the inclement weather, only to find by the time we got to the beach the summer had returned in all it's glory -South Wales was now more the New South Wales of Home & Away (obviously, during their Xmas episode, what with seasons being the oppossite way around to ours in the calendar in the Southern hemisphere.... gosh, now I am boring myself....)

In the evening, headed out to nearby Saundersfoot - was very busy - so busy in fact that all the pubs/restaurants were full... Except for where the locals headed, where we found some pretty fine grub. And then the rains came again, only this time for real.

Woke at 8am to the sounds of the campsite being blown away - we collectively headed back to the sunnier climes of Bristol for late brunch.... ...entertained via the means of radio by the fruity baritone of this chap on the way, playing Welsh records and seducing the women of the valleys too. Excellent stuff!

All in all, a success! Oh yes! If a little shorted than planned...