Friday
Friday 13th – unlucky for some! We, on the other hand are lucky enough to have the day off work. Yay!!
Travel in Wales is now unrestricted having just come out of our Firebreak lockdown on Monday. So, we are off to Pembrokeshire. To be exact, we are away for two nights to Woody Kiln Farm, Herbrandston, Nr Sandy Haven. Home – Woody Kiln Farm
After the last three, expensive, weeks we are really looking forward to getting back in Lulu and getting out of here. The C-Max was back from the garage and we were £1300 lighter in the wallet area so we are intent, this weekend, in not spending a lot at all!
Kev’s dropped off at the barbers in Llandeilo at 9.00, while I nip into the Co-Op for some weekend provisions. We’re both home, showered, breakfasted, with Lulu packed and watered by 11.00.
We hit the road by 11.30 and pulling onto Woody Kiln Farm literally an hour later. Driving through into the farm yard we pull up in front of what we thought was the reception area, this turned out to be a spa / beauty salon. Kev hears someone shouting at him and spots Dean, the owner, hanging out of an upstairs window of the farmhouse. We could choose where we wanted to pitch out of the remaining four pitches. He would catch up with us later.
All of the pitches are ‘super’ pitches with waste, water, electricity, TV. There is also free WiFi available. We decide to reverse onto Pitch 1. This faces straight down the farmland and out to the coast beyond. Kev figured that if the wind picked up as predicted, it would be better to have Lulu facing into it. We had to pull forward and drive onto our levelling ramps as there was a slight slope to the pitch. Kev has a new toy instead of the usual spirit level!
Pitch Perfect LED Level for Levelling Caravans, Motorhomes, Campervans, Trailers | eBay Boys and their toys!!
We pitch up, drink tea and munch cake (of course!) then slip Marley on his lead and set out for a walk around the village of Herbrandston before the rains come in.
Herbrandston is a beautiful but sleepy little village. It’s 397 inhabitants enjoy a church, a village green, a sports and social club, a pub (closed) and a post office / general store (closed). There are also signs all over the village announcing the fact that it is a ‘doubly thankful’ village and neither of us had any idea what this referred to and thought that maybe it was a bit of self-promotion.
After a couple of hours we’re back at Lulu just as the rain starts. We batten down the hatches’ as Marley sleeps off his exercise, have some falling over water, and eat dinner. A quick Google search showed how ignorant / insensitive / forgetful we had been earlier…
In 1936 author Arthur Mee wrote that a Thankful Village was one that had not lost a single serviceman in The Great War of 1914 – 18. There were 53 such villages in the UK. A ‘Doubly Thankful’ village is one of the 53 that also did not lose any service personnel during WW2, 1939-45. There were only 14 of these ‘Doubly Thankful’ villages in the UK. Herbrandston is one of them.
While we’re eating dinner and it’s lashing down outside, another motorhome pulls onto site. It’s a beast of a thing – well it was compared to Lulu. Then the wind starts, and it continues, and continues, and continues!
Marleys pre-bed pee run is a wet, windy and squelchy underfoot affair for Kev while I make up the beds. As soon as Marley’s back in the van he does the doggie shake so the inside of Lulu is as wet as the outside!!
Saturday
Saturday morning dawns early – with pee runs for Marley and I at 04.30 and for Marley and Kev at 07.00. When Kev gets up, I slip seamlessly into his bed and pinch an extra hour. When they return, Kev puts the kettle on. I’m out of bed around 08.30 and on breakfast duty almost straight away. A couple of bacon rolls and more coffee inside us and we are ready to face the day. Kev checks the weather – it don’t look good!!
We really want to get a walk in today but looking at the forecast of torrential rain and 60mph winds from 14.00, we really need to get a wiggle on! We aim to get the mile or so to Sandy Haven beach. At the beach, when the tide is out, there is an exposed causeway across to the other side of the estuary. Crossing over would enable us to do an eight mile loop arriving back at Woody Kiln Farm.
Boots and coats on, we leash Marley up and set off for the mile or so walk, through Herbrandston. We get as far as the village church when we realise that neither of us has any poo bags so I leave Kev and Marley to look around the graveyard and I hotfoot it back to Lulu to replenish our supplies of said bags.
Apparently Kev got a little fed up of dragging Marley off graves in the churchyard, as Marley had made it his morning mission to liberally water everyones final resting places.
Rejoining my heroes, the easy walk takes us past the village sports and social club and along a couple of really quiet country lanes, downhill to the beach.
This is only Marleys 2nd ever visit to a beach. Previously, he had only ever been to Llangrannog and didn’t really like it much. This time, he loves it! Smells to sniff, water to drink (and add to!), sand to run on, birds to chase – well every dog can dream!
On our way down to Sandy Haven the wind had picked up to its forecast 50 – 55mph gusts and the skies were darkening (as can be seen below).
We decide not to risk the extra seven miles circular walk and spend another hour on the beach and let Marley off his lead. Being arthritic now – he is much easier to catch. We collect armfuls of rubbish and detritus from the sands and, as we make our way back up the slipway to the local bins, the rain starts.
We slowly (Marley is nearly 16 now) make our way back to Lulu for a late lunch of tomato and mascarpone soup. By the time we get back, we’re slightly moist to say the least.
The wind and the rain are the main themes for the rest of the afternoon, evening and night. So we hunker down, get the blankets out and the heater on and eventually dry off. Just in time for Marley to need to go for another pee! If we could have just hung him out of the window, we would have! We find a movie on Netflix to watch, take Marley out during a lull in the rain, and then we are in bed by 10.30 – how very rock ‘n’ roll.
Lying in bed, the van was the only thing rocking & rolling……………! It’s blowing a bloody hoolie outside. Kev is totally unable to sleep through the storm so reads until he can read no longer and then drifts off.
Sunday
Marley, absolutely knackered from his exertions on the beach, sleeps through to 06.30 and Kev takes him out for a walk. The wind’s still howling and Marley’s almost like a kite and also peeing sideways, but at least the rain’s stopped. A quick walk around the site reveals that there were only three vans on site. There had been four when Kev took Marley out last night. It seems that our neighbours in the large motorhome had left really early, or in the middle of the night. We were parked with Lulu facing into the wind and last night was bad, but they were parked up side on – it must have been horrendous all night.
We decide not to dawdle this morning. We only have about 50 minutes to drive and could be home by midday. So we dry things off, empty our wastes, pack up and leave Woody Kiln Farm. A lovely site deserving of their many C&MC awards and one that next year, god willing, we will definitely be returning to – albeit with less wind please!
Kev, Mags & Marley