Base Camp Journal - Pembrey

By some weird coincidence, Karin and Bob happened to be setting up their caravan on the pitch next to us just as Robby and I arrived at Fontygary. We met them in the club there on our previous visit. This month we planned on staying there a couple of nights before moving on to Pembrey.

It looks like Robby managed to fix the drainage valve problem just by tightening the black plastic ring next to the yellow handle, which saved us spending £60+ on a replacement.

There isn’t much about Fontygary that I haven’t mentioned before. It’s the kind of place people go for an uneventful weekend rather than exploring, though it’s on the coastal path. Mostly it’s frequented by people who own older caravans and the static homes there. It’s a nice enough place to stay, though.

I’ve never seen the place so busy. It’s always been very quiet every time I’d visited there in the past, and with only half the club open and the renovation being a work in progress 18 months ago (it was very tastefully done). This weekend there was a steady stream of vehicles entering the site, a lot of people visiting the swimming pool and some boating club showed up for a day around the beach. A cafe and deli had opened in the main building also. Neither were that impressive.

Pembrey Caravan and Motorhome Club Site

On Sunday morning we packed everything away and set off for Pembrey, which is roughly a 90 minute drive toward Camarthenshire.

Everything is uniform across almost all CMC sites we visited so far, I’ve noticed. They have the same facilities, the same power supply pillars, the same reception buildings, the same waste disposal points, and even a very similar layout. Some of the sites have their own character, though, and the one at Pembrey reminds me of the Longleat site. And as with the Longleat site, there’s only the grounds nearby and very little else in the region. It’s a good idea to stock up on things beforehand, if you’re planning on being there a few days, as the closest store I know of is the Co-Op in Burry Port.

Robby was very impressed with the place.

‘This site is beautiful. I like Caravan and Motorhome Club sites. You know what you’re going to get. The facilities here are spotless.’ He said, after returning from the shower block.

Only half the pitches were booked, and the few people staying in our section are quite sociable.

Naz Rasoi

There was an Indian takeaway and restaurant just a mile north of our position, along the main road, so we decided to order from there. The Naz Rasoi was is very different to the typical takeaway we expected to find, being a lounge heavily decorated in genuine Indian paraphernalia - tapestries, lamps, ornaments, that kind of thing, collected during the owner’s frequent visits there. The owners were really friendly, and we ended up having a couple of drinks in the lounge while we waited for the food - it takes a while to prepare because it’s not the ready-made stuff one orders from the typical takeaway.

I’ll definitely return to this restaurant the next time I’m near Pembrey.

Pembrey Country Park

The Country Park is a truly vast area, an expanse of maintained green fields and large sections of woodland. For all the walking we did, we explored only a fraction of the park, which appears to have been a munitions storage and testing facility around the time of the First World War. A few concrete pillbox shelters can be seen here and there, and, closer to the sea, the terrain had been shaped by large shell craters, and something remains of the old rail line that had been paved over.

The beach is maybe the largest I’ve visted. It’s about seven miles long, and it’s an almost imperceptible decline into the sea, with the water being very shallow for about a couple of miles while the tide is out. Even when the tide is in, the depth is only ~6ft for quite a distance. I’d imagine this beach can be very dangerous, since it’s entirely possible to wander too far out to see any landmarks when visibility is bad. Maybe it’s for this reason a number of ships had run aground along the beach. Their remains could be seen in the distance.

Burry Port

There isn’t much to say about Burry Port, aside from having a large marina and a walkway leading to the beach, from along which it’s possible to walk to Pembrey Country Park (while the tide is out). Robby wanted to get something to eat there, but we couldn’t find a single pub that served food, and it seemed all the takeaways had closed down.

Llanelli

This is a much nicer and more vibrant town than Burry Port. The last time we came here, in 2021, hardly any shops were open and the town was dead, because of the COVID-related restrictions. Now the indoor shopping centre and market are open. I bought a very nice red summer dress here.

Not far from the market is a large, very well looked after, gardens that surround a lake, and the path there leads to the beach.

Parking is very good. The road system isn’t too bad, there were plenty of parking spaces not far from the town centre, and it costed less than £2 to stay for the day.

Gin of the Month

Hensoll Blackberry: I think I’ve had this before. It has a very strong and pleasant flvour when mixed with tonic water. I was able to drink several glasses of this while at Fontygary.

Mallow’s Chocolate, Chilli and Sea Salt Gin: Had a spicy aroma, and a very faint taste of chocolate. It’s quite drinkable, but not my favourite.