a weekend in pembrokeshire

Last weekend six of us drove to pembrokeshire for no other reason than to get away from London and be by the coast. And when I say by the coast I mean it. We stayed at the YHA Pwll Deri which is located right on the cliff edge. We arrived rather late on Friday night so the fabulous views from our windows weren't fully appreciated until Saturday morning. I'd recommend this hostel for the spectacular location and the facilities (it's all self catered which is cool) but I'd be lying if I said I had a good night's sleep there. The beds were unbelievably creaky and the 8 bed female dorm was waaaay too small for eight people. Also the sink was incredibly noisy and in the middle of the room which was a bit weird.

Accommodation niggles aside, it was a fantastic couple of days. On Saturday we embarked on a 7 and a half mile walk along the wiggly, and stunning, coastline from our hostel to Goodwick, making several little detours along the way - climbing rocks, exploring a narrow slate carved staircase that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings, attempting to skim stones on a tiny hidden pebbly beach, having a play on some random rope swings and, most importantly, seal spotting! We saw A LOT of seals but, alas, all from a distance, not that we couldn't hear them - seals are loud! It was still cool though, and the little white pups were sooooo cute :)

After 5 hours of walking (before you think we're all incredibly slow, the coastal terrain is super hilly) we were all knackered and starving so settled into a pub and stuffed out little faces with pale ale and good food. After a quick stop off at tesco for snacks and more booze, we took a cab back to the hostel - we'd originally thought about walking back, haha, silly people - then continued to chat, play games, booze into the night whilst also making friends with a couple of other hostel goers (one of whom turned out to live v.close to one of my friends in west london, it's a small world).

The next morning the boys cooked up a fabulous breakfast (with added crumpets) which we guzzled outside gazing out at that insane view. Bellies full, we packed up the cars and headed south to Freshwater West for a a day of lazy about on the beach and paddling in the sea. If you ever find yourself in the pembrokeshire I can't recommend it enough, it is one stunning place. Fun fact about Freshwater west: thanks to all the storms that happened last Christmas the beach lost - to the winds and the sea I'm guessing - tonnes of sand, exposing a lot of cool stuff long buried such as two shipwrecks and what may or may not be the remains of an ancient forest (last pic)!

As early evening started to settle in we begrudgingly dragged ourselves back to the cars to begin the long ass journey back to London. Seeing as I'm still a non-driver, I feel incredibly lucky that I have friends who can drive and are happy to go to all these places with me and Mitch in tow. There's at least one more weekend away on the cards for this year and I can't bloody wait.