Campervan Overnight Parking

I’ve found this excellent website that lists Overnight parking sites suitable for Motorhomes and Campervans. I’ve printed the list and stored it in the glovebox for future use,

http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/index.shtml

A Night in a Car Park

Since we returned from our Scottish trip we’ve had itchy feet.

I’d been doing some research into campervan parking and found that Brecon Council were very accommodating for Motor home/campervans in all their car parks, allowing overnight stops, some free of charge.

Now considering that the Brecon Beacons are one of the most beautiful areas in Wales, the free stopover was a bonus.

It had to be done.

Saturday morning saw me loading up Puffin with food and water and off we went.

After being held up for an hour through the road works in Monmouth we finally arrived at Abergaveny.

We parked up and wandered around the town. Ruby and I stood outside various shops while the extreme knitter was inside looking at anything and everything. Passing females made a fuss of Ruby as usual.

What is it with some blokes? They will walk past and say, “is it a rat” and “my dog would eat that” and expect me to laugh at their joke as if it’s the first time I’ve heard it.

I think they must feel that they are lacking in some department and have to make a public show of their bravado by pointing out that their dog is bigger than mine or it could be that they don’t like the attention I’m getting from their ladies.

I have tried to think of a smart retort, but haven’t come up with one as yet. Perhaps if they have their children with them I could say “what an ugly kid” and ask if they produced it?

We stopped for lunch at a street cafe and had a giant sandwich and a cup of tea then made our way back to the car park.

We drove on towards Brecon, but stopped at Crickhowell to have a look around, as we hadn’t been there for sometime. The Car park there is a long stay that allows overnight stopovers in Motor homes for no charge. However you have to take into account that the car park is slightly sloping, but I imagine that it’s very quiet at night.

Onward towards Brecon.

We pulled into the Watton car park about 5.30pm. The overnight parking is free from 6.00pm until 8.00am. There are rubbish bins and toilets up by the Bus stops. But the toilets didn’t look too promising. There was a Morison’s supermarket about 100yds away that was open until 9.00pm, so food shopping and clean toilet facilities weren’t a problem. We wandered up the short distance into the town centre. Luckily for Ruby and me the only wool shop in town was closed. The pubs were getting busy with most offering a big screen showing The World Cup football matches. It did cross my mind that it may get noisy and boisterous in the early hours when the pubs shut. I didn’t mention it to the Extreme Knitter as I’m gradually getting her used to the idea of wild camping and I didn’t want to put her off.

Arriving at Watton Car park Brecon

 

Back at the car park we were one campervan amongst three motor homes in a virtually empty park. This was our first night sleeping wild in a public car park, so we were a little apprehensive especially as it was a Saturday night, but all was quiet. The car park was obviously not on the route home for the local drunks and I suppose it didn’t attract the boy racers as it was quite close to the Police station.

The Motorhome corner of Watton car park Brecon

With the daytime parking charges starting at 8.00am, I was up and paid 50 pence for an hours parking.

Although the car park was an excellent place to stay for our overnight camp, we were in the middle of a town that was surrounded by glorious countryside. Breakfast would have to be cooked and eaten somewhere scenic.

We left Brecon behind and picked up the A470, then turned on to the A4059 a road that crosses the Beacons with stunning views.

Tea Break on the A4059

I turned on to a single track lane signed for Ystradfellte, following it for a couple of miles until we reached Cwm porth car park in the Brecon Beacons National Park used by walkers and cavers to explore the caves and waterfalls that abound in this area. Unfortunately the £7 charge to park the campervan put me off, so we set off again along the lane until we came to a car parking area beside the road. Bacon baps were on the breakfast menu for today, supported by a cup of Yorkshire tea.

Fed and watered we made our way down to the “Heads of the Valley” Road (A465) and headed home.