Pembrokeshire One Man and His Campervan

The final leg of my 2500-mile trek around the UK takes me

to Pembrokeshire, and the beautiful Welsh coast.

I get the whole family involved for the final stretch.

-That's the way we like it, isn't it?

-Yes.

Burgers and home-made campervan chutney.

That's massive!

I reveal how to make the best cordial out of foraged flowers.

But just five miles from the finish line, I face my biggest disaster yet.

What do you reckon?

Truck. Have to be on a truck.

Today, I continue my campervan adventure in Wales.

I'm heading west, to the amazing Atlantic coast,

and the beautiful county of Pembrokeshire.

I made it to Pembrokeshire, the last leg of my journey,

and I am really, really excited, because tomorrow,

I'm going to be joined by my wife, and the kids!

And what better place to celebrate the end of my journey with them

than the beautiful western tip of Wales, and the Pembrokeshire National Park,

which covers 258 miles of gorgeous coastline?

And as my family tend to be my harshest critics,

the pressure was on to make my last meal on the road my best yet.

So I hurried off to seek out some local produce.

I don't know this area very well, so I don't know what's in season.

I'm going to meet a local forager, Julia, who is going to show me

where everything is.

As always, having an expert on hand was key to both safe and legal foraging.

'Julia runs a farm shop in the village of Wolfcastle

'and has also set up a local annual food festival. I couldn't have been in safer hands!'

I want to make a cordial for my kids,

they're coming to meet me tomorrow,

and I wanted to make them something really special

because they love going out in the woods,

and they would love something like an elderflower cordial.

You are out of luck.

Elderflower is all over, now it's turning into berries.

You've missed it by days, almost.

-And we're too early for berries?

-Too early, so you can't do that.

But you could use meadowsweet which is similar.

It makes cordial very similar to elderflower.

You can use the same ingredients. The other ingredients are the same.

So you could take me out, show me where to find it,

what it looks like, and show me how to make it?

So you don't make a mistake!

So elderflowers were off the menu,

but meadowsweet flower sounded intriguing

and I was glad I had Julia to help me spot them.

But before we could even get going, we hit a problem.

Oh.

'Looks like the dodgy gearbox had struck again.'

It's a bit temperamental, this gearbox.

I drive a clapped-out Land Rover so I'm used to stuff like that.

Oh, dear me.

There you go. Success at last!

Meadowsweet is a wild flower that grows in damp meadows

and flowers between June and early September.

It is also known as "Queen of the Meadow",

"meadsweet" and even the rather unappetising "bridewort".

This looks like some here. Just stay on the right.

Let's go and have a look.

This has all been cut. This is all meadowsweet.

It has been trimmed, and these are just bits that have got missed.

So it is not a very bright...

What do we take, just the flower?

You can keep the whole thing, but you would only use the white bit.

-There is a bit more here, but no way near enough.

-Take what we can.

This was not a good start.

All the meadowsweet in Julie's usual spot had been cleared

by the hedge trimmers.

-'My cordial plans might have been squashed.'

-Shame!

So having to abandon my plans for elderflower cordial,

meadowsweet might be off the menu as well.

Down here on the left is a place where there should be

quite a bit of meadowsweet, I think.

The meadow near the river, here.

OK, so I should pull over?

Pull over there.

With time running out, there was one last place to look.

Little bits just there.

Wow!

That's much better.

This is more like it.

Makes those other bits look a bit manky!

Fantastic.

They look great, don't they?

They smell gorgeous.

It's just very gentle and fragrant.

It smells baby powderish.

That powdery, sweet smell.

How much of this are we going to need to make a cordial?

That full, I guess.

So you're talking about taking just the heads off.

So we're going to need quite a bit.

Of course, you can't just pick any wild flowers.

So Julia made sure we got permission,

which is the number one rule for foraging.

It is kind of nice and therapeutic, isn't it?

It is, I think that's the whole thing about foraging,

it's therapeutic, you can think about other things as you go along.

'I know what I was thinking about!

'Where to get the meat for the burgers I was planning to cook to go with the cordial.

'But enough daydreaming. Back to the meadowsweet.

'And after a fair bit of foraging, my bowl was looking full.

'Time to head back.'

Right, then, Julia.

-That looks like a fantastic crop. I can see a few bugs.

-They're coming to the surface now.

That's fine.

Just let them crawl up the side and you can flick them off!

-But it is a good haul, considering.

-We thought we were going to be a bit lost!

What do I now do with this?

Water, sugar, citric acid, that's it, really.

It's just an hour soaking, and you sieve it,

boil it up again, put the sugar in.

You can't go wrong!

It looks wonderful.

It smells great.

And this will be the perfect accompaniment for my burgers,

which I'm looking forward to making.

-When are you making those?

-Tomorrow.

Have you got beef yet?

I was hoping to pick some up.

You've got some?!

We have got some from the farmer, Dai Morgan,

-who lives opposite, you couldn't get any closer.

-Great!

So local, fresh beef?

Black beef.

Great stuff.

So after a wobbly start,

things were starting to look up.

I left Julia's with more than I bargained for.

Meadowsweet and local beef for tomorrow's burger feast.

Well, I thought I was going to be making elderflower cordial,

which is great, but I'm going to end up making meadowsweet cordial.

Which could be even better!

I love the fact that when you spend time with people who understand the country,

and know what's in season, and also what you can cook with it,

because it always throws up unexpected surprises.

Time to head to my campsite to get this meadowsweet on the brew.

From the look of it,

a family day at the beach was definitely on the cards tomorrow.

And the surfer in me was liking the look of those waves.

This would do nicely.

An amazing camping spot, overlooking the incredible bay.

There you go, what d'you think of that?

Pretty good, I would say!

With my campsite penthouse sorted, it was time to set up shop,

and make a start on the cordial. After getting rid of as many stalks and bugs as I could,

it was into the pot, with just enough water for a good soaking.

I brought it up to the boil, adding the zest of a couple of lemons

and then the juice.

There was still sugar to be added, but first,

I needed to leave it to cool and infuse.

The perfect opportunity to have a bit of an explore.

So whilst my meadowsweet cordial ferments or brews,

or whatever it needs to do to get that magic thing happening,

I'm going to wander round.

I'd spotted a shop on my way into the campsite selling local cheese.

It sounded like just the thing to go on the burgers I was planning for tomorrow.

This looks interesting.

-Hello, how are you?

-Good, thank you. How are you?

-All right.

-I was just passing. I thought I'd pop in. Is this made here?

-It is.

-It is? Oh, wow!

-"Organically produced on our farm."

-It is, yeah.

And so this cheese has probably travelled how far, a couple of hundred yards in its life?

-Yes. From the cows a field away.

-That's great.

My eyes were soon drawn to a large chunk of cheese.

This is the Cheddar. Mature Cheddar. Eight months.

-Yes.

-OK, I love Cheddar, so...

-OK.

Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

It should have a bit of a tang.

Does it? That's what I'm aiming for, anyway.

That's given me an idea.

I'll take a big chunk of that, please.

There you go. What a stroke of luck.

I've got myself some mature, organic Welsh Cheddar.

That gives me an idea for the quintessential Welsh snack.

With this lovely local cheese, I've decided to whip up a Welsh rarebit for my tea tonight.

Well, I was in Wales after all.

It's quick and simple, which would give me time

to put the finishing touches to my cordial.

Right, it's time to strain the meadowsweet.

I've never done this before, so I really hope it works.

I don't carry a muslin in my camper,

but hopefully this tea towel would do the trick.

You know what? I can remember my granny doing this.

She'd be very proud of me now

because I have at least I remembered some of the basic principles.

Now I just needed to put it back on the hob and add the sugar.

Look out for some hyper kids tomorrow.

The final ingredient was a dash of citric acid from Julia's shop.

And leave it to cool overnight.

As I had never used meadowsweet before,

it would be an agonising wait until the morning to see if my experiment had been a success.

Luckily, my dinner tonight was going

to be something I'm altogether more familiar with.

Welsh rarebit is incredibly simple to make.

First off I mixed up the mustard powder,

water and a spoon or two of butter.

A pinch of...salt.

Next thing, a good dash of Worcester sauce.

With a pinch of cayenne for a little kick,

it was time for the star of the meal.

Some local Cheddar cheese.

Made from local milk, produced by local cows.

Made by local people. And very fine it is, too.

So, whilst you might want to save space by bringing your handy little grater,

there are times when you wish you'd packed the big one as well.

Especially when you're grating six ounces of the finest, organic Welsh Cheddar.

Next and most important part of this recipe, varies from recipe to recipe.

The one I'm going for, naturally, is the one with Welsh ale.

This is a particularly fine light ale from the Gwaun Valley.

Two tablespoons of that.

In they go.

Which is just as well, because there's some left.

With the cheese done and the bread cut for my toast,

I thought I was just about ready.

So that's pretty much it, really. It's a really easy recipe.

If you are going to do cheese on toast

and you do happen to find yourself in Wales

with some really fine Welsh cheese and some great Welsh beer, do it properly.

Once my cheesy topping was spread on, I whacked it under the grill.

I was treated to one of the finest sights a hungry campervan-er can see - oh, look at that!

A final twist of pepper and it was all done.

Welsh rarebit a la campervan.

HE SIGHS

Do you know what? It's quite nice to have a bit of peace and quiet because tomorrow...

when the kids arrive, it's going to be a whole different scene.

But, for now, I was quite happy just to sit back and admire the view.

Ah! I've had worse days!

'Coming up, my campervan adventure is coming to an end...'

How do you doing?

'..but not before my family arrive to lend a hand.'

Get your hands in there and mix it all up.

But could it be the end of the road sooner than I thought?

With my family due to arrive any time,

I needed to test my home-made meadowsweet cordial and get it bottled up.

Right, well, I'll give this a go. It's been...chilling.

HE SNIFFS

Smells absolutely lovely. Tastes...

It's nice. It tastes of meadowsweet, that's for sure.

A little bit of lemon. It's quite tangy.

It's also...very sweet, so I think we might have to dilute it.

But...so not disappointing, which is excellent.

That was the first success of the day, which I was hoping would be a great finale to this trip.

Time to kick back and wait for the chaos to arrive.

Oh, look.

Hello.

Hello!

Are you all right?

'It had been an exciting and eventful journey,

'but nothing makes me quite as happy as seeing my girls again.'

Nice to see you.

Are we going to go and play on the beach today? Yeah?

What do you want to do on the beach today?

-Make sandcastles.

-'A day at the beach sounded like a plan to me.'

The girls were desperate to splash about in the clear-blue sea.

Wetsuits and boogie boards and toys all have to come too.

Right.

Don't let go.

'And after a little help with the roof...'

That's it, well done.

'We're on our way.'

How far away is this beach? Martin?

It's only about five miles away.

It's not far.

On the way, Daddy, I saw a castle and it had pointy bits on it.

Did you?

It's excellent having a van for a family, isn't it, Maggie?

Except it's a bit fuller because you've brought all your boogie boards and your wetsuits

and your towels and all your clothes and all your kites and buckets and spades.

-But that's the way we like it, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I couldn't believe that I was finally coming to the end of my 2,500 mile trek around the UK.

I'd put my van through some serious punishment.

We've got some of the steepest hills I've been up in a while.

We have a cow-in-the-road situation.

Yeah, it's a bit bumpy. We're getting there!

Come on! Come on!

And whilst it might have grumbled...

GRINDING AND CLUNKING

'It never let me down.'

Come on, my friend.

Until now.

-Hello.

-It's because the family have arrived.

It's because the family have arrived, obviously.

We appear to have a problem with the clutch.

The gears, which have been getting stickier throughout the journey,

it's been getting more and more difficult to get it into gear,

and just now I think the clutch cable has broken,

which rather puts paid to our day on the beach.

-But we'll see what we can do, shall we?

-Mm-hmm.

'I was at a bit of a loss.

'It looked like the victory lap in the van had turned into an absolute disaster.'

I don't really know what I'm looking for.

But this is what you have to do when you've got a broken van.

I really didn't want to let the family down so it was time to call in the reinforcements.

The thing is, I've got a camper, an old '79 camper, that I think the clutch cable has gone.

Basically, the clutch... Big bang and the clutch is now doing nothing.

It's been getting difficult over the last few weeks.

To be honest,

we've broken down a few times, not necessarily in this van, in other vans in the past.

So we're kind of used to it.

So nothing left to do, but in true British spirit make camp and wait to be rescued.

My only hope was that there would be a quick fix for the van, and so it wouldn't be the end of the road.

What are you actually planning to do?

I'm sort of on the last leg of a tour round Britain,

and I just kind of either need to get it fixed or get it to a garage or get it home or whatever, really.

-If you go on the pedal again for me...

-Yeah, sure.

OK, and now?

CLUNKING

This didn't sound good.

I wonder what the verdict's going to be.

I have a feeling I know.

I'm coming out.

As I'd suspected, it wasn't good news.

I don't hold much hope for it, really.

If I got it back to the campsite, everybody's out of the way, then, safe.

Then I'll have a look at it there.

If that's all right with you, that's cool with me.

What do you reckon, Maggie?

2,500 miles I did, Maggie. 2,500 miles.

All the way up to Scotland,

all the way to Norfolk and to Yorkshire and the Lake District

and then down to Pembrokeshire, and on the last day what happens?

'But it had been an amazing trip.

'I'd cooked freshly picked mussels on the beach...'

The dam is breached, the dinner is ready.

'..fished for lobster in Northumberland...' That's our prize.

'..and mackerel in the Atlantic.'

Wow, what's that?

'I'd gone deer stalking in the Trossachs, scaled the Lakeland peaks...' Wow!

Hey, look at that. That's stunning.

'..got up close and personal with an amorous goat...' Hello!

'..foraged for wild mushrooms...' That's an absolute cracker.

But above all, I'd made some amazing food

with only my trusty van and the help of a few knowledgeable friends.

It doesn't get much better, does it? So what do you think, Roger?

Does it taste better when you catch it yourself?

Catch it, cook it and eat it. Absolutely.

Oh, it's lovely.

It's amazing what you can do in a campervan.

A great finish to a great day, I'd say.

This has been a really great start

to what I hope is going to be a great journey,

all made possible by my friend over there, the campervan.

Unfortunately, back at the campsite,

after a quick once over, my fears were confirmed.

-What do you reckon?

-Truck.

Have to be on a truck.

-What's that, the clutch has gone?

-Clutch has gone totally, yeah, it's burned out.

Anyway. It's fine, it's fine.

Thanks for your help.

-No problem.

-I'm sorry that you had to be the bringer of terrible news. But you know...

I may have been down but I wasn't out.

I was determined to cook one last meal on this trip before we called it a day.

But first I'd promised the kids a day at the beach,

so it was a hike down to the small bay below, leaving Gordy behind.

Well, I'm sure Martin is feeling a bit miffed about the whole thing,

but that's what happens when you've got an old campervan.

So I'm glad I've bought my car, so we have a way of getting home.

All we can do now is have fun, really.

You know what,

nothing is going to get me down.

A day on the beach can cure almost anything.

The fact is that the van...

has brought me here. It might be going home on the back of a truck,

but never mind.

We're still going to have fun.

Still going to have rubbish sandcastles.

And we're still going to have our campervan burgers.

After fun and frolics on the beach, time to get back to the van and rustle up my last campervan meal.

So, despite fate's best efforts to ruin the party,

it's still going to go ahead. The show must go on.

In all the time I'd been on my campervan adventure around the UK,

there was one thing that I'd yet to make, a campervan must do -

a really good home-made burger.

This would definitely be a hit with the kids.

To start with, I was going to make a campervan chutney as an accompaniment.

It's one of those things, you could just go and buy some chutney from the shop

and just have the normal chutney or get some from a farm shop if you wanted to.

But the good news is, you can make your own.

These peeled tomatoes would be the base to my chutney, and whilst I was

busy with these, some red onion was sizzling away on the hob.

It's going to be as fresh as a chutney can be.

It only takes about half an hour to make.

So once the tomatoes are done, a little bit of chilli,

wholegrain mustard, and the most important ingredient - sugar... and white wine vinegar.

White wine vinegar will give it the tang, sugar will give it the sweetness.

The chilli and a little bit of cayenne pepper will give it a little bit of nicey spicy.

Right, so I've got to let that bubble away for about 20 minutes

before I do the next stage of it. So that's a good time

to put the kids to work making the burgers.

First into the bowl, chopped onions, paprika and salt and pepper.

That'll do. That will be fine, thank you, sous chef.

Now, I've got to chop this thyme.

You don't need too much because it's quite strong because it's fresh.

With all the ingredients in the bowl along with the delicious beef mince,

the next job for my helpers was to add an egg.

-Egg. Who's going to do that?

-Me, me, me!

OK, you can crack that one.

-Make sure there's no shell.

-That's it.

Now, what do you have to do now?

-Mix it all together!

-Get your hands in there and mix it all up.

That's it.

'And before you ask, yes, we'd all washed our hands first.

'The last step before bunging the burgers onto the griddle was to press them into the perfect shape.'

Give it a pat down like that.

Wow, that's massive!

This one is mine, it's a big, Dad-sized burger.

With these delicious-looking patties ready to go onto the griddle, there was one last tip.

Fashioned a very handy windbreak out of these boogie boards, behind which I can cower and cook.

Very good tip.

Looking good.

So whilst these started to sizzle away, I thought it was time to get

the critics' opinion on my campervan cordial.

Right, who's going to try Daddy's special meadowsweet cordial?

-Me, me, me!

-You? OK!

Before you drink it, you've got to tell me what you think it smells like

and how it tastes. Here we go, Maggie.

Go on, then, you try it first.

Smell like flowers?

Try it, taste it.

-Nice. It tastes a bit like apple juice.

-Like apple juice?

Do you want to try some, Charlie? You love apple juice, don't you?

'Well, apple juice wasn't quite what I had in mind, but at least they liked it.

'It must have been the sugar.

'After four minutes on each side, the burgers looked about ready.'

These are looking pretty good. I think it's time they came out.

Here we go. The only thing left to do was stack them high with

some slices of that local cheddar

and a hearty dollop of my home-made spicy tomato chutney.

Campervan burgers - my last meal on this trip, and a worthy finale.

She left one half.

One, two, three...

Mmm!

That really is a very delicious and wonderful ending

to a really amazing trip.

It kind of sums it up, really.

I've got something foraged,

something local, something natural and something home-made.

And it's all been done in the van.

So after 2,500 miles of trouble-free motoring, the trip ends here

with a broken clutch and a journey home.

But really,

it's only just starting.

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