Outdoors with Karolina

Porth Wen Brickworks- an abandoned brick factory at the northernmost part of Anglesey, caught my eye when I was walking this section of Coastal Path last summer. Derelict buildings, surrounded by dramatic cliffs and a little bay, sheltered by the hills behind, scenery that could easily be mistaken for a postapocalyptic movie set. Sound of waves crashing against stone walls and no other sound to be heard. I was in awe and knew I would have to come back one day just to camp there.

Now, if you know me, when I’m pitching my tent I tend to choose places out of sight, keeping in mind that wild camping is not legal in Wales. And up until now, I’ve never had any unpleasant situations (apart from that one time when a dog walker bumped into me while I was putting my tent up and wouldn’t leave my side, asking over and over if I’m not scared- that night I slept with my pen knife within reach). Anyway, even if someone spotted me, my presence was tolerated.

I knew camping at brickworks would be a little bit different- once you are there and decide to have some view, you are pretty much visible from all sides. To add to that- the spot became quite popular thanks to social media and articles online. The night before leaving Birmingham I laughed ‘Hope there won’t be any weirdos!’ but nothing could prepare me for the night to come.

I arrived to Porth Wen just before 6pm, no one else there, I felt like I hit the jackpot- whole spot just to myself! But as soon as I took my tent out of my bag turned out I would have company for the night- two guys just came down. ‘Are you camping here?’, they asked. Looking down at my half-erected tent I confirmed what they have had clearly seen. ‘Do you mind us camping too?’. I looked at them and asked the most important question ‘Are you snoring? No? Then you can stay!’, I laughed. They pitched their tents not far away from me but far enough to give me some privacy. Soon I told them goodnight and crawled into my sleeping bag. Tired after working the night shift day before with a plan to wake up before sunrise I was asleep at 8pm.

Now, hot chocolate is an amazing beverage but hot chocolate just before you go to sleep will wake you up pretty quickly. 8:45 to be precise. I have left my tent and couldn’t believe the view. Full moon was hanging above the bay, just in front of my tent shining light at all of the buildings. Headtorch wasn’t needed. Forgotten about my full bladder I started taking photos. That’s when I got approached by one of the guys ‘Did we wake you up? We were trying to keep our voices down and not to clank our pots while making food. We weren’t too loud, were we?’ Considerate tent neighbours, how lovely! Then he changed his tone ‘Did the lights wake you up? Someone was shining powerful torches at your tent, at our tents, at the buildings…’ My eyes got wide. And as he was saying that- the lights came back on. You could clearly see the beams on chimneys, on the derelict buildings, everywhere around. ‘Do you have the car?’, he asked and I knew what he meant straight away, we might be forced to leave any moment now. Soon three of us were watching torches moving. And moving away. Confused, we had no idea what was happening.

I remembered why I have left my tent. ‘I woke up because I needed a wee. I will go now. Hopefully I won’t get murdered. Or noone will shine the light on me!’ and went behind of one of the buildings. When I came back, boys were sitting on the rock arch assessing the situation. I climbed up to join them. We’ve had no idea what was happening. If there were farmers who wanted us to leave, they would move us by now. What on earth was going on!? To make it even weirder, we have seen car lights on a track above us. Track? That’s not even a track, that’s a path and it leads nowhere but up the hills. There is nothing there. I was familiar with the area so was sure about that. Yet, night was warm, thanks to the supermoon abandoned building were clearly visible so we spent some time talking, calming each other down. My new friends, Craig and Vez, turned out to be from Birmingham, what were the chances! And the torches moved further up and soon disappeared. There was no other explanation than, maybe, some other campers were looking for a spot and the red car lights might have as well been bike lights. Reassured we went back to sleep.

It wasn’t long after I finally managed to fall asleep, when bright light woke me up. Confused I was trying to figure out what was happening. Then I’ve realised there were people just outside my tent talking loudly. ‘There is another beach there’ I’ve heard the voice and torches moved away. I unzipped my tent, poked my head out and felt my heart in my throat. Two men in high vis holding torches were walking towards boys tents. They stood there for a while and left after few minutes. Moment later you could see the torches leaving brickworks. One of the guys have left the tent. Put my sliders on and ran towards their tents. What was that? What on earth was happening now? We were confused before, but now, that was a whole new level of confusion. ‘They were talking about the tide’, said one of the boys. ‘The tide?’ I checked my watch. 11:30. ‘It is the time of high tide now. And with the full moon, it is on its highest’. Was someone actually checking the tide levels? This time of the night? In this place? We had no better explanation. You couldn’t explain that. ‘This is so weird’ we kept saying but eventually went back to sleep.

12am. ‘Karolina’, Ive heard outside my tent, I’ve opened it. ‘We can’t sleep. We will go up the hill and back to our car to check if everything is okay. We will be back’. ‘Don’t get murdered!’ I joked, but looking back I’m not sure if I was joking. Not going to lie, them leaving made me feel a bit uneasy. I could still clearly see two men in high vis. Bright yellow trousers, bright yellow jackets, torches. Who were they? My mind was racing. I quickly checked the map. The layby, my fellow Brummies have left their car at, was less than half a mile away. If they won’t be back by 12:30, then I will start to worry. What would I do if they wouldn’t come back? Would I go and look for them or would I just sit in my tent wishing the morning would come sooner? I closed my eyes. Pen knife open and within reach. Noise outside. Motorboat. Disappeared behind the cliff after a moment. 12:20, they are not back. Can I hear some voices? No, my mind is playing tricks on me. Now? What about now? I closed my eyes. Maybe boys came back but didn’t want to disturb me?

1am. ‘Karolina. Karolina. We are back’, the voices woke me up. ‘Everything is okay now’, they’ve said as I popped my head outside the tent ‘We bumped into and confronted them. They were six poeple, Coastguard. Two dogs went missing and they were looking for them. They only found one but search is over now’ ‘Dogs?’, I’ve repeated after them.

6am, my alarm went off. Snooze button. I was tired, I didn’t want to wake up just yet but then I remembered. I’ve opened my tent. You know, sunrise is beautiful but the sky is at its prettiest before that. I’ve made myself a coffee and watched the day coming to life. Good morning, I greeted the world.

Craig and Vez woke up not long after me. We still couldn’t believe everything that happened last night. When Coastguard came to Brickworks they could just ask us if we have seen any dogs. At least we would know what was happening. Also what if we’ve had seen them and they would never know that? What’s more, and to my suprise they have done it Coastguard had all the rights to remove us from the site, after all wildcamping is not legal. But it is tolerated and they have had more important things to do.

Later, on my way home, I searched ‘Cemaes missing dogs today’, article came up with a photo of the motorboat I have seen. Two dogs fell of the cliff at Porth Wen, one was reunited with the owners, second tragically couldn’t be found.