Away in the caravan again and the opportunity crops up to drive a couple of hours and take a B&B in the Gower Peninsular, Rhossili to be precise. Its school holiday time and we leave with the van with our siblings, parked at the Forest of Dean and take the scenic drive, via the A40, Brecon and out eventually to the peninsular, skirting just north of Swansea. This cunningly avoids the city’s considerable congestion but follows the sat-nav on an exciting route where the hedgerows brush both wing mirrors and a lack of passing bays causes mayhem with several tests of my and others reversing skills until we are released onto the open moors! Driving across the moorland we notice a small gathering of cars in one of the several designated car parks. So being inquisitive we join the cars and look to see people either walking towards or away from a clump of rocks. Ten minutes later we are circling the rocky ‘dolmen’ and admiring the sea views of the Gower coast.
Our B&B is pre-booked and we meet the owner who shows us to the “Lundy” room where as promised we have a view of Lundy, in the far distance. Weather, like most of this summer, is set very fair indeed and it's not long before we take our first short walk to the spectacular 3-mile surfer's beach and back via the Worms Head pub before a sound night’s sleep.
The walk: My new OS software has me plotting a circular…full day walk. Plenty of sea views were the plan and lots of those little light brown, close together, contour lines. Plan A; Take the high ground first and the level Wales Coast Path back. In the morning we skipped the additional charge ‘continental’ breakfast on offer, we were reminded there was cereal but “no meat” the night before and felt we were in need of a walk inspiring bacon sandwich! The Bay Bistro, with the splendid sea view, was open and coffees and bacon sandwich were just the starter we needed. Leaving the bistro it was just a few hundred yards back through the churchyard and we were soon into a good 20 minutes of steep path ascending. It was worth it as the 360-degree views on Rhossili Downs were marvellous. Surfers were already catching the early surf, as they were last night in near darkness making us wonder if they ever go to bed? It must be so addictive as the wilder the weather the more they seem to be up for it. Today was far from wild; in fact, it was near perfect…for walking. It was soon clear that these hills were used for both ancient man and more modern man, with signs of burial mounds, cairns and the more recent, lookouts and workings of the 2ndworld war. In the distance, towards Lundy, a solitary black cloud appeared from nowhere and sped towards us, and the rest of the ill-prepared walkers! At the last moment, we took refuge in a clump of rocks with our umbrellas raised and watched a heavy downpour come and go in a flash. That was that for the day…rather bizarre. Wild horses, cattle and sheep graze the hills with their heads occasionally poking up from the ferns and gorse. The descent towards a large holiday caravan site is pretty steep and a large family group were on a mission to the top, some younger ones were almost running while mums and dads were gasping for air wishing they had taken up the new-year offer and joined a gym. We did our familiar (to us) zigzags down before making good use of the Hillend holiday site’s toilet and café for a cup of tea. Back to the walk and over the dunes to follow the coast path around the headland at Spaniards Rocks and another half- mile to Bluepool Corner where we diverted onto a marked footpath that takes us through a much more residential holiday site at Broughton Farm. Some statics were quite new and some obviously old but all were adorned with the paraphernalia of permanence. Gardens and lawns, neat and tidy, decking with table chairs and umbrellas, LED lights waiting for darkness and ornaments of every shape and size serving no purpose but to make the occupants and tack sellers smile! We had just one thing on our mind…. well two; lunch and a pint. OS digital said it was up a small lane and in the middle of Llangennith village, just a mile or so away. The lane had Cornish like high banks with a Cornish like width. No traffic save for delivery trucks, caravan owners, couriers from every delivery company in Wales, Tractors, bikes and more couriers and of course Tesco click and go. All this seems to be the norm now with Internet shopping. It never ceases to amaze me how it pays to deliver a lightbulb with free delivery, all the way from China to a mobile home near Rhossili! The Kings Head pub was where my new OS map software said it would be. It was next to the still-red telephone box, adjacent to the village hall and opposite the village shop…now a surfer’s loft that is catering for wet-suits and boards rather than milk and bread. It was early afternoon and a surprising number of customers were eating outside in the front garden. We soon joined them with our pint and awaited the food…perfect pub fodder, nothing fancy, was just right to revitalise ourselves for the walk back to Rhossili.
We encountered another small lane to take us back to the caravan park at Hillend before the path skirted above the statics joining with the Welsh Coast path again. I couldn't resist chatting with one of the static occupiers that had a particularly nice location, elevated and towards the outskirts of the site. She said it was her dad’s and she was just going back after a lovely holiday. Us static dwellers have certain empathy! Walking on with the hills on your left and the bay, beach and sea on your right the flat sands looked tempting for a nice gentle jog but that had to wait until tomorrow! Almost exactly midway along the beach lays the Old Rectory. A group of several buildings from an old stone house to an obviously even older stable and courtyard area. We later learnt this was the rector's house that looked after 2 parishes, a common practice now but probably unusual then and was due to the low numbers of the population of both Rhossili and neighbouring, Llangennith. Obviously it would be ‘undiplomatic’ for the rector to live in either one of the parishes without upsetting his flock, so the house was erected midway between the 2 churches, that way, nobody was upset except the rector that never had a lie-in on a Sunday as he always had a good walk to his office, not pleasant on a gusty wet winter’s day. Incidentally, you could now rent this cottage for a holiday from its owners, the National Trust. Priced today around £2500.00 for a week in peak season for you and 6 guests. The pleasant flat coast path soon does what all good coast paths do and rises steeply back up into the village of Rhossili but not before it passes by an old stone industrial building that we learnt the next day from our National Trust guide, was a gunpowder store, not to be used in anger but to launch ropes from a harpoon type gun from the cliff in an attempt to rescue ships that had been blown into the bay during frequent storms. The walk ended with a pint at the Worms Head Hotel where we watched an amazing sunset from the cliff-edge beer garden taking the usual phone photos that proved once again to be not photo competition winners.
We give this village at least a 3-day visit without having to move your car or lodgings. One day could be spent on the beach and another walking out to Worms Head. Both of these would need the weather and Worms Head needs the low water tide during daylight, 3 hours either side otherwise the prospect of a night on the Worms Head is a real possibility!
Leave the car at home and take the train to Swansea from all over the UK and a 15-minute walk to the bus station where an approximately hourly bus takes you along the peninsular to Rhossili. Where we B&B ’d it even had a bus stop outside the gate!
Allow I hour + for the journey and always check the timetable first but they do run all day and well into the evening so shopping in Swansea, if that floats your boat, or perhaps a bus to Port –Eynon and 7 miles walk back via the coast path…now that’s more like it.
