A big fan of Wales – and especially the Welsh coast – I’ve spent a lot of time exploring Pembrokeshire National Park over several visits and the North Wales coast around Snowdonia National Park but despite numerous recommendations from friends and colleagues over the years, my only experience of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales near Swansea was a disappointingly soggy family day trip there way back in the late 90s while on a summer vacation staying on the southern fringes of (where else!) Pembrokeshire.
Then, in the absence of the internet at our finger tips, we had used a giant road map along with good, old-fashioned road signs, to navigate our way to the Mumbles, right on the edge of the Gower coast line only to find no beach with it being high tide and getting caught in an almighty downpour walking from the town to the pier. In search of one of the ‘stunning’ beaches we had heard about but having done no research before our spur-of-the-moment day out, we had later stopped off at another nearby bay, my only recollection of it being small, by a hill and quite old-fashioned with beach huts lining the walkway at the back – not a lot to go on!
So, after continuously hearing good things about the Gower coastline in the many years since, we finally decided to return and this time, for longer than a few hours, deciding to book a week away in the area. Finding a holiday cottage in the small village of Scurlage, I set about researching where to visit in the area.
Arriving from work late on a Friday evening, we were up and ready to be out the next morning. We decided to make our first port of call the closest bay to where we were based, Port Eynon beach, just over a mile away through the small, pretty village of the same name. With it being low tide mid-morning, there was plenty of beach available to explore in the pretty bay and we walked the stretch of the sands to Horton Bay at the opposite end before returning to the car park for lunch. If we hadn’t brought a picnic with us, we would have been fine as there were a few takeaways and cafes offering fish and chips and other snacks and meals for anyone looking to eat out. After another walk, this time in the other direction where the old Port Eynon Salt House ruins sit above the bay, we returned to the cafes to grab a well-deserved ice cream.
The next morning we decided to head to Oxwich Bay, a larger stretch of sand which we had read was a popular destination for families in the summer months.
The main access to the beach here is owned privately by the Penrice Estate and unless you want to hike in, you have no choice but to pay to park on the large car park they own. With it being mid-March rather than the height of summer, the parking charge for the day was £5 rather than the £7/£8 we had expected from our research. As well as a large car park, there were toilets, cafes and restaurants on site behind the large expanse of sand.
Again, the tide was way out and after a walk to the southern end of the bay for a better view of St Illtyd’s Church, hidden in the trees of the cliffside, we returned to the car park for our picnic lunch before walking in the opposite direction towards Three Cliffs Bay in the distance.
It was certainly a beautiful beach with the dunes backing it and clear, shallow waters. For those who want it, there’s also walkways through the dunes to Nicholaston Wood and Burrows.
As we left the beach later that day, we called in at the Dunes Cafe across the road from the car park for ice creams. From here it was also possible to access a board walk across Oxwich Marsh, a nature reserve popular with bird watchers.
After two mainly sunny days, we awoke to heavy rain the next day and decided to have a ride out a bit further along the southern coast, aiming for Langland Bay just west of the Mumbles. Walking from the car park to the beach, I immediately recognised it as the beach-hut-lined bay we had stopped off at all those years ago on our day trip here!
With the tide out this time, there was more beach to explore than on our last visit with lots of rock pools revealed along the sea front.
After lunch, we drove the short distance to the next bay along, Caswell Bay.
If we had had more time, we could have walked along the coast path between the two bays but after having trouble working out the car park’s pay and display meter, we’d found ourselves with a ticket for just one hour which had already flew by so instead, we drove between the two.
Despite Caswell Bay appearing to be the smaller of the two beaches, with it being low tide (and having finally worked out the parking metres!), we spent a lot more time here marvelling at the rock formations revealed under the cliff and it was our favourite of our two stops that day.
We awoke to glorious sunshine again the next morning and decided to drive to one of the Gower’s more famous beaches, Rhoselli. From the National Trust car park here, it is possible to access both the long stretch of beach (via a rather steep coast path) and the coast path to Worms Head, an island you can actually walk out to at low tide when the causeway is visible.
We decided to begin the day with a walk towards Worm’s Head (which gets its name from the Viking word ‘wurm’ meaning dragon after Viking invaders thought it resembled a sea serpent). There were beautiful views of Rhosilli Beach from the coast path and we even saw wild ponies grazing along the way.
We made it as far as the old coastguard station from where there were clear views of Worms Head out in front but despite there still being a couple of hours during which the causeway would be accessible, decided not to tackle the walk out there and instead retraced our steps back to the car park. With my father finding the path down to the beach a bit too steep for him to manage, we decided to try and access the beach further up from a more accessible route later on in the week and instead stayed on the cliff top to enjoy the views from the coast path.
With a day of sunshine and showers forecast the next day, we decided to go for another ride out, this time to the Mumbles right on the edge of the Gower Peninsula. Parking in a bay along the sea front, we walked in the direction of the pier. With the sea on its way out, we detoured down to the beach – although I use this word loosely, it was more like mud flats and we found our boots sinking into the sand on a few occasions! Making our way back up to the esplanade, we reached the busy pier area with its arcade and cafes. The pier itself was partly closed off allowing us to only walk as far as its old-fashioned clock tower.
With the tide drifting further and further out, a small bay had been revealed on the far side of the pier overlooking Mumbles Lighthouse so we clambered down the steps for a walk along the bay. Some visitors were taking the opportunity to walk out to the lighthouse but we decided to admire it from where we were.
The tide was not quite out far enough yet to walk around the corner to the next bay, Bracelet Bay and the coast path from the pier was quite steep so instead, we returned to the car right as a heavy shower began to rain down on us.
The sun was still shining though and we were lucky enough to see a beautiful double rainbow shine brightly across the bay as we ate our lunch from the cover of the car.
Driving the short distance around the headland to Bracelet Bay we arrived in its large car park overlooking the bay. The rain had stopped and the sun was once again shining and there were beautiful views of the pretty beach and the other side of the Mumbles Lighthouse in the distance. We tried to walk down to the bay but only made it so far as the steps down to the beach disappeared, leading out to steeps, slippy rocks which my elderly parents (and I still suffering slightly from my Achilles tendon injury) found too difficult to navigate down.
Instead, once back in the car park, we walked to the other end of the car park where the low tide had revealed another bay, Limeslade, which was more accessible so we made our way down and had a wander along the pebbles and down to the water’s edge here before heading back to Scurlage for the evening.
With one full day left of our trip, and more sunshine and showers forecast, we still had a lot of the coast to explore. We decided to begin our day with a walk to Whiteford Beach, a beach recommended by our hosts in the information pack left in our cottage accommodation.
This beach was a bit harder to access than many of the others we had visited this trip, requiring us to park up in a farmers field just outside of the village of Cwm Ivy (payment via an honesty box!) and walk through National Trust land down a coastal path, through woodlands and across a marshy nature reserve. It was a pretty walk but but the rain was falling heavier and heavier and the path was getting increasingly hard to navigate as it flooded with us having to try and find ways around the often quite deep water.
Unfortunately, when we came out of the wooded area and into the marshland which backs the beach, there was no way around the water and with the rain still bouncing down around us, we made the decision to turn around and walk back having not quite made it out to the beach itself.
With three car parks marked on the north-west coast of the Gower map at our cottage, we decided to drive to the next one down at Broughton Bay. The rain had briefly stopped and the sun was once again shining so here, we took a walk across the sweeping sand dunes offering beautiful views over Rhossili Bay.
Driving down to the next car park marked on the map, our final stop was at Hill End where a board walk through the dunes gave easy access to the northern end of Rhossili Bay.
Unfortunately, as we started to walk along the long stretch of sand and stones, heavy rain started to fall once again and this coupled with the strong wind out on the exposed bay caused us to turn around and head back to change our clothes and dry off. As we returned to the car park, we spotted yet another beautiful rainbow, this time shining over the sand dunes.
Up early the next morning to check out of our holiday accommodation, we decided to make the most of the early morning sunshine before the forecast showers moved in and headed back to the nearby Port Eynon bay for a last stroll on the beach before we grabbed a delicious freshly cooked breakfast from the local Granary Cafe back in Scurlage and making our way home.
The Gower Peninsula had turned out to be every bit as beautiful and people and told us it was and we all agreed that we would love to return to the area to revisit the beautiful bays we had discovered on this trip and explore the areas we had not had chance to see yet!