Croeso y Cymru - The Gower

Tuesday 12th April
Day 1
Happy Easter

I finished work dot on 2 o'clock and were on the road by 3pm, last nights planning meeting went well, we found a THS (temporay holiday site) listed on the C&CC Out and about near Port Eynon in Wales somewhere we haven't been before.
We took the fastest route listed on the sat-nav, M5, M50 and M4 to Swansea and made good progress until we hit the outskirts on Swansea where we hit road works.
We eventually found the site having travelled down some very narrow roads, thanks again to our sat-nav, one of the roads was so narrow the vans mirrors almost touched the sides, what was the worst that could happen? meeting a car coming the other way! but not a car a bloody bus!! fortunately the bus driver must do this often and got past with centimetres to spare. The site was over looking Port Eynon bay, we were met by the stewards from West Wales DA who gave us a very friendly welcome, booked in we topped up with water before finding a relatively flat pitch on a gently sloping field.

West Wales DA THS


The views are spectacular although not at their best at 7.00pm with a  sea mist coming in.
Adele prepped tea as I took Izzy for a walk then started to write the diary, lamb koftas with couscous followed by some lovely French cheese, Langres from Champagne-Ardenne region with some olive bread, its been a busy day so an early night I think.

Langres Cheese



Wednesday 13th April
Day 2

We woke early, very early 6.00am, I think our body clocks are still on work time, we turned over and had an hour or so of naps, eventually getting up just before 7, looking out of the window we should have stayed in bed. The sea mist or should that be fog had covered the site, no nice views of the sea this morning.



I took Izzy for her morning walk, its so quiet, just the sound of the sea breaking on the beach through the murky weather, Adele got the breakfast on, a flying start, egg, bacon, sausage and fried bread. 
It was gone 11.00am before we left the THS, sea fog still covering the area, made the short drive down to Port Eynon, we had thought that we might get out and take a wander across the beach to Port Eynon point and visit the old salt houses used in the 18th century to extract salt from sea water but the sea fog was so dense we couldn't
even see the beach, we moved on to check out Rhossilli and Worms Head, not before stopping at the village church, On 1 January 1916 the lives of three young men were lost when the lifeboat went to the assistance of SS Dunvegan which was shipwrecked off Oxwich point. A memorial to the men exists in the village churchyard.

Memorial to Lifeboat men


We drove the few miles to Worms Head, it was lunch time now and the fog was as bad as ever, we had a spot of lunch, read for a while in the hope it may lift.

Rhossili In The Fog


It didn't. 

We put on our walking boots and walked the cliff path out onto the headland, we could just make out Rhossilli beach through the fog, the walk was really nice but sights were few and far between. 






We returned to the van and drove back to THS, the sun trying hard to beat the fog.
We had a cuppa and a Welsh cake with the side door open, its warm with the sun behind the sea fog but its not going today.
tea tonight is chicken tikka with rice which went down treat together  with a glass of beer, after clearing up and watching a little TV it was time for games! now I'm not normally a 'games' person but Adele had found out out old Backgammon set, it had been on top of the wardrobe for the past 30!!! plus years so tonight was going to be a challenge, after an hour or so I was 2 games down, I obviously need to brush up my tactics.
Time for Izzy's evening walk and put the bed up, looks like the sea fog is returning. we retired about 10.30.

Thursday 14th April
Day 3

We woke later today about 8.30, after our normal routines, washing, taking Izzy for her walk, we sat down to our camping breakfast, egg, bacon, sausage, tomato and fried bread with a glass of apple juice.
As the sea fog has lifted, we would go to Port Eynon again and take the walk out on to the point and take a look at the old salt house, now in ruins, dating back to 16th century used for extracting salt from sea water.
Port Eynon Bay

Port Eynon Salt House

Port Eynon Salt House

Taking A Break - Adele & Izzy

We carried on a little and thought we might walk to the point but izzy was starting to Flagg so returned to the van for a cuppa and a welsh cake.
The sun started breaking through the clouds as we left Port Eynon towards The Mumbles, we wanted to walk across the front and look at the old pier and life boat station, parking was difficult and ended up at the far end on The Mumbles at Bracelet Bay, we then walked back to the pier.
Mumbles Pier

Mumbles pier was built in #### although today its not at its best even the Mumbles Pier Dragon could do with a restoration project.

Mumbles Pier Dragon

At the end of the pier is the new RNLI life boat station, when we were there the crews were giving the boat a good wash and polish.
From the pier we walked towards Mumbles town past a small pleasure boat compound but as Izzy was starting to struggle we sat on a bench looking out over Swansea bay for half an hour or so before making our way back to Bracelet Bay and 'Vera'

Back at the THS we had thought we might re-locate to the bottom of the field but when we got there there was lots of kids playing so moved to the side of the field overlooking the horse field.




The sun was out and really nice so sat outside with a G&T and snacking on olives and peanuts.
Before we knew it it was 6.30 so time to ready supper, tonight it will be beef bouginon, new potatoes and sugarsnaps together with a bottle of nice red wine, we followed with some cheese.
After tidying up it was time for our Backgammon Challenge and hopefully getting my revenge on Adeles white wash on me last night.
At the end of the evening it was Adele 2 - 2 Nigel, all to play for tomorrow

Good Friday
Friday 15th April
Day 4

We woke at 8.00am and was off the THS by 8.30, we made plans to go to Rhossili first thing and have breakfast there overlooking the beach and Worm's Head when we got there the overflow field we wanted wasn't open so had to park at the back of the carpark to eat, no prob, its very quite compared with the other day but I suppose its still early.


When we had finished breakfast the NT staff opened the overflow, typical, so we moved, reversed into a good spot, swung open the rear doors, had a cuppa tea and read, the sun came out, it was lovely. In fact, the views were 'stunnin'
Before we knew it it was gone 12.00 so donned our walking boots and took another walk out onto Worm's Head, this time we could actually see the headland and as far down the beach to Llangennith.




We were greeted by the wild ponies as we walked, the air was quite still and warm. Returning to 'vera' we stopped off for an ice cream before going back to THS, our pitch last night had been taken by another camper but there is so much room it doesn't matter.
Parked up overlooking the bay we had more tea and the last of the Welsh Cakes, Adele read and I did the diary.
Being Good Friday we will be continuing our tradition of not having meat to eat so we have salmon, welsh potatoes and sugersnaps for tea, followed by the last of the cheese.

Saturday 16th April
Day 5

We woke after another good nights sleep even though the van was sloping slightly, a full English for breakfast before getting ready to leave for home, we have decided to take the old route home, not using the motorways, the A4067, we tootled up through the valleys and after stopping for some fuel found a pull over for a spot of lunch over looking Crai Reservoir
 


 
After lunch we took a gentle pace back home, we made a short detour to top up with gas in Stourport but the automated pump was out of order again so will have to do it another day.

We have had a lovely few days in South Wales, the weather was actually better than we were expecting, it was great to see some of the old surfing haunts from decades ago and find some new spots to explore. The Gower is somewhere we must return to, but won't leave it as long next time.


benivanadventures - travels in our campervan

Trip Details:

Miles: 341
Ave MPG: 30.5  
Fuel Cost: £ 87.37 / £ 1.729 ltr
Car Parking: £6.00

Nights: 4
Camp Fees: £56.00
Camp Ave per night: £14.00 

* * *


We put our holiday photos in to small slideshows and videos which are uploaded on to our YouTube Channel, benivanadventures, they are not professionally produced but give a feeling of the area and places we visit - Click on the link below:

The Gower - 40 yrs on


PLEASE LIKE & SUBSCRIBE
Thank You for Watching
See You Again On Our benivanadventures


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