{"id":2421,"date":"2017-02-03T14:15:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T13:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2017-02-03T14:15:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T13:15:32","slug":"along-the-gower-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2421","title":{"rendered":"Along the Gower Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-size:24px\"><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-family:times new roman,times,serif\"><em><strong>Gower<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"346\" data-attachment-id=\"2424\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=2424\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?fit=480%2C346\" data-orig-size=\"480,346\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"coast\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?fit=300%2C216\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?fit=480%2C346\" alt=\"coast\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2424\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?resize=480%2C346\" style=\"height:346px; width:480px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?w=480 480w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/coast.jpg?resize=300%2C216 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">Saturday dawned extremely wet and miserable so we all agreed to postpone our walk until Sunday when the forecast was good. We were very glad when Sunday arrived bright and <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">sunny. It was early September and we were off to the Gower. Our walk started in Murton and took us to Southgate via Caswell Bay.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">Setting off from Murton in a south-easterly direction we walked through Oldway, noticing some of the road names seemed to relate to its history: e.g. Lime kiln lane and Long Acre. There were long thin strips shown on the OS map and we guessed that this was how the area had been divided for the people to grow food.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">Cont<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">inuing we came into Bishop&rsquo;s Wood, a local nature reserve with well developed paths. Near its centre we came across a roundhouse; based on a medieval design it is built from locally <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">harvested oak and ash (the predominant trees in Bishop&rsquo;s wood). The river that created this valley still flows underground and can still be found surfacing on Caswell beach. We also emerged here, it was lovely to see the sea in the sunshine and we lingered briefly to make use of the facilities on offer. We walked in a westerly direction across the beach and now we were on the coastal path following it to Brandy Cove and then Pwlldu Bay (one of the many Welsh &lsquo;Blackpool&rsquo;s). Late summer flowers were spotted including mullein. The coast below was <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">covered in craggy rocks which had attracted quite a few sea birds, cormorants being the most distinctive.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"436\" height=\"347\" data-attachment-id=\"2425\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=2425\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?fit=436%2C347\" data-orig-size=\"436,347\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"cows\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?fit=300%2C239\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?fit=436%2C347\" alt=\"cows\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2425\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?resize=436%2C347\" style=\"height:347px; margin-left:15px; margin-right:15px; width:436px\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?w=436 436w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cows.jpg?resize=300%2C239 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 436px) 100vw, 436px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">At the beginning of Pwlldu Bay the path climbed up to the road leading to High Pennard and we followed it although the beach was deserted and looked very attractive. We came into open <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">countryside and decided to stop for lunch just before Hunts Farm on a raised grassy area where we had open views across the bracken clad moor down to the sea in the distance. A few people walked below us as we rested and several people rode past on horses nearer the sea. It was surprisingly cool while we were stationary so we didn&rsquo;t linger too long over lunch.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">We resumed our route towards Hunts farm and then Southgate, turning inland near Fox Hole before reaching Southgate. There was some impressive<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">housing in this area and we admired many of the buildings. We headed north east, coming across some waterlogged land and were grateful for a bridge in one place where the water was particularly deep. A field had cows with their very cute calves, some of which showed little fear as they nudged a feed bucket on the other side of a gate from us. At Hael farm a large marquee was being taken down and there were some lovely begonias in big pots.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">We followed the course of a stream through a wooded valley. We had good paths to begin with, then it became very muddy and finally the valley floor was littered with large rocks covered in moss &#8211; like a riverbed, quite difficult to negotiate! There was a steep rock face to one side and we spotted a cave; further on the water disappeared underground into another cave.<\/span><\/span><\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"440\" height=\"364\" data-attachment-id=\"2423\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=2423\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?fit=440%2C364\" data-orig-size=\"440,364\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"bridge\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?fit=300%2C248\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?fit=440%2C364\" alt=\"bridge\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2423\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?resize=440%2C364\" style=\"height:364px; width:440px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?w=440 440w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bridge.jpg?resize=300%2C248 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">We were travelling north towards Kittle when we came across a notice: &lsquo;Footpath&hellip; registered in the riverbed &#8211; is usually walkable when dry. However a large sinkhole has opened up which is dangerous to approach as the surrounding surfaces are highly unstable and there is no room to pass safely.&rsquo; Slightly worrying but a quick bit of route planning by our expert map readers and some information from a fellow walker who had just negotiated a diversion and we were on our way again, travelling generally north through Bishopston.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"color:#B22222\"><span style=\"font-size:16px\"><span style=\"font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif\">Arriving at the edge of Kittle in glorious sunshine we passed 2 pubs, The Joiners Arms and The Valley. We didn&rsquo;t stop but continued along a path to the side of the local school, which had lots of colourful wild flowers growing at its entrance. On Providence Lane we passed a very remote and unwelcoming house &#8211; there were even bars on the windows. Returning to the community centre in Murton, we looked at the pump and well behind it. We retired to the Plough and Harrow and relaxed in the late sunshine with a drink but wished we hadn&rsquo;t eaten our sandwiches &#8211; the meals appearing from the kitchen looked scrumptious. We had walked 7.75 miles and climbed 750ft. Map 164.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\n\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"29\" data-attachment-id=\"1669\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=1669\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?fit=600%2C29\" data-orig-size=\"600,29\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"bootprintline\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?fit=300%2C15\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?fit=600%2C29\" alt=\"bootprintline\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1669\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?resize=600%2C29\" style=\"height:30px; width:800px\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bootPrintLine.jpg?resize=300%2C15 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Gower Saturday dawned extremely wet and miserable so we all agreed to postpone our walk until Sunday when the forecast was good. We were very glad when Sunday arrived bright and sunny. It was early September and we were off to the Gower. Our walk started in Murton and took us to Southgate via Caswell Bay. Setting off [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-D3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3647,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3647","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":0},"title":"August Walks","author":"Alan Williams","date":"25th August 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Gower \u00a0 As we drove from the main road to the car park \u00bd mile north of the Heritage Centre just past Parkmill, the heavens opened. Luckily it stopped as we parked and remained sunny for the rest of the day. We walked south down the road and across\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Footsteps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3738,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3738","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":1},"title":"Dewberrys Discovered","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 A stroll along the new cycleway and footpath on Port Road between Wenvoe and the Alps roundabout revealed some interesting plants lurking at the base of the hedgerow. Most surprising because it has not been recorded yet in the parish is Dewberry. Similar to the Blackberry but with some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nature Notes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15385,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15385","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":2},"title":"Lliw Reservoir &#038; Nuppend, Alvington","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th April 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Lliw Reservoir After a longish drive, more of us than usual, arrived at the lower Lliw reservoir, and were happy to see a caf\u00e9. The caf\u00e9 has a handy leaflet describing local footpaths and points of interest. The reservoir was built in 1867, following an 1859 cholera epidemic which gripped\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Footsteps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture5.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4866,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4866","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":3},"title":"Tree Mallow &#8211; To Grow or not to Grow?","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 So what might connect a Wenvoe garden with the small island of Craigleith in the Firth of Forth? The answer - Tree Mallow. Gardeners will be familiar with the various Mallows grown in gardens and sold by Garden Centres. Or you might have tasted Marshmallow flavoured originally with an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nature Notes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14844,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14844","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":4},"title":"Gower \u2013 A Visit to The Worm\u2019s Head","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Gower \u2013 A Visit to The Worm\u2019s Head A glorious day in September saw five of us travelling to Rhossili in a quest to walk over to Worms Head \u2013 the island which sits in Rhossili Bay and is accessible at low tide. The National Trust (NT) car park was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Footsteps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Picture8.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9777,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9777","url_meta":{"origin":2421,"position":5},"title":"Native Variety Water Lilies","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st June 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are tempted to include a water lily in your pond there is a wide range of colours and types to choose from in the Garden Centres. But what about our native varieties? One is the White Water Lily which looks just as you would expect a water lily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nature Notes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2428,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}