South Glamorgan and the Gower - 11th and 12th November

 Off we set on the 10th and first had some exploring around Caerphilly as we'd never been before. What an impressive castle! The largest in Wales and the second largest in Britain

After a night in the Aberavon Beach hotel in Port Talbot which we have visited before a couple of times, (we have great memories of the times there and the people are so friendly) we set off the next morning leaving the car at Ogmore and getting taxied to Llantwit Major to start the walk. Taxi drivers have been very hard hit by the pandemic and many have been "furloughed". It's hard to see if the hospitality industry will all survive. Some hotels are managing to tick over with housing key workers. I think we were about the only "tourists" in Port Talbot, usually it's so busy.

So here we were on Llantwit beach....ready to start the day...

And so up we went onto those amazing limestone cliffs, so stunning!

The "pavements" are just so impressive and today the sea was really noisy, crashing onto them below us, way below us in most parts, the cliffs are so high! The path was VERY muddy but it was great to back walking by the sea. The first time Chris had seen the sea since last December - I had a sneak preview when we were free in August...but not overnight. We passed the Atlantic college, must be a great place to be at school.  We soon came to the lighthouse at Nash Point, a standout place....

On we went, passing the little cafe which is now of course closed due to restrictions. The waves beneath us were really crashing and were spectacular and near the cafe is a buoy with a bell that was ringing continually! And across the sea we could easily see England and lots of ships going up and down the St George's channel.

Soon we were approaching the amazing Traeth Mawr.....

It seems to be more fenced off than it was in 2013. This time we saw a stack beneath us too that we didn't remember. We soon came to the property belonging to the Dunraven estates where the cliffs drop down through a wood - and then of course go up again! on the headland here are some of the castle remains and at the seaward side there was an iron age hillfort. From the edge of the headland is the beautiful view looking back along the cliffs we had just walked along...

So now we crossed the clifftop at Southerndown with the waves chasing each other in, such a noise! We approached Ogmore with the sea crashing into the rocks. The rock formations here are really extraordinary - when the tide is out more easy to see. Today we just enjoyed the noise and the sight of the sea bashing into them! 

Back to the car park and only then did the forecasted rain arrive (it was due to have been a showery day)! What a lovely day..and 9 miles walked.

So the 12th November arrived and we were up early as we had to drive to the Gower to meet the taxi at Llanrhidian and the drive through Swansea took so long with traffic lights at every turn and of course the, obligatory for these times, diversion! We made it and the taxi duly took us to Rhossili to start our walk. It was a beautiful, bright morning and there in front of us was Worms Head

We dropped down to the marvellous - and very long!- beach and off we went....

the sea was thundering with waves rushing in and the dancing sands rushing ahead in front of us.

At the end of the five kilometre long beach walk, the rain clouds gathered...

...and as we climbed up the dunes, we did get quite wet!

Soon through it brightened up again and with the tide still out, we dropped onto Broughton Bay as we approached the Loughor estuary ahead and walked on more beach, Llanelli just across the estuary.. 

Once more we were accompanied by the raging waves and the sands rushing in front of us with the wind.

We turned in between the dunes and approached the Llanrhidian marsh after a lunch stop in the sand.

Once we were on the march we had a diversion, luckily only a short one which meant we couldn't walk across the sea wall - not sure why but we soon encountered rather a lot of mud! And the weather was not as forecast at all - it was really showery so in the end I decided the forecasters had got the 2 days muddled as they were both not as billed at all...

The marsh makes for some interesting scenery though and we had already heard oyster catchers and other seabirds calling. And at least we got some pretty rainbows today!

In the distance we could see the sea with its white surf washing onto the marsh. Llanelli was lit in some sun at the other side of the estuary. We spotted a flock of white birds - too far away to identify - swooping up and down at the tide's edge. It looked like weird wave formations at first.

It was then a hard trudge through such a lot of thick mud through fields well trodden by cows and sheep, quite tiring. At last we left the fields and the march behind as we came to the lane into Llanrhidian -hooray!

What's more the car was well placed in the pub car park - the Welcome Pub and Kitchen!! After changing muddy trousers and boots, we enjoyed a delicious seafood linguine with local cockles and mussels - gorgeous! And well deserved we thought after another 11 miles completed.

So that's as far as we've got to date - 33 miles down. Can't say when we'll make our next miles but watch this space.