After a hectic end to the school term, which signalled the start of our early retirement adventures, combined with the graduation of our son from Cardiff University, we were ready to get going on our adventures. We have a small window of time before we need to be home in order to move out as the house sale completes, so we made the decision to explore West Wales on our journey north.
After a lazy morning mooching around the shops in the city and realising that we don’t really want for very much, we left the hustle and bustle of the last few days of city life behind and headed west. We weren’t really sure of where we were heading, but off we set.
We checked out a couple of park for the night spots with little success until we stumbled upon the beautiful seaside town of Mumbles. There was a lovely little park up right next to the sea wall. A striking new restaurant development looking out over the bay and the amazing summer temperatures made the place feel almost Florida like. We had a gentle stroll to discover the famed Mumbles lighthouse and lifeboat station, with an obligatory beer to sit and watch the world go by from the pier.
As it was getting late, we loaded up up the cool bag and headed to the beach for a sunset BBQ. Live and learn when adding haloumi cheese to kebabs along with meat- never a good idea as we ended up with cremated cheese by the time the meat was cooked. This modern day hardship was only countered by the ability to sit and watch the sunset with an ice cold G&T in hand!
We woke to the most amazing sunrise across the bay towards Swansea and tested out our retirement gift of our snow peaks coffee grinder and filter system. It wasn’t exactly as quick or as instant as the smeg grinder at home, but there was something rather satisfying having to work for our morning brew!
Getting up at 5am had a real advantage as the weather soon turned wet, so we had a lazy early morning dozing in the van. As the weather cleared, we were up and off, heading to the lighthouse and around the headland still before most people’s normal breakfast time! It is so lovely experiencing a town come to life in the early morning, particularly at the seaside- it is so peaceful and relaxing, sound in the knowledge that we have the full day to do as we please.
After a spot of breakfast sat on the van steps looking out to sea, we were off. We hit some of the secret spots highlighted in our favourite Wild Wales guide book before the rain finally set in for the day. First up was Pwlldu Bay, a lovely little beach accessed by following a stream though a wooded valley. It was a great little walk, but the beach was rather underwhelming- we have seen better! We had all the plans to do a bit of a wild swim there, but it just wasn’t that appealing. Onwards and upwards, we headed up the coast to Tor Bay and Oxwich Bay- two interlinked golden beaches that we absolutely beautiful…if only we had brought our swimming kit we would have been in…but it was safely back at the van after our earlier disappointment! Live and learn.
We really fancied staying by the beach for the night and the park for the night app claimed it was possible on a carpark to the very north of the beach. As we arrived, we realised that the flat rate day charge for the carpark was £15, with an additional £15 for the overnight- daylight robbery for a wild and basic park up with no facilities for the cost. As it turns out we found a great little park for the night off the beaten track, and more importantly, not mentioned on any online apps for van travellers- so it should have made for a quiet night.
It was all going really well until we were woken by a bloody 4x4 with a roof tent set-up at nearly 4am- who arrives at a wild camp spot at 4am? Initially we thought that it was an angry farmer who was going to move us on, but even they don’t get up at 4am in the rain! Being woken in the night is not the best, particularly when you are in the back and beyond with weak phone signal- the spooky inner thoughts start to run wild and make sleep almost impossible.
We were woken by the gentle and rather soothing sound of rain on the roof, so we had a lazy start to the day after the interrupted nights sleep. The weather made no sign of abating, so we had to chance our arm. We dropped into Port Eynon to try to find the famed Culver Hole- a walled cave allegedly used by smugglers in the past to hide their contraband. It was a proper little adventure finding the cave and then actually getting down to it. After a little bit of scrambling and down climbing, we reached the cave and it was eerily stunning. We only had a short time to take photos as the tide was in full flow and we were both paranoid about getting cut off by the rising waters.
After a bit of jungle exploration with Jackie on navigation duties, we made it back for celebratory fish and chips on the sea wall.
With ever deteriorating weather, and a desperate need to freshen up with a shower, we made a booking at the popular Hill End campsite. We needn’t have worried as the location of the site, in the dunes behind the 2 mile stretch of golden beach of Rhossili Bay was just amazing. We hunkered down in the rain and read, slept and drank wine until the weather improved. It may have taken most of the day, but that was fine as the forecast for the following day was pretty good.
As the rain had passed in the night, the campsite took on an expectant feel…with everyone excitingly getting ready for a day on the beach. After bacon butties, we headed off early, walking north to catch the tidal island of Burry Holms, with the ruined remains of the chapel to St Ceyndd- allegedly abandoned to the sea as a baby and raised by sea gulls!
We then headed further round the coast to a much anticipated adventure to Bluepool Corner, home to one of the best tidal rock pools in Wales. The pool look so inviting, so we quickly donned swimmers and jumped in. We were not too sure what the wetsuit brigade thought upon seeing us strip down to Budgies and Bikini (respectively), but it wasn’t too cold and why do we always feel the need to wear a wetsuit in July? The only stumbling block was when Jackie found some ‘ickle jelly fish in the pool that soon brought her bathing experience to an end!
Once we got back to camp, we donned our wetsuits and spent the afternoon boogie boarding right next to the campsite. We had so much fun in the surf, simply playing- being kids again with not a care in the world. After a complimentary hot shower back at the site we headed off to our next stop- did we know where? No. Did we care? No. Did we find a cracking park up for the night? Of course! More of that in the next blog when we leave the Gower and head into Pembrokeshire for the next part of our summer adventure.
Check out part 2 of our summer adventures here.
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