Trip to the Gower 2022
A first for EOC, when twelve of us went on a trip organised by Ramblers Walking Holidays
Barbara Stryjak
This was originally a trip organised for us by Ramblers to Sicily in Oct 2020, cancelled due to Covid, and finally resurrected as a trip to the gorgeous Gower in South Wales two years later.
The Gower Peninsula lies to the west of Swansea. It was Britain’s first designated ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ and has some of Britain’s best coastal scenery. Spectacular beaches and coastal walks, golden sand, geological outcrops, sandy shores, caves, Norman castles, pretty villages and good pubs.
We spent four nights at Morgans, a comfortable 4* hotel in the centre of Swansea, imaginatively converted from the former Port Authority building, with some amazing bedrooms, and rumoured to be where Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas stay when they visit her home city of Swansea. The food and service were excellent.
We did very different walks on the three days. They were led by a very able Ramblers tour leader. The walks were linear, about 10 miles each, and we were bussed to and from the start and finish points.
Our first walk was 10 miles took us from Mumbles up and down along the beautiful coast, and then headed inland to Bishopston where we relaxed in a pub and were very lucky to be treated to some left over freshly baked delicious Victoria sponge cake and shortbread!
"Spectacular beaches and coastal walks, golden sand, geological outcrops, sandy shores, caves, Norman castles, pretty villages and good pubs. "
Day 2 was a partly inland walk from Ilston to Llanrhidian and took in the scenic Three Cliffs Bay, with another pub stop mid-afternoon. During dinner that evening one of our group organised a quiz on the London Underground, which was good fun.
The walks were classified at the upper end of moderate (Grade 5 on a scale from 1 to 9), and we climbed between 400 and 550 m up and between 415 and 475 m down on each day. On our EOC scale we would probably classify the walks as Grade 2.
The weather was very kind to us, warm enough to walk just in short sleeves most of the time, and it was only at lunchtime on the third and last day of walking that it started to rain.
It wasn’t Sicily as originally planned, nevertheless it was a successful, very enjoyable trip. Comments from our group included “it was a wonderful experience”, "a fabulous few days”, “great walks in the lovely Gower peninsula”, “a memorable trip”, “a really great week”, and “we are now spoilt for future trips!”.
Day 1
Day 2
The 3 mile stretch of the amazing Rhossili Beach at the western end of Gower was the highlight of our walk on day 3.
"We are now spoilt for future trips!"
