A blustery Rhossili bay walk

One of the things I love about holidays is getting out and about.  I’m not great at getting out around home, unless we go out for the day, but on holiday there’s always places I want to see and do.  This camping trip the weather wasn’t that great for doing much once we’d spent the 2 sunny days on the beach.  But once the rain cleared in the afternoons we did cram in a couple of extra detours to places including Rhossili Bay.

After a rainy morning when we ensconced ourselves for 2 hours in the LC pool and a cheeky McDonalds lunch (hey we’d swum in the morning!), a few of us decided we wanted to make the most of the clearing weather a clear the cobwebs with a walk along Rhossili Bay.

The drive took us right to the western end of the Gower Peninsula, and we’re talking seriously rugged coastline.  And it was blowy.  There’s a reasonable sized National Trust car park (bargain, free parking for us as members), plus a National Trust shop and café, plus a couple of other specialist shops.  The car park is being enlarged, but in warmer weather you’d likely need to arrive early to get a space if you want to get on the beach.  We stuck to walking along the cliff top as we didn’t fancy the walk down to the beach and back up again.

It really is a spectacular place to walk with beautiful views and a stunning beach. In the sun and wind, there were plenty of white waves foaming onto the beach.  The beach is long and wide, but was virtually empty when we were there.  A great view for the lone white Old Rectory just above the beach – a National Trust holiday house.

Not all of the children wanted to walk, but thankfully N was happy enough.  They were set a bit of a scavenger hunt to look for different items, but mostly they just wanted to get as close to the edge as possible. A bit of a scary thing as you never know when someone might slip.

It certainly made for some great photos, and reminiscing about coastal geography field trips at school.  Deciding to lie down for a break on the cliff to avoid being blown off was a great way to get everyone settled in one place with everyone still being able to see the view below them.

We were also there when we heard and then spotted a chinook helicopter appearing from the far side of the beach and flying low across it before going overhead.  Wales is obviously a place that has a lot of low flying aircraft going over.

When the tide is out you can walk across the causeway to Worm’s Head, although we didn’t get that far.  Too many moans and groans about having to walk (it wasn’t even far), but we didn’t walk for longer than 30 minutes.  It was still a nice walk to get out and see some more of the countryside.  And finishing with ice creams and photo stops at the car park went down well afterwards.

Considering the day had started with a lot of rain, it ended well and nicely sunny.  A pretty perfect day really – swimming, wave machines (which N loved), giant slides and lazy rivers at the Swansea LC for the children, and an afternoon walk in the sun for the mums.

If you’re in the area, you should definitely add Rhossili Bay to your places to visit.

Which wild beaches do you recommend, in Wales or otherwise?

Why not take a look at these related posts:

• Summer fun bucket list for families
• The Mumbles and Oystermouth Castle
• Days out ideas in South Wales
• Sunflower fields in the UK