Gower

There is something rather wonderful about walking along a beach barefoot. It was my number one requirement for a family holiday, this year, and Gower did not let me down. I love Wales and its beautiful beaches. This was a walking holiday and, according to my fitness app, we walked almost 70km in our week away. Not all on beaches, but enough.

We planned to go away in September. No longer tied to school holidays, we took advantage of the off peak days. Cheaper and less busy. What I hadn’t taken into account was Youngest changing his plans. After his A level results, he decided to skip his planned gap year and go straight to University, which starts mid September. Rushing around, we changed our holiday plans.

Strangely enough this lead to an interesting twist to the holiday.

I’m part welsh, but the last time I was on the Gower peninsula was as a child and it blends into other holidays in Wales. When we arrived, this time, I sent a photo to my parents and my father replied that I should visit my ancestors. Turns out we had booked a cottage in the very village my ancestors resided in for generations. What are the chances? The whole holiday, we tripped over references to them. It was quite possible that they had been in the cottage we were staying in and they certainly walked the paths and beaches. As someone who has moved around a lot and is rootless, the sense of coming home was strong.

I’m glad we changed our plans.

I’ll add another post about the start of our week and concentrate on last weekend now.

Rhossili

Last Friday, we went to Rhossili to walk the Worm. It’s an island cut off by high tide, so you only have two hours on either side of low tide to walk out to it. It is called the Worm, as originally the name was spelt Wyrm which means dragon or serpent. The island does look like a dragon in the water, swimming out to sea.

The walk out to it is only for the sure footed. Lots of rock pools and boulders. Not a flat surface, which slows down progress. I’m glad we went out on a dry day, and that I’ve been working on my core strength.

If you’ve watched the Guest on BBC recently, you’ll have seen them walk across the bridge at the end of the Worm. Also you’d recognise the cottage on Rhossili beach. It’s owned by the National Trust and I understand the waiting list to stay in it, is a few years long. I’m not surprised. It is an amazing location.

It was an amazing day out. A very long walk along Rhossili beach, which had a fair share of jellyfish stranded on the beach. I’m glad we didn’t encounter any while paddling, as they can still sting when dead.

Weekend in Gower

Due to work commitments, my husband only joined us for the weekend. He brought Hero the Hound too. I made sure we fitted lots in to their time with us. We did beach and coastal path walks, plus a castle.

We tried to visit Oxwich castle during the week, but it was closed due to staffing issues. Fortunately it opened at the weekend. Plenty of references to my family, so this may, in some way, be an ancestral home too. We found an enthusiastic guide in the first room, who filled us in on the castle’s history and brought the place to life.

Sunday we walked on Broughton Sands and watched a gannet diving into the water to catch fish. I love watching them as they seem to fall out of the sky. More paddling in the sea, before heading to the cottage and seeing my husband and Hero off again.

The cottage, we were staying in, was a few metres from the beach, so we took one last walk as we were heading home the next day. It coincided with the moon eclipse, but unfortunately it was cloudy and we didn’t see it. Instead we enjoyed the sound of the waves on the pebbles, which is one of my favourite sounds.

The journey home was uneventful. The children took turns navigating for me and they are really good at doing it.

Wine tasting

When we left, the grass was crispy and dry. Returning, we found it green again. In fact, everything seemed to be alive again. Tuesday evening, my husband and I went to a local vineyard for a wine tasting. It was a fabulous location, with a view over the valley. I couldn’t help noticing that the fields looked green again.

The evening was fun, even though I was driving and not drinking the wine. I only occasionally drink, so it was no hardship. I did enjoy the local cheese board and bread, looking over the view. Fascinating talk about the natural yeasts and how the grapes were a month early. I sniffed the wine and they did smell divine.

Home

The rest of the week has been a whirlwind of preparing for two of the children heading off to Uni. Haircuts and necessary items acquired. Hurried cooking lessons for the Youngest too. I thought I had another year!

I did notice that a pair of rabbits have moved into the garden while we were away and the badgers made a good start on my sweetcorn. Also the baby pheasants have noticeably grown. They look so funny as they run across the garden, surrounded by the adult pheasants acting as their bodyguard detail. Never a dull moment.

Joining in with Anne’s word of the week linky. Hope you’ve all had a good summer.