August 21 - 30
South Wales (Around the Mumbles, Swansea and Port Talbot)
We're based at the Gowerton CAMC site for a few days:
A good drive over here in decent weather; it's raining now - but we knew that.
Starting tomorrow after the forecast storm passes.🤞
-o-o-o-o-
It's tomorrow now🤔 and we set off after the wind and rain at around 11.30..
First stop is a windy Caswell Bay which is a surfers' haven with surf schools and a supervised area.
The bay is tidal, like much of the coast around here. After walking the bay at low tide, we start a walk in the nearby attractive Bishop's Wood Nature Reserve but abandon it before completion as rain showers intervene.
Langland Bay, a few minutes drive away is similarly tidal, revealing threatening looking rocks at low tide, which doesn't seem to deter the surfing fraternity.
After a walk along the headland, we take refreshments at the friendly surfers café.
To complete the trip we head for Mumbles town, which turns out to be an affluent, rather cool place. We spend more time than we expected at Oystermouth Castle at the top of the town. It's good value. The Council runs it, supported by the Friends of Oystermouth Castle.
The seafront promenade is a bit of an adventure as massive coastal protection works are underway, funded by the Welsh government. The finish is of a high standard which will enhance this already attractive town. We walk some considerable distance to the pier, passing some upmarket restaurants, taking coffee in a tastefully constructed brand new one on the beachfront. The pier itself is closed off and we overhear a conversation which suggests that there is a plan to construct a new hotel here. Watch this space, I think.
After reaching the Mumbles themselves (which are a series of three rocky outcrops stretching out to the lighthouse) we head back to the car and 'home'.
We wake to the tail end of storm Lilian with a car and 'van covered in tree leaves and debris - all easily cleaned up.
The main objective today is Swansea but we decide to head first for Crymlyn Bog National Nature Reserve, an unspoilt area with insects, marsh birds and plants. The mistake was to put this into Google Maps without much thought; we ended up on an overgrown single track road from which it was quite difficult extract ourselves, luckily, without many scratches on the motor... We abandon the quest and headed for Swansea.
Swansea is a city of two halves. The marina development of the old docks now provides over 500 berths and restaurants and a few coffee shops have grown around it, together with many flats, built through the 1980's.
We have a good lunch here at the El Pascador Restaurant, also visiting the excellent exhibition at the Dylan Thomas Centre.
Crossing the busy dual carriageway takes us into the city centre with many of the usual chain stores, although maintenance of the fabric of the city (such as the once clever water cascade in Castle Square) is clearly underfunded.
We're a bit late visiting the once grand large indoor market as many stalls are closing. Taking the hint, we head back to base. It's clear that the wealth around here resides in Mumbles town, though.
Next day we head out towards Port Talbot, first stopping at Aberavon, a rather pleasant 2 mile beach resort created by levelling sand dunes between the chemical and steel works.
We take a longish walk along the front to Port Talbot, chatting to a retired local about the winding down of the blast furnace by owners Tata and the government support for its replacement by electric arc technology. Apparently the retraining and voluntary redundancy programs have been well received.
The closure of the last blast furnace will mean that the prominent dock cranes for off loading the iron ore will demolished, removing another landmark of the area.
Driving into Port Talbot itself reveals a compact centre although we don't sample the indoor market area; the town doesn't seem to reflect the decline of the steel industry as yet.
A note on driving here...
I get that the default in built up areas is now 20mph, though most locals seem to drive at around 25mph and know where the speed cameras are. Local authorities have the discretion to introduce 30mph sections 'if appropriate'. The problem is that these sections are often designated by circular markings on the road, sometimes when you just shouldn't be looking at the road surface but concentrating on what's happening around you. These sections don't always seem to have repeater signs either. The result is a pain. The car rarely gets it right and displays an incorrect limit. Oh, and junctions frequently have designated turn lanes but usually only written on the road surface, often far too close to the traffic lights or roundabout for seamless positioning, although it's usually possible to guess correctly - not always though. I try to drive smoothly, safely and legally but here it all feels a bit reactive and edgy.
Just saying...
Sunday brings rain in the morning but, after an early lunch, we head out to the 12th Century Margam Abbey, where we spend some time in the Stones Museum containing a selection of well documented Celtic crosses.
We move on to the large Margam Country Park which contains a magnificent 19 Century Gothic style mansion amongst other attractions; unfortunately only the entrance hall is accessible. The house, like the park, is council owned. An elegant orangery was being used for a wedding reception during our visit.
The Orangery
I have an interesting chat to a volunteer retired toolmaker who maintains the restored 1920's turbine generator, now providing 24kW of electricity from water piped from the 'duck pond' 12m higher. The restored equipment is now controlled electronically rather than with the old mechanical governor. Very clever, those early British engineers.
So - it's our last day based at our Gower CAMC site and it's bank holiday Monday. We head off to Kenfig National Nature Reserve - which is a large haven for butterflies, birds, moths and swans, interwoven by footpaths leading through the dunes to the wild coast. The site's secret is that there is a medieval town buried beneath the sand (the remains of a castle are still visible). Its guildhall, markets and houses were left to be consumed by the rising sand in the 17th Century. We have a bracing walk to the coast from the (closed) visitor centre.
From here we head to a popular surfing beach, Rest Bay, where we watch the surfers and walk the headland before heading into Porthcawl.
Of course, this rather pleasant holiday town is busy today but as we walk the promenade we take in the many refurbished houses on the road facing the sea; there is clearly a fair amount of money being spent here.
We take a hot drink at a cool coffee shop in the harbour area. Nice place.
We head back in the opposite direction to the bank holiday queues, fuel the car with its favourite Esso Supreme, chat to our neighbours and cook a Thai curry on the magic machine. The car delivers 40.2 mpg on this trip.
So this is the end of our stay at Gowerton CAMC site as we move on to Llandow Caravan Site tomorrow....
Moving On...
We're here now. We booked this via Pitchup and it seems fine; it's certainly ideally situated. It's next to Llandow racing circuit which, of course, is my kind of thing but there's no scheduled racing. I was here with friends as a teenager driving a dodgy Triumph Herald Convertible to see a race meeting.
Anyway, back to the subject in hand; we head out from the site under overcast skies to Ogmore by Sea, descending from the village to park near the beach at the mouth of the river Ogmore. As ever there are surfers here but also families enjoying the sea and beach. It's a great little spot - ideal for an ice cream in fact.
We drive out of the village, through the neighbouring cliff top village of Southerndown and onward to Dunraven Bay, parking at the cliff top at the council operated car park, refusing to pay £5 for a short stop in the Bay on privately owned land.
The rock formations around the bay are interesting with limestone and shale layers from the Carboniferous and Jurassic periods.
We discover the preserved remains of Dunraven Castle gardens - which are a great find as they're not signposted or in our coastal guidebook.
We're just about finished as the rain arrives; what perfect timing.
But we're off again the next day to follow our coastal book of wonder. First up is Ewenny to see it's fortified priority, church and Ewenny pottery workshops. Unfortunately, the priory is locked off and the pottery either no more or now not accessible.
This is the problem with a twelve year old book - as brilliant as it is.
Fortunately the church is good value as we happen upon an expert organ refurbisher/repairer sorting out the church organ and spend quite some time in interesting conversation.
The weather's not great with some heavy showers but we head to nearby Merthyr Mawr, heading down a narrow muddy lane (in which we spend 10 minutes squeezing past a BMW with about 2cm to spare) to see the remains of Candleston Castle. We ascend the 'Big Dipper' dune to gain a brilliant view of the Ogmore river estuary. Worth the big effort required!
Heading around the estuary for 10 minutes brings us to the ruins of Ogmore Castle and a set of stepping stones across the river.
The heavy drizzle doesn't put us off as we reach Monknash, parking off a lane towards the coast. We walk around a mile down a muddy and slippery path under the cover of birches and other trees to reach a secluded beach shielded by hundreds of large flat stones. The area is a site of scientific interest and, fortunately, we bump into the land owner who leads us back through his rather beautiful domain. Interesting conversation again.
Finally, we drive to Nash Point, known for its layered, crumbling cliffs and its twin lighthouses, one being the remains of the original constructed in the 1830s after a passenger ship was wrecked here.
The foghorn is visible to the right of the operational lighthouse.
'Home', clean the layers of mud covering the motor then it's time for tea. Might just allow ourselves a beer after a hectic day.
So it's our final day coastal touring and were heading to Llanwit Major which, apart from some rather nice looking coffee cafés and a small shopping area is known as the home of the church of St Illtud founded in the 6th Century by a Celtic scholar, the town already being founded as a centre of Christian learning in around 500AD.
The church has been refurbished with a chapel to house Celtic columns and crosses while a 1000 year old font sits in the older part. We chat to the Vicar who explains that four of them serve 12 churches, some of significant historical interest.
We see the nearby ancient dovecote which is the property of the Anglian Church.
We head down to the coast at Co-huw Point with its extensive rock pools in its ancient rock bed, the crumbling cliffs above it.
Motoring on to Summerhouse beach and point is a mini adventure in itself. The access road has been labelled as 'private no entry' but two locals assure us that this is entirely the invention of the house owner through whose property the road passes and encourage us to ignore the sign. So we carry on as the road turns into a rather overgrown track, park and walk the beach with its cliffs and sight of the disused Aberthaw power station.
Finally we head to Limpert Bay which is truly dominated by the adjacent disused power station. That in itself has a kind of fascination as we stand on the cove of large stones stretching down to the sea.
What a great end to this coastal tour.
We brim the car with its preferred brew and head back to base to eat, then ready the outfit for its trip to Moreton-in-Marsh tomorrow. That's not on the coast though so nothing about that here. Did I hear you say thank goodness?
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