Between the mountains and the sea
A little over a week ago, herecirm and I set out for a long weekend together on the Gower peninsula, an area I used to visit often when I was at university in Swansea and had been longing to revisit for years. It was a fantastic weekend and I took loads of pictures, which I will now offer you the freedom to ignore through the magic of the LJ Cut.
We were staying at the guesthouse and trekking stables at Parc-le-Breos in Parkmill, which is in the middle of south Gower, near Three Cliffs Bay.
On the first day, I wanted to show Sari the beach and then as we were passing the hills I thought that might provide a nice view across the area and we ended up on a twelve mile circuit around Cefn Bryn, Oxwich, Tor bay and Three Cliffs bay.
Sari marching ahead up the hill.
One thing I discovered on this trip was that if one wants to set a Sari trap, all you really need is a hole. They are irresistable to her. Here she's climbing through the hole that once held the water wheel in a 16th century mill, the two millstones lie propped against the wall beside her.
The path lead us on through some increasingly dense woodlands. On one occasion, after crossing some narrow bridges and steep banks, we found ourselves in the middle of a large rhodedendron bush with no obvious trail leading onwards. Apparently this means I should have listened to Sari when she pointed out the much larger and more obvious stile further along the path.
Balanced carefully on a log in a muddy section of the path, Sari takes a moment out to express her feelings about the situation through the medium of dance.
These damp coastal woods allow moss and ferns to grow over rocks, tree trunks and branches. It's a very atmospheric environment to walk through, giving an idea of what primal British forest might have resembled.
After a time the forest came to an end and we reached wide parkland fields.
These flies were exceedingly sparkly. They were skittering around on the surface of a puddle in the graveyard at Oxwich church. For some reason Sari chose to photograph the ancient church and it's surrounds rather than the tiny flies.
We walked back across Oxwich bay. The tide was at a spring low, so there was plenty of space to walk around the headland at Great Tor, which usually divides Tor Bay and Oxwich from Three Cliffs.
I liked the abstract colour banding of the strata in these rocks.
One of the great things about scrambling along the rocks from Sari's point of view was the plethora of opportunities presented for vanishing into holes.
Sari stomps purposefully over the stepping stones across Pennard Pill.
A bend in the river. This area really is a Geography teacher's dream. If you spend too long there leather elbow patches start to develop on your clothing.
The Pennard water tower through an arrow slit in the gatehouse of Pennard Castle.
From further up the valley, Pennard Castle stands out of the trees like some ruinous forest fortress.
The next morning we set out to explore some ancient sites nearby, starting with the Chambered Cairn remains just at the bottom of the valley below the guesthouse.
Sari found a hole nearby.
We headed on to Port Eynon with the plan of going to find Culver Hole as it is an unusual historical structure and connecting with smuggling and also a hole, so it pretty much hits every mark as far as Sari is concerned. However instead I took us totally the wrong way and we ended up scrambling over sharp coastal rocks. Which is also pretty fun.
Also I found a gribble. Or some similar coastal isopod. Actually, looking at them, it probably isn't a gribble. But I wish it was, so I'm going to keep that dream alive because I like the word "gribble."
From Port Eynon we looped around to the north Gower road so I could show Sari the long ascent to Cefn Bryn, the ridge that crosses the peninsula. At the top we pulled over to visit Arthur's Stone.
Legend suggests that the stone was in Arthur's shoe on his way to the battle of Camlann and he threw it from Llanelli ( the other side of the estuary to the north ) landing here. Archaeology suggests it is a neolithic dolmen. The capstone weighs around 35 tonnes, so installing it ( either here or in King Arthur's shoe ) must have been quite a challenge.
From the stone we walked over to the nearby cairn ( relatively modern, as it only dates back to the bronze age ) whereupon I spotted some ponies on the hillside a little further over so we had to go and take their pictures...
So there we are, quite innocently photographing ponies and the next thing we know Saruman is sending Crebain out of Dunland to spy on us. A wizard should know better!
I guess this little guy is going to grey out over time, but right now he is a totally adorable colour. The horses graze wild on the commons of Gower- there are a few different herds to be found around the place as well as sheep and cattle.
As we finished circumnavigating all the marshes that various paths back towards the parking area kept leading us inexorably into, these two riders passed. Judging by their arabian horses and rope halters, I suspect they are probably into either natural horsemanship or endurance.
We drove on to Llangennith and I lead us straight off up Rhossili Down.
Looking along Llangennith towards Burry Holm.
It was exceedingly windy on the ridge. Amazingly windy. A few feet below the edge and it was breezy, but the moment one reached the exposed summit the wind hit you.
Sari struck back with crazy eighties hair and the raised fist of powerballadry. She is awesome.
Looking back from Rhossili towards the far end of the bay - the classic view of one of the best beaches in Britain.
The remains of the Helvetica, wrecked on the beach in the last part of the nineteenth century. Even since the last time I was here there seem to be fewer spars visible. In the background is Worms Head, the tip of Gower.
Huge nails stick out of the weed and barnacle encrusted spar.
Big world, small Sari.
A piece of fishing-net festooned driftwood that someone had planted on the beach, with Worms Head in the background. By this point it was raining again, but at least the sand was too wet in the rising tide to catch the wind and sandblast our faces.
When we got back the herd of more than thirty trekking horses were out in front of the guesthouse sharing some new grass. This character was in a somewhat grumpy mood...
On Monday we went pony trekking. I have wanted to ride on Gower for a long time and in classic Welsh style we managed to do it on a day when it was freezing cold and raining sideways.
When we pulled up for lunch the same herd of hill ponies we met the previous day came over to meet us and pester our horses.
Apparently these are wild ponies. Or at least feral.
Sari had a friend!
Sari had many friends! For the second time a semi-wild pony was obsessed with her leopard print boot liners. Clearly they are the thing to have if you ever need to befriend a wild mustang or brumby.
Sari on her trekking pony, Roger.
Me on my mount for the day, Annie. Apparently she is one of the slowest horses they have, but she went briskly for me, much to everyone's surprise. Either the fresh grass had got to her or the fact that I'm usually riding Zorro and having to have a really get-up-and-go attitude to move over 0.5 miles per hour helped. Probably the former. I was flippin' glad of that coat.
Sari and Roger at the end of the ride.
That evening we went into Swansea and joined shiva_matimbres, spoondog and spoon_doom for their friendly local pub quiz. We scored a respectable 29 out of 40, although I was a strong proponent of at least one totally incorrect answer, so I'm not sure how much of a positive role I played in this scenario.
The next morning we checked out after breakfast. I suggested we go for one last wander onto the headland above Three Cliffs.
The tide was high in the bay, higher than I ever remember seeing it.
Looking back towards Cefn Bryn from the enclosure on the headland.
With a day to travel, we decided to drive back through the Brecon Beacons rather than going directly along the M4. This gave us a chance to visit the showcaves at Dan-yr-Ogof. This area is largely dedicated to massive plastic dinosaurs but the caves themselves are very dramatic.
A stalagtite-stalagmite pillar in the caves. Also the low-light setting on my camera is amazing- I hadn't used it much before, but it really excelled itself.
Sari found a hole! In fact she quickly hatched a plan to become a cryptozoologist caver and go in search of the blind cave unicorn. The more we explored the logistics of this animal, the less inclined I became to meet one.
We drove on through the stunning scenery of the Brecon Beacons, which I didn't get any pictures of as I was busy driving but would certainly be worth exploring properly.
We stopped for lunch and a bit of a wander in Crickhowell. This view was taken from the bridge at the bottom of the very pretty town.
From there it was a fairly direct drive back to England and home.
This break was the longest time Sari and I have spent together and it was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I keep using phrases like "best ever" when I talk about times I spend with her and I realise it would be easy to devalue those terms, but I am unquestionably counting the times we spend together among the best days I have ever known. The days in between feel like killing time, the dim space between streetlights, they slip by easily enough in anticipation of the next time we can be together. Having more time together gave us time to grow into the routine of being together without losing any of the wonder or excitement of sharing one another's time and company.
This was a small but excellent adventure and I look forward to many more in future.
We were staying at the guesthouse and trekking stables at Parc-le-Breos in Parkmill, which is in the middle of south Gower, near Three Cliffs Bay.
On the first day, I wanted to show Sari the beach and then as we were passing the hills I thought that might provide a nice view across the area and we ended up on a twelve mile circuit around Cefn Bryn, Oxwich, Tor bay and Three Cliffs bay.
Sari marching ahead up the hill.
One thing I discovered on this trip was that if one wants to set a Sari trap, all you really need is a hole. They are irresistable to her. Here she's climbing through the hole that once held the water wheel in a 16th century mill, the two millstones lie propped against the wall beside her.
The path lead us on through some increasingly dense woodlands. On one occasion, after crossing some narrow bridges and steep banks, we found ourselves in the middle of a large rhodedendron bush with no obvious trail leading onwards. Apparently this means I should have listened to Sari when she pointed out the much larger and more obvious stile further along the path.
Balanced carefully on a log in a muddy section of the path, Sari takes a moment out to express her feelings about the situation through the medium of dance.
These damp coastal woods allow moss and ferns to grow over rocks, tree trunks and branches. It's a very atmospheric environment to walk through, giving an idea of what primal British forest might have resembled.
After a time the forest came to an end and we reached wide parkland fields.
These flies were exceedingly sparkly. They were skittering around on the surface of a puddle in the graveyard at Oxwich church. For some reason Sari chose to photograph the ancient church and it's surrounds rather than the tiny flies.
We walked back across Oxwich bay. The tide was at a spring low, so there was plenty of space to walk around the headland at Great Tor, which usually divides Tor Bay and Oxwich from Three Cliffs.
I liked the abstract colour banding of the strata in these rocks.
One of the great things about scrambling along the rocks from Sari's point of view was the plethora of opportunities presented for vanishing into holes.
Sari stomps purposefully over the stepping stones across Pennard Pill.
A bend in the river. This area really is a Geography teacher's dream. If you spend too long there leather elbow patches start to develop on your clothing.
The Pennard water tower through an arrow slit in the gatehouse of Pennard Castle.
From further up the valley, Pennard Castle stands out of the trees like some ruinous forest fortress.
The next morning we set out to explore some ancient sites nearby, starting with the Chambered Cairn remains just at the bottom of the valley below the guesthouse.
Sari found a hole nearby.
We headed on to Port Eynon with the plan of going to find Culver Hole as it is an unusual historical structure and connecting with smuggling and also a hole, so it pretty much hits every mark as far as Sari is concerned. However instead I took us totally the wrong way and we ended up scrambling over sharp coastal rocks. Which is also pretty fun.
Also I found a gribble. Or some similar coastal isopod. Actually, looking at them, it probably isn't a gribble. But I wish it was, so I'm going to keep that dream alive because I like the word "gribble."
From Port Eynon we looped around to the north Gower road so I could show Sari the long ascent to Cefn Bryn, the ridge that crosses the peninsula. At the top we pulled over to visit Arthur's Stone.
Legend suggests that the stone was in Arthur's shoe on his way to the battle of Camlann and he threw it from Llanelli ( the other side of the estuary to the north ) landing here. Archaeology suggests it is a neolithic dolmen. The capstone weighs around 35 tonnes, so installing it ( either here or in King Arthur's shoe ) must have been quite a challenge.
From the stone we walked over to the nearby cairn ( relatively modern, as it only dates back to the bronze age ) whereupon I spotted some ponies on the hillside a little further over so we had to go and take their pictures...
So there we are, quite innocently photographing ponies and the next thing we know Saruman is sending Crebain out of Dunland to spy on us. A wizard should know better!
I guess this little guy is going to grey out over time, but right now he is a totally adorable colour. The horses graze wild on the commons of Gower- there are a few different herds to be found around the place as well as sheep and cattle.
As we finished circumnavigating all the marshes that various paths back towards the parking area kept leading us inexorably into, these two riders passed. Judging by their arabian horses and rope halters, I suspect they are probably into either natural horsemanship or endurance.
We drove on to Llangennith and I lead us straight off up Rhossili Down.
Looking along Llangennith towards Burry Holm.
It was exceedingly windy on the ridge. Amazingly windy. A few feet below the edge and it was breezy, but the moment one reached the exposed summit the wind hit you.
Sari struck back with crazy eighties hair and the raised fist of powerballadry. She is awesome.
Looking back from Rhossili towards the far end of the bay - the classic view of one of the best beaches in Britain.
The remains of the Helvetica, wrecked on the beach in the last part of the nineteenth century. Even since the last time I was here there seem to be fewer spars visible. In the background is Worms Head, the tip of Gower.
Huge nails stick out of the weed and barnacle encrusted spar.
Big world, small Sari.
A piece of fishing-net festooned driftwood that someone had planted on the beach, with Worms Head in the background. By this point it was raining again, but at least the sand was too wet in the rising tide to catch the wind and sandblast our faces.
When we got back the herd of more than thirty trekking horses were out in front of the guesthouse sharing some new grass. This character was in a somewhat grumpy mood...
On Monday we went pony trekking. I have wanted to ride on Gower for a long time and in classic Welsh style we managed to do it on a day when it was freezing cold and raining sideways.
When we pulled up for lunch the same herd of hill ponies we met the previous day came over to meet us and pester our horses.
Apparently these are wild ponies. Or at least feral.
Sari had a friend!
Sari had many friends! For the second time a semi-wild pony was obsessed with her leopard print boot liners. Clearly they are the thing to have if you ever need to befriend a wild mustang or brumby.
Sari on her trekking pony, Roger.
Me on my mount for the day, Annie. Apparently she is one of the slowest horses they have, but she went briskly for me, much to everyone's surprise. Either the fresh grass had got to her or the fact that I'm usually riding Zorro and having to have a really get-up-and-go attitude to move over 0.5 miles per hour helped. Probably the former. I was flippin' glad of that coat.
Sari and Roger at the end of the ride.
That evening we went into Swansea and joined shiva_matimbres, spoondog and spoon_doom for their friendly local pub quiz. We scored a respectable 29 out of 40, although I was a strong proponent of at least one totally incorrect answer, so I'm not sure how much of a positive role I played in this scenario.
The next morning we checked out after breakfast. I suggested we go for one last wander onto the headland above Three Cliffs.
The tide was high in the bay, higher than I ever remember seeing it.
Looking back towards Cefn Bryn from the enclosure on the headland.
With a day to travel, we decided to drive back through the Brecon Beacons rather than going directly along the M4. This gave us a chance to visit the showcaves at Dan-yr-Ogof. This area is largely dedicated to massive plastic dinosaurs but the caves themselves are very dramatic.
A stalagtite-stalagmite pillar in the caves. Also the low-light setting on my camera is amazing- I hadn't used it much before, but it really excelled itself.
Sari found a hole! In fact she quickly hatched a plan to become a cryptozoologist caver and go in search of the blind cave unicorn. The more we explored the logistics of this animal, the less inclined I became to meet one.
We drove on through the stunning scenery of the Brecon Beacons, which I didn't get any pictures of as I was busy driving but would certainly be worth exploring properly.
We stopped for lunch and a bit of a wander in Crickhowell. This view was taken from the bridge at the bottom of the very pretty town.
From there it was a fairly direct drive back to England and home.
This break was the longest time Sari and I have spent together and it was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I keep using phrases like "best ever" when I talk about times I spend with her and I realise it would be easy to devalue those terms, but I am unquestionably counting the times we spend together among the best days I have ever known. The days in between feel like killing time, the dim space between streetlights, they slip by easily enough in anticipation of the next time we can be together. Having more time together gave us time to grow into the routine of being together without losing any of the wonder or excitement of sharing one another's time and company.
This was a small but excellent adventure and I look forward to many more in future.