Walking on the Gower. Andrew Davies

      View of north Gower from the ascent of Cil Ifor Top (Walk 30)

      The Gower packs a glittering array of features into a remarkably compact and unspoilt area. Justifiably selected in 1956 as the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this tiny South Wales peninsula boasts some of the most scenic beaches anywhere in the world, alongside fascinating geological formations, ancient archaeological sites and striking buildings from its more recent history.

      An added bonus for holidaymakers wanting to stretch their legs is the number of rich and varied walks that can be found in an area just 25km long by 13km wide, with spectacular landscapes easily accessible in all directions. The land oozes with interesting wildlife, landscape and cultural features, and each walk described in this guidebook endeavours to capture this diversity and richness. A haven for walkers, photographers and nature lovers, Gower draws visitors back time and time again.

      The peninsula is known for its spectacularly steep, rugged coastline and picture-perfect golden sandy beaches. But there is much more to the Gower and the 30 circular routes described here will take readers into the little-explored valleys, hills and ridges found inland. Many of the routes combine a section of coastal path, which may visit a secluded cove or wide-sweeping beach, with a ridge offering stunning panoramic views or with a tranquil stream valley. All avoid road-walking wherever possible.

      Some coastal areas are well frequented, such as those around Langland, Oxwich and Port Eynon, but this guidebook focuses in the main on the lesser known parts where you will really be able to escape the crowds and find peace and solitude.

Geology

      The continental plate on which Gower has formed was once situated south of the equator and has been drifting northwards over the past 425 million years. As a result, the sedimentary rocks that now comprise Gower were deposited under widely varying climatic conditions, from tropical seas rich in corals to coastal swamps.

      The oldest rocks cropping out on Gower are from the end of the Devonian period and they form the cores of the major anticlines. During this period Gower lay in a region where sediment-laden rivers crossed a wide plain between mountains to the north and the sea to the south. The mountains were made of still older rocks whose roots now form much of central and north Wales. The climate at this time was tropical, possibly monsoonal, and the streams carried away coarse sediment from the intense erosion in the hills and deposited it across the braided river channels. In Gower we see pebbly rocks – conglomerates – at the top of the Devonian sequence overlying coarse sandstones, and these form the high ground of Cefn Bryn, Llanmadoc Hill and Rhossili Down.

      Arthur’s Stone, Cefn Bryn (Walks 8, 10 and 28)

      The Devonian period ended approximately 360 million years ago when changing sea levels caused the sea to advance northwards. Initially mainly muddy marine sediments were laid down over the continental conglomerates, becoming dark, fine-grained shales, but gradually the amount of river-borne detritus diminished to leave clearer waters.

      In these equatorial warm, clear waters calcium carbonate precipitated in the form of shells and skeletons from the abundant corals, shellfish, brachiopods and crinoids (sea-lilies). This became the Carboniferous limestone series that comprises grey calcareous shales and massive limestones. The rocks are divisible into three groups: Lower Limestone Shales, Main Limestone and Upper Limestone Shales; however, there are many different rock types within these groups, each with varying textures, thicknesses and fossils as a result of subtle environmental changes. Overall it is about 800 metres thick, but becomes progressively thinner to the north, where the sea was shallower and more susceptible to interruptions of sedimentation as sea levels fluctuated, leading to the absence of some layers.

      The wave-cut Carboniferous limestone reef of Overton Mere (Walks 15 and 17)

      These stable conditions were interrupted around 320 million years ago by earth movements caused by approaching continents from the west and south. The compressive forces within the earth’s crust caused the nearby landmass to be forced upwards and the increased rate of erosion flooded the limestone sea with sediments of sand, shale and mud from the river deltas.

      This transition from limestone is marked by a coarse sandstone known as millstone grit, originally laid down by fast-flowing rivers. In its lower layers the gritstone contains massive white quartz conglomerates and sandstones, within which there are very pure bands of over 99 per cent quartz that were once worked for firebrick.

      The next succession, the Coal Measures, originated in a widespread system of river deltas close to sea level, upon which grew lush tropical forests of giant mosses, horsetails and ferns that eventually became the coal. The Measures consist of sandstones, shales and coals arranged in a repeated sequence, as the forests flourished for a time, were inundated and buried by mud and sand as sea levels rose, and then developed once more on the river delta shales as the sea retreated.

      These deposits are followed by massive beds of sandstone, known commonly to South Wales miners as the Farewell Rock, as they knew that there were no more workable coal bands once they had struck this distinctive geological marker.

      Boulders of Devonian quartz conglomerate on Rhossili Down (Walks 17–22)

      The sedimentary layers of rock that form both Gower and the South Wales coalfield were folded to form a massive syncline some 280 million years ago, as a result of plate collisions further south that formed the super-continent Pangea. The older Devonian rocks have been exposed through erosion in the west and north of Gower, and Carboniferous limestone disappears beneath the Coal Measures to the north-east. There is also a series of tight folds that begins on the peninsula and continues under the Bristol Channel and into Devon.

      Looking west over Ram’s Grove, showing the inclined limestone beds of the cliffs (Walks 16–17 and 21)

      The last major episodes to affect Gower were the Ice Ages, occurring during the last two million years of Earth history. During the Ipswichian interglacial period, around 130,000 to 120,000 years ago, the melting ice caused sea levels to rise to 6-9m above the present level. Subsequent

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