Walking on the Gower. Andrew Davies
on walls and rocks around Pennard Castle, but it occurs nowhere else in the UK.
Salt-tolerant plants grow on the lower part of the cliffs and include spring squill, golden samphire, rock sea-lavender, buck’s horn plantain, sea campion, scurvygrass and the only maritime fern, sea spleenwort. Juniper, one of the most striking of the late-glacial relict species on Gower, can be found in places protected from cliff-top fires as it cannot regenerate, unlike gorse which then tends to replace it.
Maritime heath is found on the headlands and is a typical feature of the exposed Atlantic coast of Wales. Heather and western gorse grow together to form a dense habitat that turns purple and yellow with summer flowers. Patches of bare rock, grassland and bracken combine to make this a diverse habitat and a suitable home for many species of insects and scrub-nesting birds such as linnet, whitethroat, stonechat and yellowhammer. Stonechats are resident all year round and are frequent companions, darting from perch to perch from where they give their distinctive call. Other notable species include skylark, raven, chough, kestrel and peregrine falcon. About 200 to 300 guillemot and razorbill breed on Worms Head together with fulmar, shag and cormorant. Kittiwakes have decreased on the Worm but have populated Mumbles Pier.
Rhossili Bay and Worms Head from Spaniard Rocks (Walks 20 and 23)
Chough were absent for many years but returned to breed here in 1991 and are now a common sight, often announcing their presence by their call before they are in view. They like to feed on the closely cropped cliff-top turf, as do green woodpeckers. In 2001 a pair of Dartford warblers were discovered breeding near Port Eynon Point and they can now be found on the coastal cliff slope along south Gower. It is unusual among British warblers in that it is resident all year round; it is particularly fond of young gorse bushes as these contain an abundance of insects on which they feed.
The Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet have the fourth largest salt marsh in Britain bounded by a number of limestone bluffs which were next to the sea 5000 years ago. The marsh developed in the shelter of Whiteford Burrows from east to west. The only major area of salt marsh to be enclosed is Cwm Ivy Marsh when an earthen sea wall was built in 1638 which was later given a drystone facing.
Salt marsh, Pennard Pill (Walks 7 and 9)
The greatest number of plant species can be found along the upper fringes where the marsh merges with sand dunes, water meadows and freshwater marsh. Areas that are covered daily by the tides have a relatively small number of salt-tolerant species with areas nearest to low water dominated by glasswort, annual sea-blite and common cord-grass. The mid-marsh community comprises a closely grazed sward of common saltmarsh-grass with sea-purslane growing along the creek sides. This grades into the upper zone where the common saltmarsh-grass is mixed with red fescue, thrift and sea milkwort.
The highest part has a belt of tall sea rush which is some several hundred metres wide at Llanrhidian which has been traditionally cut by the farmers for bedding for their animals. Two plants worth searching out at the highest part of the grazed salt-marsh are the striking marsh mallow which has attractive pale pink flowers in July, and sea wormwood. Cwm Ivy Marsh is of particular interest as a lowland fen meadow and has tall stands of yellow flag iris.
Skylark
The whole southern shore of the Burry Inlet is an extremely important wintering area for shorebirds, geese and duck. The area is best in winter with regular birds including black-tailed and bar-tailed godwits, snipe, jack snipe, lapwing, golden, grey and ringed plover, dunlin, knot, sanderling, redshank, spotted redshank, curlew and oystercatchers. Ducks such as eider, wigeon, teal, pintail and long-tailed duck can be seen as well as red-breasted merganser, common and velvet Scoter, red-throated and great northern divers, shelduck, Brent geese and Slavonian and black-necked grebes.
Passerines are relatively few and far between, although there are plenty of meadow pipits and thrushes in winter, and a good range of woodland birds near Cwm Ivy. Raptors include hen harrier, peregrine, merlin, kestrel, buzzard and short-eared owl.
Transport to and around Gower
Gower is well served by the M4 motorway from the east and the west. There is a direct Intercity 125 train from Cardiff, Bristol and London, and regular buses from Swansea to the main villages. Contact Traveline Cymru on 0870 608 2 608 for more information or visit their website www.traveline-cymru.org.uk.
There are two main roads that run east–west along the peninsula with a number of minor routes linking them north–south. Both the north and south Gower roads become severely congested during peak times in the summer school holidays.
Staying in Gower
Gower is a mature tourist destination and is well served with all types of accommodation including hotels, bed and breakfast, self-catering, caravan parks and campsites. These often book up early, especially the best located campsites such as the one overlooking Three Cliffs Bay.
For up-to-date information contact the local tourist information centres in Swansea (tel. 01792 468321, www.visitswanseabay.com) or The Mumbles (tel. 01792 361302, www.mumblestic.co.uk).
Using this guide
Walking down the northern end of Rhossili Down (Walks 18, 20–21 and 22)
The walks in the book are arranged in a clockwise order around the peninsula, starting in the south-east at Mumbles and finishing in the north-east at Llanrhidian. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the OS Explorer 1:25,000 Gower Sheet 164. The 30 routes described are of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty to cater for different interests and abilities and a fit walker will not find any of the routes particularly strenuous. All the routes are circular, include as few roads as possible and explore little frequented areas wherever possible.
Rights of way are generally well-marked and, on the whole, provide a good and even walking surface. Routes that include non-coastal sections can vary considerably in their nature depending on the amount of rain that has fallen. Good quality waterproof boots are recommended under these circumstances but stout walking shoes will suffice during the drier summer months.
Gower is exposed to prevailing south-westerly winds and the weather can change rapidly at any time of the year but temperatures are moderated by the relatively warm sea water of the Atlantic Drift. As a consequence, winters are seldom severe although the summits can provide a surprisingly mountain moorland experience on a hard snowy day. It is wise to carry enough clothing in case the weather changes. Multiple thin layers will give you more flexibility to respond to changing conditions.
Routes are illustrated with extracts from the 1:50,000 OS maps, with the main route marked in orange and any alternative routes marked in blue and extensions in green. Alternative and extended routes are described within the main route description. Features along the walk that appear on the map are highlighted in bold in the route description. The route descriptions are also accompanied by information boxes which are cross-referenced to other route descriptions, using the walk number.
WALK 1
The Mumbles, Langland and Caswell
| Start/Finish | Bracelet Bay (SS 6250 8715) |
| Distance | 11.5km (7¼ miles) |
| Total ascent | 290m |
| Time | 3hrs |
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Refreshments
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