Month: September 2017

Ogmore to Southerndown (and back)

28th August 2017

It was a lovely sunny bank holiday Monday, and we decided to fill in our of our small gaps – this time between Ogmore and Southerndown. Only a 3.8 mile walk but we decided to leave the car at Ogmore Castle and walk both ways.

The coastal path from the castle heads across the road and on a very unused path which is overrun with stinging nettles, so we stuck to the road and the path soon found us again.

Our starting point today
Not going to be walking down here in shorts Andrew!!

Thankfully today the tide was in, so I avoided having to take Andrew on the stepping stones again as we walked along the estuary.

Fabulous views once again

Ogmore is popular any time of the year, but on an August Bank Holiday with the sun shining it was officially “heaving” and has been declared our busiest section of coastal path so far.

People everywhere

The rock formations at Ogmore are very stark but also strangely beautiful.

On the rocks
Getting more dangerous

I hadn’t spotted that Sharon had taken us off the coastal path in order to “be nearer the coast”.  I was nearly part of the coast as we walked upon a narrow ledge over a sheer drop – until I finally persuaded Sharon to head inland to rejoin the coastal path – the signs gave me the clue that all was not as it should be!!

Not going to walk round there Sharon, can we head inland?
Perhaps better to stay on the path in future

And before we knew it we were at the Southerndown car park and had joined up with our previous walk. I won’t bore you with the return journey, although needless to say it involved a stop for coffee and cake.

Total distance walked 7.5 miles, 3.8 miles of which count towards our coastal path so the total is now 310.2 miles and 559.5 miles to go.

Oxwich Bay to Rhossili

19th August 2017

On a dry but very windy day we decided to walk in the Gower from Oxwich Bay to Rhossili. We had wanted to include the walk out to Worm’s head but the tide times and the bus times wouldn’t coincide – so we parked in Rhossili and got the bus to Towers.

The sign at Rhossili where we will end up
Sharon and Bonnie at the bus stop
Towers – with the road leading down to Oxwich Bay

We walked down the road to Oxwich Bay and found the coastal path sign before walking along the beach front.

The sign at Oxwich beach
Oxwich Bay

We passed St Illtyd’s church before starting a very steep climb and descent (apparently to avoid a landslip – so the book tells me).

Up we climb

And then we walked around Oxwich point and along to Lucas Bay.

Port Eynon in the distance
Lucas Bay

We had decided to stop for lunch at Port Eynon, and found ourselves walking both against the strong wind, and against 98 two person teams completing a run/swim from Rhossili to Oxwich – so on narrow parts we had to stop and let them through. We also found that part of the path had fallen into the sea so needed to detour inland and back out again.

Doh – lunch is delayed

In Port Eynon we got some cakes at the Life Boat open day and sat down to eat them when we heard “Dad!” “Sharon!” and saw Dan with his head stuck through a hole receiving a lot of sponges in the face – he was running the stall for the life boaters.

Dan enjoying a soaking

After Dan showed us the sights of Port Eynon we continued up and around to Port Eynon point.

Port Eynon beach
The Salt House
Port Eynon Point

The walk then follows the coast all the way to Rhossili – but boy is it hilly. We walked over Overton Cliff, Common Cliff, and Horse Cliff, and the altitude was clocking up.

Fabulous views but very hilly
A great coastal path sign
And the wind was whipping up the sea into a froth

In the sun it was very warm, especially up the hills.

So trendy
Bonnie leads the way
More stunning scenery

And we picked the best view of the day for our afternoon coffee and cake.

Cake tastes better with this view

We set off again having refueled and finally we could see Worm’s head in the distance.

There’s Worm’s Head

By now it was about 4.30 and we had been walking for over 12 miles, but we pushed on up a few more hills to walk around the top of the cliff above Worm’s Head and to Lookout point.

Sharon Looking out at Look out point
Rhossili Bay for another day

And we had made it back to Rhossili- A harder day than I had thought it would be, but then I was only just recovering from a night of being sick 30 hours earlier. There are more photos on the Walkies Bonnie Facebook page.

The total walk was 14.9 miles, and 14.2 of that was coastal path – and the total height gained was 2,076 feet.

Our grand total now is 306.4 miles walked and 563.6 miles to go.

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