On our previous trip we had to cancel the walk from Port Eynon to Rhossili due to the weather. This was unfortunate because I had planned to complete the Gower in the two weekends. This would not now be possible and meant having to re-plan the remainder of the year’s walks.

Once again Dorothy and I went a day early, this time to recce car parks from Burry Port to Pendine.

Rhossili to Port Eynon: 7.1 miles (11.4km) +235m -298m (17 April 2015)

For some reason which escapes me at the moment I decided to do this walk in reverse. We left Rhossili on a much calmer day towards the lookout point and then headed east along the cliff tops back to Port Eynon.

Rhossili to Cwm Ivy: 10.1 miles (16.3km) +107m -143m (18 April 2015)

From the NT car park at Rhossili the official path follows the coast slightly inland to Spaniard Rocks at the north end of Rhossili Bay. However, the beach looked so inviting that we abandoned the path and walked for nearly 3 miles along the sand. At the top of the bay we turned east over Llangennith Burrows and had lunch at Cwm Ivy Tor. We then lost one of our party who was having a sleep nearby but we found him started the long walk around Whiteford Nature Reserve. This took us north to Whiteford Point and then south on the east of the peninsular.

At Cwm Ivy Marsh we should have crossed The Groose, a medieval flood defense wall, but over the winter it had been breached and the path was diverted via Cwm Ivy. This was fortunate because this was where we had left the cars.

A few months later I was looking at Google Earth and noticed that there was new imagery for this area and it was dated 18 April 2015. When I had a good look at it, I found us walking along the beach.

Monmouthshire Coastwalkers walking along Rhossili beach on 18 April 2015

Cwm Ivy to Crofty: 7.1 miles (11.4km) +141m -160m (19 April 2015)

We gathered in the morning at Cwm Ivy and walked along a pretty flat route between the shoreline and the marsh. Not the most exciting walk but it got us to Crofty. I had promised that there would be a nice cup of coffee in a cafe in Penclawdd but of course it was shut.

Trying not to fall in!

When I was planning the next stage of our walks I decided to change the strategy and to use a mini bus instead of shuttling cars. It was a good idea but not without its problems as I will describe in future post.

Total for the Weekend: 24.3 miles

Total around Wales: 468.0 miles