Wowed by the Gower – July 2025

Hello coddiwomplers, and welcome to Part 1 of our trip to South Wales in July 2025.

Our first port of call was right on the most westerly point of the Gower Peninsual, in the tiny peaceful village of Llangennith. Our B&B was perfectly positioned a stone’s throw from the local pub, shop and 12th century church. Our room was airy and cosy, with thick rubble stone walls, covered in a white lime wash. Very Welsh.

We met our host, Dafydd, who showed us where to park, where the dining was and that all the additional information we needed was in our Welcome Pack in the room. We were also given strict instructions to text him before 8pm with our breakfast choices, which all seemed pretty straight forward. We had planned a tide-dependent walk the following day so we were excited to see a breakfast-to-go option. Tim spotted him outside while he was unpacking the van and attempted to enquire about our order, only to be met with a blank look and to be told “Oh, we don’t really offer that option anymore. But don’t worry, we’ll come up with something.” This didn’t bode well! I confirmed the order by text, received a thumbs up and we set off for the evening to explore the local area and get our bearings.

The beaches and coves on the Gower are spectacular, but not always easily accessible unless you’re walking. We decided to recce our walk for the next day at Rhossili and Worms Head, about a 20 minute drive away from where we were staying. I was already a tad nervous about it because it’s only accessible via a rocky causeway at low tide and the headlands are narrow and steep. Thankfully a helpful RNLI volunteer reassured me a bit and I felt a bit happier as we headed back ready to try out the local pub (The Kings Head) for dinner. 

We woke early the following morning, curious about what our breakfast might entail. We were a tad confused to be handed a packed lunch picnic and that would be an extra £9.50 each! After a bit of dithering and confusion our hosts went back into the kitchen and returned with a bag of one sausage bap, one bacon bap, some Welsh Cakes, cartons of fruit juice, coffee and two pastries. Things were looking up! Let’s just say that the best part was the fresh coffee and the views from the car park!

Undeterred, we set off at a brisk pace for the good 10-15 minute walk to the beach to begin the walk across the causeway. We were rewarded by stunning views of the 3-mile Rhossili Beach on one side and pretty wild flower meadows on the other, with Worms Head looming in front of us. Unfortunately it became very clear to me after another 10-15 minutes of scrabbling over sharp rocks that this walk was going to be well beyond my hypermobile ankles’ abilities. However, Tim really wanted to continue, I didn’t want to stop him so I turned back and off he went. That probably suited him better because he didn’t have to keep coaxing me along and make sure I hadn’t broken anything! He could fully concentrate on what he was doing. Scrabbling back to the beach was a lot easier and I sat on the grass and watched Tim for as long as I could before he disappeared from view (I had made him promise to call me when he reached the end!)

I knew he would be at least two hours so I decided my best plan was to pick up a map of the headland from the National Trust shop and go for a more sedate walk through meadows around the headland. The ladies in there were very helpful and agreed that I’d made the right decision (one of them had broken her ankle out there a few years ago!) 

I enjoyed a glorious walk in the sunshine through the wild flower meadows spotting poppies, carpets of thistle flowers and rapeseed plants. My birdsong app picked up Linnets, Wrens and Meadow Pippits, plus there was a large herd of Welsh ponies keeping me company. Tim called to say he’d reached the top of the furthest head and that it was much harder than he thought it would be; a proper climb and that I’d definitely made the right decision. I was very relieved to see him return to our van an hour or so later! 

As we had the afternoon spare, we tootled around the coast roads checking out the other beaches. Again, they are beautiful but not always accessible unless on foot. This area reminded me very much of Guernsey with its narrow roads and pretty stone cottages and we settled on a stop in Southgate for a brew-up and a Welsh Cake. We also felt we deserved our pub grub that night and were excited for the next leg of our adventure…