Rhossili Bay, Swansea

We packed our sleeping bags, gas cooker and foods to bring along our trip. As we planned this trip will be 2 days  and 1 night, sleeping in the car. The total journey for travelling will be about 400 miles.  To visit Rhossili Bay as known for the dramatic limestone cliffs. First, we decided to go to the 3 cliffs, Cefn Bryn, Penmaen, West Glamorgan. We set off from our home about 11.00 a.m. reached Swansea about 6.30 p.m. Drove up to the little hilltop where there is a only a little picnic table and bench. Sitting on the bench all you could see is a sea view, this is not the right  place to my knowledge where the 3 cliffs meet each other and water flow into the bay.

So we did not stay at this place for long. There was a sign showing direction to Oxwich Bay and decided to go to this beach instead. Before reaching the Oxwich Bay, there is a ruined castle, driving through a snake narrow road we came upon the car park for for this beach. This beach is open only  from 8.00 a.m. till 9.00 p.m. and they will be lock u.

Oh, Oh, this beach is not the one that I wanted to go either. So now we  are totally at a lost where is this Rhossili Bay which I can't find on the sat-nav.  Instead of wasting time, we turned back to the town centre of Swansea to look for the supermarket to get some food. Got the stuffs we wanted and developed some prints for my in laws. Wandered around the town centre and came across the wharf.

Lucky my husband found the map of Swansea and able to check where Rhossili Bay.  From the sat-nav it show about 28 miles from where we were. So he reckon it will take him about twenty minutes drives to reach there. We do not want to spend the night in the dark so we stay at the supermarket parking lot and my husband can had his nap and I can read my book.  It was 12.00 in the midnight and we drove down to Rhossili Bay unfortunately, it was not 20 minutes to reach there and it took us an hour to reach there. The beach was locked up in the night and the car park notice stated no parking  overnight.  Still we drove into the car park and there were quite a few cars parking around there.  It was 1.00 a.m. in the morning and not sure whether we are allowed to park here for the night. Talking and walking around the the car park, we woke up the people in another car then we realised that we can park here for the night. Wow, the sky is full of stars and it look like a milky way. I was unable to take any photo as my husband advice that it was took dark.

We slept for about 4 hours and woke up at 5.00 a.m. but my poor man he had a restless night. Woke up and planned to catch the sunrise. So cooked some pot noodle for our breakfast as we missed our dinner last night. We do not want to wait for the Rhossili Bay gate to be open to the public and decided to drive to Oxwich Bay again so that we can take some sunrise photo.

This beach is beautiful and with very fine sands. I had seen people bbq around here the night before. This car park is locked up and only open at 8.00 a.m. in the morning. There aren't any car parks around to park the car due to all were lock up. This beach is more suitable for swimming than the one in Rhossili Bay. There were also shops selling food.

Spent an hour at this beach we decided to pack up and go back to Rhossili Bay again. On the way to there, the morning sun shinning on the reeds and it took our breath away.

Reached Rhossili Bay car park and they charged is 3.00 gbp for the whole day. The Gower Peninsula is about 15 miles and it take about 2 to 4 hours walk along the coastlines. The Southern  coast are popular for the dune-backed beaches of surf-swept coast, yellow limestone cliffs, chiselled in places into deep gullies and knife-edge ridges. Unfortunately we do not have the times to walk along this coastline as we spent our time on the Rhossili Down.

None of the Gower beaches can compare to the Rhossili Bay. Due to the wild nature and steep-sided down had provided a natural impenetrable barrier. The whaleback ridge that runs almost the full length of the beach.

The string of islets that thrust into the Altantic  at the bay's southernmost tip are known as Worms Head. This is now a nature reserve and can only go over it during low tide. Lucky for us it will be low tide at 1.00 p.m. and it will be open only for 3 hours before the tide will cut off the causeway.We had to scrambling across the rocky causeway to reach the Worm Heads.

It was almost 11.00 a.m. and my husband was too knackered to carry on. We had a rest on the grassland. We been told that 1.00 p.m. the Causeway to the Worm Heads was accessible due to low tides. He decided to wait for me in the car so he can get some sleep and I had to carry on without him.  I didn't realise that it was so hard to scramble on the limestones as they were slippery. Luckily I met two couples and they kindly let me to join them. It took us about 2 hours to walk around this islet. At the top of islet we are not allow to go there due to the wild life are nesting.

After scrambling to reach the Worm Heads. I had decided that I will sit out and wait for them and not carry on to the tip of the Worm Heads. One of the oldest man in the group, age at 67 decided to go for it and scrambled to the top of the Worm Heads but his wife and friends decided not to go for it.  We managed to see two seal basking on the rock and one of the seal even performed in the water when they known that we were watching them.

Oh, as you can see the man in orange T-shirt that is Bob and he is 67 years old. I really admired these 2 couples they age from 67 to 62 and they have the grit to walk for miles and miles. They are trekkers and they have travelled all over the world. They will be going for their last fling at one of Pacific Island next year. Both couples living in Anglesey. Pleased to meet this couples and enjoy talking to them and I would like to thank them for letting me joined them in this walk.

In this beach there is no lifeguard patrol and do not swim in big surf as there are strong undertows.  I had not see such amazing coastal views before and the magnificent arc of sand in its best light is out of this world. The ancient stones of the ridge line adding to the captivating atmosphere. We packed up around 4.00 pm. and reached home 11.00 p.m. in the night. No doubt we are tried but we love every minutes of our this trip and will visit this place again soon.
Scored for this place: 10 stars
Place: Rhossili Bay, 3 Cliffs,  Beach at Oxwich Bay, and Swansea Marina
Dated: 23/3/2012
Photos were taken by Robert Suen and myself.