The article is entitled, 'Five seaside adventures that prove Wales has Britain's best beaches'. I'm certainly not going to argue with that but let's start on home territory: Gower.
I live just about at the entrance to the Gower Peninsula, which in 1956 was designated Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Do I think it lives up to such an honour? You bet I do.
From the small tourist beaches like Bracelet, Langland and Caswell, to the magnificent stretch of Rhossilli (which I spell differently every time I write it) that ends the peninsula, there is something for everyone in which to find delight. From rock pools to sand-castles, swimming to surfing, dunes to pebbles, we've got it all.
Some beaches you can drive or take a bus to, others require a bit more effort: a walk around the cliff path or over the headland. One of my particular favourites is Tor Bay. To get there you first need to find somewhere to park - not easy - and then you walk along the top of the cliffs or across the beach if the tide is out.
But each bay is delightful in its own way. I love the place!
Further afield, travelling west you reach the Pembrokeshire coast. Although the geology is similar the landscape is much wilder. There are a number of caravan parks and camping sites but it is easy to avoid people. On one June day a few years ago Husband and I celebrated our anniversary with a bit of skinny dipping off this coast so you can assume that it was deserted.
Look out for seals and dolphins and all sorts of sea birds. Uninhabited Skomer Island off this coast is a haven for puffins who have no fear of man and wander across the paths right in front of you.
Further north you have the wonderful Mwnt, with its still active church, and the glorious coast path.
Further north again Aberystwyth, which has its own Victorian charm - when it's not raining.
And really that is all I can claim any knowledge of. We have stayed in north Wales and visited some lovely beaches there including the place where pilgrims set off for Bardsey Island.
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| Always handy to have a graveyard next to the beach. |
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| The original building - see below. |
I hope this has made you want to come and visit our beautiful country! Do call in and see me and ask to be taken to Verdi's for ice cream.
(I've lost all the filing system for my photos - changing computers somehow - so to find these photos I've had to trawl back through hundreds. Two things I have noticed: I have a possibly excessive number of photos of me eating ice cream, and a definitely excessive number of photos of the grands. No, I know you can't really have too many ice creams or photos of grandchildren.)
8 comments:
I love the look of puffins! Have never seen one in real life though.
They are all over the place in Skomer, literally just trotting along the path in front of you. You must visit!
what a wonderful place! even in the rain. it's beautiful.
and I LOVE the little puffins!
Loads of puffins on the Farne Islands. You can get very close to their burrows provided the terns don't fight you off. Gosh, what a lot of blogs you run.
My husband and I visited Wales and loved it.
We are from Newfoundland which has a Gower Street and a community called Torbay.
It is wonderful, Tammy.
Only this one is very active, Tasker. I try to keep my writing one updated though now and again.
Marie, your part of the world looks slightly colder!
Thankyou for the overview(sic!) , Liz.
55 years ago I was working for the MoD and spent some time
at the guided missile test station in Aberporth.
Aberporth has a small beach, nowadays with a car park and even then had a great little pub across the road from the beach. In summer we'd have a swim and a pint there :-)
The nearest lonely beach was Mynt, which is still magnificent :-)
Jets still practise in this area occasionally roaring across the sky, Stu. It is all magnificent.
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