Come for a walk

Since I "know the way" led Daughter on a sliiiightly overgrown path she refuses to do any more exploratory walks until we get a map. Personally I don't think a map will help unless she can read it, because Husband will tell you that map-reading isn't a skill I have. (But I am good at finding 'scenic' routes.)

So I asked Husband if he wanted to come for a walk to explore Ilston Valley.
"No chance! I know what your walks are like!" (He approached again a few minutes later to apologise for sounding aggressive. I told him it all made good blog fodder.)

So it was just me and Toby who set off from the Gower Inn to try and find our way through Ilston valley to St. Iltyd's Church. So please join us now for an adventure in the valley.

First, ladies and gentlemen, look to your right where you'll see some ruins.

The ruin is the site of a pre-Reformation Trinity Well chapel used by John Miles (or Myles) from 1649 for meetings of the first organised church of baptised believers in Wales i.e. the first baptist chapel in Wales. (In 1663 Miles emigrated to Rehoboth, Massachusetts where he set up the first Baptist church in the state. He also took with him the Ilston Church Book, now preserved in America, in which he recorded that the first two converts in Ilston were women. He found this disappointing but consoled himself by believing that the Lord was ‘thereby teaching us not to despise the day of small things’!)

And with that, let's continue on our way. The path is flat and edged by a few astilbe struggling to survive in amongst the invasive Himalayan Balsam.

It looks pretty but is taking over everywhere.

A little further on and we come to a fork in the path.

Neither path looks well-travelled but the one to the left crosses a bridge and all the articles I've read about the walk say there are a number of bridges so we go left and follow the path up. And up and up and up. Until it brings us out at the top. In a field. With no sign of a church anywhere.

"Come on Tobe, back down we go."

Another path follows the mostly-dry river-bed, whether that's through lack of rain or a diverted course I don't know.

And through a guard of honour of tall thin trees.

And so we continue on until we reach our destination, St. Iltyd's Church.

Most of the church dates from the thirteenth century.

I do love an old graveyard although most of the graves I saw were nineteenth century or later

I couldn't get at these, and probably wouldn't have been able to read them anyway.

The yew in the church grounds is said to be as old as the church itself.

I didn't want to take Toby inside so we turned around and made our way back to the car park. Excluding getting lost exploring the area, the route took about half an hour each way, and was very lovely.

Yesterday I saw a post telling how to distinguish between hemlock (poisonous) and Queen Anne's Lace. 

But I couldn't remember! I think this is Queen Anne's Lace.