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" 6. Port Eynon, local walks and Home "

Date & start time:    Friday 6th, Saturday 7th October 2017      ( Map ref SS 467 851)

Location of Start :    Port Eynon car park, South Gower, South Wales, UK.

Stayed at :                 Sunset View Cottage (self-catering holiday house).

Places visited :         Port Eynon Bay, the Salthouse, plus a couple of extra walk for Dylan.

Walk details :            One hours, 1.4 miles, negligible feet of ascent.

With :                          Ann and our dogs, Harry and Dylan.

Weather :                  Lovely sunshine once more but fading as the afternoon progressed.

© Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number PU 100034184.

 

Effectively our final day and the weather is sunny once again.

Time for a short walk somewhere different and we drive the short distance to the village of Port Eynon.

It is the next large bay along the peninsular and a village with bags of history.

The day starts with a splash of colour as a paraglider appears above the slopes of Rhossili Downs.

Gradually more guys climb the hill . . .
. . . and more sails appear over the brow.

Sailing out over the wide blue sea and sky.

The on-shore breeze is perfect for an easy take-off and plenty of lift above the slopes of the west facing Downs.

Flying out and along the ridge, taking advantage of the rising air currants.

Not quite enough for this pilot to maintain altitude . . . so he's heading for a gentle landing on the beach.

A short while later two paragliders appear, walking back up from the sands with their kit packed away.

- - - o o o - - -

St Cattwg's Church in the village of Port Eynon.

An unusual feature of the church is the absence of both an east or west window.

The road effectively ends at the back of the beach with a few shops and a cafe for the visitors.

There's a large car park for tourists and boat users just along from the roundabout.

Ahead is the wide sandy bay known as Port Eynon (at this end) and Horton (at the other end).

Rhossili Bay appeared to have slightly more sand than in previous years

Sadly Port Eynon has significantly less.  I recall that this was mainly sand in my childhood.

Dylan is enjoying the open air and chance for him to run around on the sand.

Harry passes on the running today but is quite happy to be walking along as befits his age.

An old beach cottage . . . much renovated in recent years.

Ann remembered a longer lawned garden and a different sea wall

when she stayed here in her early childhood with an aunt who had rented the cottage.

 

Excerpts from a budding young author's holiday story.

[ circa early 1950's ]

The lifeboat was established in 1884 after many shipwrecks along this part of the Gower Coast.

The old slipway for launching the life boat dates to that time but has been repaired many times since.

Royal National Life Boat Institute, now shortened to RNLI of course.
The building was dated 1883.

The plaques on the outside tell of some of the history of the building

It closed in 1919 after the loss of three crew during a war time rescue a few years earlier.

The Youth Hostel is still going . . . and looks to be well used.

The converted lifeboat house provides accommodation for up to 28 people.

Further out along the headland is the old ruins of The Salthouse.

The building, now an ancient monument, used to extract salt from sea water.

Salt was a valuable commodity in the old days before large scale importing became possible.

The tide used to be collected in the inner walled basin at high tide.

The new unsubtle concrete wall is a modern addition designed to protect the site from the easterly storm waves.

 

The buildings behind contained heating pans and fuel was gathered in the woods behind.

Over the years, the ruins that remain were associated with salt, smuggling, oysters and limestone . . . read all about it below.

Click here or on the photo above for a larger version of the information on the right.

We returned through the small sand dunes and boat park at the back of the bay.

- - - o o o - - -

 

In the churchyard is a memorial

to the three lifeboat crew

who lost their lives at sea in 1916.

 

The lifeboat station was closed in 1919

when it was considered too dangerous

to be located at Port Eynon.

 

A new inshore lifeboat station

was opened in Horton,

at the other end of the bay in 1968.

Gower.com

 

- - - o o o - - -

A slight road diversion took us through the village and out towards the houses at Overton.

This is all part of the same village but seems to have more village and less holiday accommodation, but I may be wrong.

We stopped by this wonderfully decorated building.

 
A collection of memorabilia . . .
some reflecting personal history . . .
. . . the life belt "saving time".

We met and had a very pleasant short chat with the owner, local artist Neil Clarke

- - - o o o - - -

Back at the cottage at Rhossili.

The sun had enough warmth and the wind had dropped sufficiently to enjoy lunch out on the picnic table.

There's obviously a club meet on today . . .
. . . and the sky is full of paragliders.

Ann takes Dylan on another walk as she wanted to see the paragliders close up

and fancied a last climb of the Downs for this holiday.

This guy was a relative beginner . . .
. . . and had a little assistance
   
. . . to make sure his solo flight . . .
. . . got off to a good start !

Onward and upward . . . but the weather is clouding over once more.

Woman and dog reached the top.

Several of the experienced pilots were taking advantage of the increasing breeze . . .

. . . to fly significantly higher this afternoon.

- - - o o o - - -

On Ann's return, Dylan was still full of beans and having tested the water temperature yesterday,

I quite fancied a swim before leaving Rhossili.

. . . so he and I went down to the beach where another of the paragliders was riding the wind at the base of the hill.

- - - o o o - -

 

While I was here I captured

a few last pictures

of the old Helvetia

 

 

Dylan and I walked along the shoreline

a short way to watch the surfers.

 

- - - o o o - - -

The tide was rising but the waves were smaller than previous days.

I took a quick dip in the waves but the heat had gone out of the day and the 'swim' was a short one.

As I took a second stroll back along the tide line and spotted this single Portuguese Man of War "jellyfish".

Technically is it not actually a jellyfish.    According to the National Geographic the Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore,

an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together. Their sting is excruciatingly painful but rarely deadly

and even brushing against the tentacles dead man-of-war can be a problem.  

Fortunately for me it was further along from where I had my dip.

I discover there have been quite a few washed up of the Welsh and Cornish coastlines in recent weeks

By the time we returned to the wreck , the tide had travelled in quite a long way

and the Helvetia was being covered once again.

- - - o o o - - -

A last holiday sunset for us tonight . . . but it is a cloudy one.

. . . but there were still nice colour effects as the sun finally set.

In the evening we treated ourselves to a meal at Fairyhill Restaurant . . . rather nice and 'Hiley' recommended.

- - - o o o - - -

 

Time to be making our way home.

 

We took the motorway route rather than mid-Wales

in order to call in to see Gareth and Rhian at their home

and also to visit our elderly friend Ursula near Bridgend.

 

- - - o o o - - -

It's Saturday and everyone is at home, Gareth, Rhian and of course 'Baby Luke'.

Just up after his morning nap . . .
. . . awake and wide-eyed.

After a coffee and a chat we headed north for home.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Panasonic Lumix TZ60, or my Panasonic Lumix Gx8 Camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . most holiday ambitions achieved.

Go to Top . . . © RmH . . . Email me here

Previous walk - 5th October 2017 - 5. Rhossili Beach with Sandra and Jackie

A previous time up here - 18th - 22nd April 2015 - Swansea Holiday 2015 - Slade Bay

Next walk - 16th October 2017 - Sideswiped by Storm Ophelia

5. Rhossili Beach

           

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