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INTRODUCTION

View of north Gower from the ascent of Cil Ifor Top (Walk 30)

The Gower packs a glittering array of features into a remarkably compact and unspoilt area. Justifiably selected in 1956 as the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this tiny South Wales peninsula boasts some of the most scenic beaches anywhere in the world, alongside fascinating geological formations, ancient archaeological sites and striking buildings from its more recent history.

An added bonus for holidaymakers wanting to stretch their legs is the number of rich and varied walks that can be found in an area just 25km long by 13km wide, with spectacular landscapes easily accessible in all directions. The land oozes with interesting wildlife, landscape and cultural features, and each walk described in this guidebook endeavours to capture this diversity and richness. A haven for walkers, photographers and nature lovers, Gower draws visitors back time and time again.

The peninsula is known for its spectacularly steep, rugged coastline and picture-perfect golden sandy beaches. But there is much more to the Gower and the 30 circular routes described here will take readers into the little-explored valleys, hills and ridges found inland. Many of the routes combine a section of coastal path, which may visit a secluded cove or wide-sweeping beach, with a ridge offering stunning panoramic views or with a tranquil stream valley. All avoid road-walking wherever possible.

Some coastal areas are well frequented, such as those around Langland, Oxwich and Port Eynon, but this guidebook focuses in the main on the lesser known parts where you will really be able to escape the crowds and find peace and solitude.

Geology

The continental plate on which Gower has formed was once situated south of the equator and has been drifting northwards over the past 425 million years. As a result, the sedimentary rocks that now comprise Gower were deposited under widely varying climatic conditions, from tropical seas rich in corals to coastal swamps.

The oldest rocks cropping out on Gower are from the end of the Devonian period and they form the cores of the major anticlines. During this period Gower lay in a region where sediment-laden rivers crossed a wide plain between mountains to the north and the sea to the south. The mountains were made of still older rocks whose roots now form much of central and north Wales. The climate at this time was tropical, possibly monsoonal, and the streams carried away coarse sediment from the intense erosion in the hills and deposited it across the braided river channels. In Gower we see pebbly rocks – conglomerates – at the top of the Devonian sequence overlying coarse sandstones, and these form the high ground of Cefn Bryn, Llanmadoc Hill and Rhossili Down.

Arthur’s Stone, Cefn Bryn (Walks 8, 10 and 28)

The Devonian period ended approximately 360 million years ago when changing sea levels caused the sea to advance northwards. Initially mainly muddy marine sediments were laid down over the continental conglomerates, becoming dark, fine-grained shales, but gradually the amount of river-borne detritus diminished to leave clearer waters.

In these equatorial warm, clear waters calcium carbonate precipitated in the form of shells and skeletons from the abundant corals, shellfish, brachiopods and crinoids (sea-lilies). This became the Carboniferous limestone series that comprises grey calcareous shales and massive limestones. The rocks are divisible into three groups: Lower Limestone Shales, Main Limestone and Upper Limestone Shales; however, there are many different rock types within these groups, each with varying textures, thicknesses and fossils as a result of subtle environmental changes. Overall it is about 800 metres thick, but becomes progressively thinner to the north, where the sea was shallower and more susceptible to interruptions of sedimentation as sea levels fluctuated, leading to the absence of some layers.

The wave-cut Carboniferous limestone reef of Overton Mere (Walks 15 and 17)

These stable conditions were interrupted around 320 million years ago by earth movements caused by approaching continents from the west and south. The compressive forces within the earth’s crust caused the nearby landmass to be forced upwards and the increased rate of erosion flooded the limestone sea with sediments of sand, shale and mud from the river deltas.

This transition from limestone is marked by a coarse sandstone known as millstone grit, originally laid down by fast-flowing rivers. In its lower layers the gritstone contains massive white quartz conglomerates and sandstones, within which there are very pure bands of over 99 per cent quartz that were once worked for firebrick.

The next succession, the Coal Measures, originated in a widespread system of river deltas close to sea level, upon which grew lush tropical forests of giant mosses, horsetails and ferns that eventually became the coal. The Measures consist of sandstones, shales and coals arranged in a repeated sequence, as the forests flourished for a time, were inundated and buried by mud and sand as sea levels rose, and then developed once more on the river delta shales as the sea retreated.

These deposits are followed by massive beds of sandstone, known commonly to South Wales miners as the Farewell Rock, as they knew that there were no more workable coal bands once they had struck this distinctive geological marker.

Boulders of Devonian quartz conglomerate on Rhossili Down (Walks 17–22)

The sedimentary layers of rock that form both Gower and the South Wales coalfield were folded to form a massive syncline some 280 million years ago, as a result of plate collisions further south that formed the super-continent Pangea. The older Devonian rocks have been exposed through erosion in the west and north of Gower, and Carboniferous limestone disappears beneath the Coal Measures to the north-east. There is also a series of tight folds that begins on the peninsula and continues under the Bristol Channel and into Devon.

Looking west over Ram’s Grove, showing the inclined limestone beds of the cliffs (Walks 16–17 and 21)

The last major episodes to affect Gower were the Ice Ages, occurring during the last two million years of Earth history. During the Ipswichian interglacial period, around 130,000 to 120,000 years ago, the melting ice caused sea levels to rise to 6-9m above the present level. Subsequent falls in sea level left behind raised platforms, or raised beaches, containing beach deposits cemented with calcium carbonate. Where the beach deposit contains limpet shells among the rounded limestone fragments and sand it is known as the Patella raised beach. Many of the coastal caves open onto the platform of these beaches and it is likely that the caves were enlarged by wave action when they were at sea level.

History

The first humans to appear in Gower were small groups of nomadic hunters and gatherers who left behind little evidence of their visits as they moved through the landscape during the Palaeolithic era. Clues to their presence come from stone tools or waste from their manufacture. The chance find of a flint axe on Rhossili beach has pointed to human activity in this area as early as 125,000 years ago; then there is nothing until 100,000 years later, when further evidence for human presence is found, mainly from cave sites such as Cathole.

Excavations in the limestone caves have revealed evidence for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic activity, with the most famous of these being the ‘Red Lady of Paviland’. This was in fact the burial of a Cro-Magnon man, the earliest known modern human, just before the final advance of the ice sheets 28,000 years ago in the Upper Palaeolithic. For around 15,000 years afterwards the climate was too cold for human occupation but, as the temperature warmed from around 13,000 years ago, people returned and the cave sites were again occupied by hunter-gatherer groups pursuing prey. There were probably no more than 50 people in the whole of Wales at this time, consisting of one or two extended families.

Goat’s Hole, the burial site of the ‘Red Lady of Paviland‘ (Walks 15–17 and 21)

As the ice finally retreated around 10,000 years ago plant communities dominated by grass and sedge spread northwards. Many of the present-day plants found in the heathland and limestone grassland grew within these open communities, but by about 8500 years ago, when the climate was slightly warmer and drier than it is today, trees and shrubs, such as birch and pine followed by ash, oak, elm and hazel, had largely replaced them.

Mesolithic people are known to have fished and gathered shellfish when the coastline was only a few kilometres beyond its present location, with sea level rising rapidly to reach just 15-20m below its present-day height.

Evidence of activity is more plentiful during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods as people began to construct various funerary monuments for their dead, such as chambered tombs and cairns like those in Parc le Breos and Sweyne’s Howes. The communal graves and flint scatters suggest that groups of people inhabited the area during the Neolithic period, although no evidence for settlements has been found.

Many enclosures were constructed on hilltops and coastal promontories during the Iron Age and the remains of earthwork banks and ditches are still visible. Limited excavation at a number of these sites has found evidence for domestic activity. Iron Age pottery has also been recovered during the excavation of caves on Gower.

Interior chamber of Cathole Cave (Walks 7–8 and 30)

The Romans conquered the Silures, the dominant Iron Age Welsh tribe, in AD50 but there is surprisingly little structural evidence of Roman activity in Gower, even though there were military forts at Loughor to the north-east and Neath to the east. However, the recovery of Roman finds from the region, including two large coin hoards, illustrates that there was a degree of Roman activity on the peninsula; remains excavated near Oystermouth Church show the presence of a Roman Villa at this site. The Romans departed around AD410 allowing South Wales to revert to the Iron Age-like structure of small independent kingdoms.

Evidence of early medieval activity in Gower is attested to by a number of carved stones, such as those at Llangennith, Llanmadoc and Bishopston. These stones originate from early Christian sites with the Christian tombstone at Llanmadoc Church dating from around AD500. St Cenydd founded a small monastery at Llangennith in the 6th century but it was destroyed by Viking invaders and no structural evidence of it has been found. The Leper Stone in the porch of Llanrhidian Church has simple carvings of human figures and stylised animals and is thought to date from the 9th or 10th century.

Weobley Castle (Walks 26–29)

As a consequence of the Norman invasion many English settlers migrated across the Bristol Channel from the West Country into south Wales. Around 1106, the Norman King Henry I granted to Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, the right to conquer the Welsh commote of Gwyr, which then extended between the rivers Tawe and Llwchr and as far north as the rivers Amman and Twrch. The Earl ruled Gwyr as a Marcher lordship, based at Swansea Castle, the control of which subsequently passed between a number of Norman families throughout the medieval period.

The Welsh fought back at least six times between 1113 and 1217 by burning the turf and timber castles, but they failed to take control of the peninsula. The strong stone castles still standing today at Oxwich, Penrice and Pennard were built at the end of the 13th century, and many village churches also date from this period. The castles were subsequently attacked and damaged by Owain Glyn Dwr’s revolt between 1400 and 1413. Other evidence from the medieval period comes from the remains of strip field systems that can still be identified in parts of South Gower, the best example being the Viel at Rhossili.

Many farmhouses and associated out-buildings survive from post-medieval times. The large number of lime-burning kilns in the region reflects the agricultural activity during this period together with the associated remains of quarries, bell pits and collieries.

Wildlife habitats

Gower is extraordinarily rich in high-quality wildlife sites, boasting three National Nature Reserves, 24 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 18 Wildlife Trust Reserves and three Local Nature Reserves. This is due to its diverse habitats that include large areas of salt-marsh and mudflat, woodland, stream valleys, moorland, sand dunes, cliffs, extensive intertidal rocky reefs and exposed and sheltered beaches.

Ilston Cwm (Walk 6)

The limestone cliffs, up to 70m high, of the south Gower coast are a classic botanical habitat, supporting large numbers of plant species that are nationally rare. A combination of geological, climatic and historical factors has contributed to this diversity. The limestone bedrock is a controlling factor in the creation of nutrient-poor thin soils and a varied geomorphology from vertical rock faces to incised clefts creates a variety of specialist niches. These habitats are influenced by the mild winters and cool summers, giving rise to a prolonged growing season.

Historic and present-day land use has left a surviving belt of semi-natural vegetation along the cliffs, unlike much of the UK where coastal areas have been ploughed right up to the cliff edge. Many species found here are unique to limestone grasslands as they are able to grow in the lime-rich thin soils. In turn, these plants attract a variety of insects which feed and lay eggs on them. Plants such as hoary rock-rose, spring cinquefoil, bloody cranesbill, viper’s bugloss and greater knapweed along with insects like the silky wave moth occur here.

The south Gower cliff slopes are covered with numerous cracks and fissures created where rainwater has dissolved the limestone. Thin soils build up in the cracks, supporting specialised plants that are tolerant of the constant salty spray, such as sea plantain, thrift, rock samphire and sea beet. The cliffs all along south Gower contain some of the best examples of this habitat anywhere in the UK.

Sea campion

Tree mallow is found on the cliffs between Mewslade and Fall Bay, and the cliffs between Thurba and Deborah’s Hole are a stronghold for yellow whitlowgrass, an alpine flower that blooms as early as the first week in March. It can also be found in narrow crevices in the upper cliffs between Pwlldu Head and Rhossili and on walls and rocks around Pennard Castle, but it occurs nowhere else in the UK.

Salt-tolerant plants grow on the lower part of the cliffs and include spring squill, golden samphire, rock sea-lavender, buck’s horn plantain, sea campion, scurvygrass and the only maritime fern, sea spleenwort. Juniper, one of the most striking of the late-glacial relict species on Gower, can be found in places protected from cliff-top fires as it cannot regenerate, unlike gorse which then tends to replace it.

Maritime heath is found on the headlands and is a typical feature of the exposed Atlantic coast of Wales. Heather and western gorse grow together to form a dense habitat that turns purple and yellow with summer flowers. Patches of bare rock, grassland and bracken combine to make this a diverse habitat and a suitable home for many species of insects and scrub-nesting birds such as linnet, whitethroat, stonechat and yellowhammer. Stonechats are resident all year round and are frequent companions, darting from perch to perch from where they give their distinctive call. Other notable species include skylark, raven, chough, kestrel and peregrine falcon. About 200 to 300 guillemot and razorbill breed on Worms Head together with fulmar, shag and cormorant. Kittiwakes have decreased on the Worm but have populated Mumbles Pier.

Rhossili Bay and Worms Head from Spaniard Rocks (Walks 20 and 23)

Chough were absent for many years but returned to breed here in 1991 and are now a common sight, often announcing their presence by their call before they are in view. They like to feed on the closely cropped cliff-top turf, as do green woodpeckers. In 2001 a pair of Dartford warblers were discovered breeding near Port Eynon Point and they can now be found on the coastal cliff slope along south Gower. It is unusual among British warblers in that it is resident all year round; it is particularly fond of young gorse bushes as these contain an abundance of insects on which they feed.

The Loughor Estuary and Burry Inlet have the fourth largest salt marsh in Britain bounded by a number of limestone bluffs which were next to the sea 5000 years ago. The marsh developed in the shelter of Whiteford Burrows from east to west. The only major area of salt marsh to be enclosed is Cwm Ivy Marsh when an earthen sea wall was built in 1638 which was later given a drystone facing.

Salt marsh, Pennard Pill (Walks 7 and 9)

The greatest number of plant species can be found along the upper fringes where the marsh merges with sand dunes, water meadows and freshwater marsh. Areas that are covered daily by the tides have a relatively small number of salt-tolerant species with areas nearest to low water dominated by glasswort, annual sea-blite and common cord-grass. The mid-marsh community comprises a closely grazed sward of common saltmarsh-grass with sea-purslane growing along the creek sides. This grades into the upper zone where the common saltmarsh-grass is mixed with red fescue, thrift and sea milkwort.

The highest part has a belt of tall sea rush which is some several hundred metres wide at Llanrhidian which has been traditionally cut by the farmers for bedding for their animals. Two plants worth searching out at the highest part of the grazed salt-marsh are the striking marsh mallow which has attractive pale pink flowers in July, and sea wormwood. Cwm Ivy Marsh is of particular interest as a lowland fen meadow and has tall stands of yellow flag iris.

Skylark

The whole southern shore of the Burry Inlet is an extremely important wintering area for shorebirds, geese and duck. The area is best in winter with regular birds including black-tailed and bar-tailed godwits, snipe, jack snipe, lapwing, golden, grey and ringed plover, dunlin, knot, sanderling, redshank, spotted redshank, curlew and oystercatchers. Ducks such as eider, wigeon, teal, pintail and long-tailed duck can be seen as well as red-breasted merganser, common and velvet Scoter, red-throated and great northern divers, shelduck, Brent geese and Slavonian and black-necked grebes.

Passerines are relatively few and far between, although there are plenty of meadow pipits and thrushes in winter, and a good range of woodland birds near Cwm Ivy. Raptors include hen harrier, peregrine, merlin, kestrel, buzzard and short-eared owl.

Transport to and around Gower

Gower is well served by the M4 motorway from the east and the west. There is a direct Intercity 125 train from Cardiff, Bristol and London, and regular buses from Swansea to the main villages. Contact Traveline Cymru on 0870 608 2 608 for more information or visit their website www.traveline-cymru.org.uk.

There are two main roads that run east–west along the peninsula with a number of minor routes linking them north–south. Both the north and south Gower roads become severely congested during peak times in the summer school holidays.

Staying in Gower

Gower is a mature tourist destination and is well served with all types of accommodation including hotels, bed and breakfast, self-catering, caravan parks and campsites. These often book up early, especially the best located campsites such as the one overlooking Three Cliffs Bay.

For up-to-date information contact the local tourist information centres in Swansea (tel. 01792 468321, www.visitswanseabay.com) or The Mumbles (tel. 01792 361302, www.mumblestic.co.uk).

Using this guide

Walking down the northern end of Rhossili Down (Walks 18, 20–21 and 22)

The walks in the book are arranged in a clockwise order around the peninsula, starting in the south-east at Mumbles and finishing in the north-east at Llanrhidian. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the OS Explorer 1:25,000 Gower Sheet 164. The 30 routes described are of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty to cater for different interests and abilities and a fit walker will not find any of the routes particularly strenuous. All the routes are circular, include as few roads as possible and explore little frequented areas wherever possible.

Rights of way are generally well-marked and, on the whole, provide a good and even walking surface. Routes that include non-coastal sections can vary considerably in their nature depending on the amount of rain that has fallen. Good quality waterproof boots are recommended under these circumstances but stout walking shoes will suffice during the drier summer months.

Gower is exposed to prevailing south-westerly winds and the weather can change rapidly at any time of the year but temperatures are moderated by the relatively warm sea water of the Atlantic Drift. As a consequence, winters are seldom severe although the summits can provide a surprisingly mountain moorland experience on a hard snowy day. It is wise to carry enough clothing in case the weather changes. Multiple thin layers will give you more flexibility to respond to changing conditions.

Routes are illustrated with extracts from the 1:50,000 OS maps, with the main route marked in orange and any alternative routes marked in blue and extensions in green. Alternative and extended routes are described within the main route description. Features along the walk that appear on the map are highlighted in bold in the route description. The route descriptions are also accompanied by information boxes which are cross-referenced to other route descriptions, using the walk number.