The Gower; Finding location

Big Adventure to the Gower; Decisions decisions

Kensa: This hasn’t been opened, I’ve been saving it. It’s been on my table, I keep going past it, ‘do I do I?’ but no, I’ll just wait.
So first thing is where? Isn’t it.

Didge: Wherefore art thou Gower?

Jess: I think probably the key is water isn’t it. And we need to be near enough to the sea that we can swim in it.

Didge: It’ll be interesting to see what we choose and how it looks.
Wow, look at the colours!

Jess: That is a good map.

Kensa: So that’s the main road... There’s a nature reserve there.

Jess: A nature reserve, and water, and a beach there!

Kensa: And a lifeguard station!
So what we have to be aware of also, is how busy... bank holiday weekend. There’ll be people.

Ew
Ew!
Quite.

Didge: It’s really beautiful isn’t it.

Kensa: They must be rivers.

Jess: Spidery... so that must be marshes mustn’t it?

Kensa: So it might be kind of...

Jess: Smelly...

Kensa: And muddy, sandy. Not beachy sand.

Jess: So what’s orange; is that beachy sand?

Kensa: That’s beach, yeah.

Didge: That’s where I’ve been before I think; only because we went surfing there.

Jess: What was it like there?

Didge: Lovely, it was absolutely beautiful. Sand dunes, there were lots of sand dunes.

Kensa: Is there a campsite there?

Jess: ‘Bracken, heath, or rough grass land.’

Kensa: Yeah, so you’ve got dunes. Is it big enough to be able to hide in, I wonder. Lose ourselves in. And woodlands.

Didge: I would say that because it’s a surfing beach, I don’t know how strict they are, but I should imagine that they are... there are people camping here because of the surf. And they probably have a look here for people that are camping... or they don’t! They just accept that it’s a surfing beach and can’t control it.

Kensa: There are lots of footpaths, aren’t here.

Didge: Is this like, rock?

Kensa: Must be. You’ve got woods here as well.

Jess: There are footpaths, but there’s not really anything at that point, is there?

Kensa: So that’s miles... oh right, so it’s not a massive area that we can explore. So it’s explorable before... we can kind of have a scout around.

Didge: I quite like the fact that here’s a wood here. I mean it’s not very wide...

Kensa: Woods would be good though, wouldn’t it?

Didge: What kind of land is that?

Kensa: Moorland? Mead Moor?

Jess: ‘Access land and woodland areas.’

Kensa: You’ve got all that as well, that’s ‘access land, boundary intent’. So it’s a mixture of... It’s open.

Jess: And it’s near the wotsit.

Kensa: So it’s not far, is it?

Jess: Near the beach, near a stream. And it’s not farming or anything, is it?

Kensa: No, I think it’s like, a bit like Dartmoor, don’t you?

Jess: Well that would be perfect, wouldn’t it?

Kensa: It would because I think this might be a bit public. We can get ourselves lost more. There is... oh, the Gower way.

Didge: Right, so this is it. Well, it looks like there’s a proper little walk there

Kensa: And there’s going to be lots of rivers, streams... There’s a well there, waterworks...
Oh that’s springs, aren’t they?

Jess: must be! It’s the start of those streams isn’t it? Well that would be perfect if we could be near a spring.

Kensa: And there are going to be places where we can park up.

Didge: This is a mountain, isn’t it? And it’s a... is it a Cairn on top? Is that a rock?

Kensa: A collection of rocks.

Didge: maybe we should head there... to the top of the mountain, pitch our tents!
Freeedommmm...

Jess: Well, I mean that area has got water. It’s a couple of miles from the sea which is kind of perfect. It looks like it’s not private land...

Kensa: but big enough to lose ourselves in.

Didge: Well that’s the aim, to lose ourselves.

Kensa: Park up somewhere.

Jess: Disappear.

Kensa: We’ll have to find our way back sometime... probably.
We need somewhere to park. There will be somewhere, we’ve got these little towns, they’ll have parking in them.

Jess: There are always lay-bys on those roads... I don’t know what the rules are surrounding them

Didge: Well there’s a telephone.

Jess: Useful.

Didge: I quite like the idea of heading towards the telephone.

Kensa: We’re going to come from up there, aren’t we? So that’s Swansea bay.

Didge: Is this Swansea down here?

Jess: Swansea is this sort of... collection. Which is where Dylan Thomas is from. And where Angela is from.

Kensa: look at this, Gower way or whatever it’s called. I wonder where it starts and finishes.

Didge: Oh my god, it goes all the way through Wales to... where? Where’s that?

Kensa: I don’t know, kitchen corner. So I wonder where it starts.

Didge: And what’s this; is this another surf bay?
I think the wind will be coming this way, won’t it?

Jess: So we’ll probably be quite sheltered.

Didge: If this is the place I was before it is quite sheltered... There are lots of sand dunes.
How do you pronounce that?

Jess: Llanelli? I hate Welsh.

Didge: You’re such a funny welsh person...

Jess: Only by blood!

Didge: ‘It’s just the blood!’

Kensa: ‘It’s only in my genetics!’
I’m interested to know where this goes...

Didge: What kind of pathway is it?

Kensa: ‘Recreational route’... Much like the coast path around Cornwall, it’s marked like that, isn’t it?

Jess: That must be what it is, like an official walk.

Kensa: So you reckon here? So we’re going to come from up there, and work our way probably down here, only the B road, and that goes right through... Or we can come down here and find something along this way.

Jess: Either way, it doesn’t look too difficult.

Kensa: Yeah, I mean there might be places along here where we can park.
So from here... Cillibion?
And that’s on the B4271.

Didge: B4272, A4118, A4216, A483, and then... Junction 47. Oh look, backwards!

Jess: So that’s how we get back to England!

Kensa: So which road is that one?

Jess: M4?

Kensa: I’m just seeing if the whole thing has got a name, like that one?

Jess: Cefn Bryn?
Gosh, well that was easy.

Kensa: So we can go anywhere there, we’ve got all these footpaths, all these places to find our way through and around./

Jess: We’ve got woodland, and we’ve got the beach.

Cefn Bryn ahoy!