Walking the Gower coast Horton to Rhossili August 2019
This was a stunning walk along part of the Welsh coastal path, around 10.4 miles of rugged coastline, it definitely wasn't a stroll in the park but it’s a beautiful walk with scenery not to be missed.
After leaving out campsite at Horton (see places to stay for more info) we took the steep hill down to the beach near the RNLI station, after being sand blasted while crossing the beach due to 40+MPH this was almost painful.
After climbing a steep path there was a great view of the sea to the east. This is Port Eynon Point. It is a nature reserve looked after by The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales. Part of the cliff top was once ploughed during the Second World War but there is no sign of it now.
In fact the whole South Gower Coast from here to Rhossili (Pilton Green) is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) which is the term given to an area in the UK which is protected for conservation. It is owned and protected by the National Trust and managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
If you follow the path northwards you come down a steep hill, this was very dangerous under foot and with 2 adults and to children walking this one having a arm in a cast after breaking it only 2 weeks earlier this was a slow decent, after passing more disused limestone quarries towards Overton Mere.
Overton Mere is a wide bay of limestone rocks, rock-pools, shingle and a few tiny patches of sand. On the eastern side of the bay and about 200 yards west of the point, is Culver Hole – mentioned earlier – the dovecot made from a narrow cave sealed off by a 60 foot high wall. I have only seen this in photos and read reviews but looks well worth a visit, sadly with the weather and the broken arm it was not worth the risk this time.
Though we did not see that many walkers out probably due to the weather there was still plenty of wild life about and we met two very friendly ponies.
As we walked along the cliff top the OS map told us some of the stunning views below have such wonderful places names like Blackhole Gut, Yellow Top, Foxhole Slade and Paviland Cave. I could not see any of these places from the path.
I have always wanted to see Paviland Cave but it is very difficult to get too. It is where the so-called “Red Lady of Paviland” was discovered by the Rev William Buckland in 1823. This was a partial human skeleton dyed in red ochre. The Rev was a man of times and decided that because there were parts of a necklace made of sea shells and ivory jewelry that this had to be a woman’s skeleton. Today we’d call him “old fashioned”, I think. It turned out that this not a lady at all but a young man and he was buried 33,000 years ago. This was back when woolly rhinoceros and mammoth roamed around what we today call Wales. Incredibly, it is the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe. Sadly, there were no Welsh museums in existence when the “red lady” was discovered so the remains were taken to Oxford, where they still rest despite the fact that we have lots of museums in Wales now.
Paviland Cave Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The remains of the red lady courtesy of Wikipedia.
There was some nice level sections which were needed after some of the climbs, it was clear to see that so much work has been done along the work with new gates and walls being installed which is fantastic.
As we walked along some of the cliff top’s you can see worm’s head which is a little bit of a tease when it was still a way off. Though the heaven’s opened many times it was still a stunning walk. When we arrived at Rhossili there was a stunning field of sunflowers which really finished off the walk lovely.
