the adventures of Jo, Nikki and Chris, day one: Gower

[llywela]

Last week I had two very lovely house guests come to stay. nikkimisplaced and galathea_snb had visited before, two years ago, and we enjoyed the few days that we spent together back then so much that we were all keen to reprise the experience, but have only now managed to get our acts together enough to actually do so. And once again, we had a fantabulous time together, sightseeing during the days and watching DVDs together in the evenings - the perfect holiday, in fact!

Poppy and Alfie, of course, reacted to last week's house guests in exactly the same way that they each react to every visitor we get, and those reactions may be summarised thus:
Alfie: "Go on, adore me. You know you want to."
Poppy: "Who the hell gave you permission to come into my house?"

So what did we watch all week? Well, there was rather a lot of Friends, a little bit of Leverage, a dash of Being Human and the entire first season of Game of Thrones, which I hadn't seen before but was very impressed by and would recommend to anyone who enjoys Lord of the Rings/pseudo-medieval, Arthurian-type fantasy etc and doesn't mind a healthy dose of HBO in their shows. Plus, you know - Sean Bean.

Anyway, on to the photos! We did rather a lot of sightseeing (and some inadvertent Doctor Who and Torchwood location spotting) during our week together, so I'm going to break this up into a couple of separate picspams.

Well, so Nikki and Chris arrived in Cardiff on the Sunday afternoon, so the Monday saw our first outing of the week. We decided to go for a drive along the coast to the Gower Peninsula, much of which is owned and protected by the National Trust. We headed for the southern-most point of the peninsula: Rhossili Bay and Worm's Head.

This was the view from the car park.

Perfect summer's day, right!

Practically the first thing we saw as we reached the coastal path was the National Trust's Old Rectory Cottage in its isolated spot overlooking the beach - this house was used as the location for Gwen and Rhys's secret hideaway in the first episode of the current season of Torchwood!


We headed first for the tidal island of Worm's Head at the southern tip of the bay, which is accessible via the Devil's Bridge at low tide only. Alas, the tide was in while we were there, so we were unable to make the crossing.


We may not have managed to cross to the island, but the view from down there at the tip of the coast was glorious - as was the weather!


Back up a fairly steep climb to the coastal path, heading now for the beach, known locally as Llangennith Sands


Yeah, it's a looooong way down that cliff to get to the beach. Totally worth it, though, even if the sun was starting to disappear behind some rather grey clouds by now. Rather a prominent landmark here are the remains of the Helvetia, which ran aground on the beach way back in 1887. At low tide, the remains of the ship are clearly visible, but with the tide so high we only caught a glimpse of the wreck, seen here with Worm's Head in the background.


We sat on the beach for quite some time watching pretty boys playing cricket nearby, while Nikki did a bit of sand-modelling!


Up on the hillside above the beach, we were rather thrilled to catch a glimpse of wild Welsh ponies (and in the second pic here you can also see the chimney of Gwen and Rhys's house, mentioned above - it really is well-hidden from view of the beach!)


This is the climb we faced to get back up from the beach

There is a path and there are steps, but man are they steep!

One last look down at the beach from very near the top of the cliff


After our visit to Rhossili (and as part of what turned out to be a lengthy quest to find tea rooms), we also briefly stopped off at Oxwich for a quick glance at the castle there, since we were passing


We also paid a brief visit to the Gower Heritage Centre at Penmaen, which is home to the smallest cinema in Wales


Then before heading home once more, we stopped for cake and a cuppa at the waterfront in Mumbles, having finally found those tea rooms we'd been looking for!


Okay, so that was day one of Chris and Nikki's visit - I'll be back soon with the next installment!

Comments

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Oh, great picspam, hon! You are way more extensive than I was - and of course more informative. *g* I am looking forward to see the rest of it all. :) If I ever manage to get my photos uploaded, you can use my pictures of days 4-6 to complete your picspam. *hugs*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Yes, concise just doesn't come naturally to me. *G*

I am very, very grateful to you for the photos for Bath and Flatholm, since I'm still kicking myself for what happened to mine.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

How pretty does Wales look here! And how funny that TW chose such a prominent landmark to use as someone's secret hideaway... d'you think anyone watching in Wales was headdesking about that, or is it less obvious than the impression I've had?

I'm going to have to put that beach (and the visible shipwreck - how cool in a dreadfully macabre way!) on my very long list of places to visit! *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I think it's only a really prominent landmark if a) you happen to already know about it, or b) happen to go there and see it. As a location, it totally served its purpose within the context of the show: a truly isolated, rural hideaway for the characters. Also, although clearly visible from the cliff, the house is totally invisible from down on the beach!

The shipwrecked Helvetia is not only a very cool (if macabre) landmark in this day and age, the salvage from it it also provided a vital boost to the local economy in 1887!

[ehlwyen.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing the pic spam! The photos are so gorgeous and I adore how peaceful everywhere looks. In the US such a beautiful accessible beach would be lined with houses. :(

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Well, Rhossili isn't all that accessible, really - it's pretty remote and it really is a steep climb down to the beach! Plus it helps that the entire peninsula is not only owned and protected by the National Trust but is also a Designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so planning regulations are very tightly enforced there, to the point where almost nothing new gets built ever. Which means that the natural beauty of the moors and coastlands there are preserved as unspoiled national park for everyone to enjoy. :)

[justwolf.livejournal.com]

It looks so beautiful! :) I'm glad you've been having a good time.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Ros :)

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Lovely pictures (and so fast up, lol), looks like you did have a great time! :). And neat about the cabin....so who's your fave in GoT?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Fave in GoT? Don't have one - it wasn't that kind of show for me. Some shows I instantly attach to a particular character, who I then follow throughout, while others I thoroughly enjoy watching for the story and ensemble, without forming any specific emotional attachment to any individual character. GoT fell into the latter category, for me, at least on the first viewing - bearing in mind that it was a marathon and we were pretty busy during the days, so I didn't get much chance to stop and mull over what I'd seen.

[holypotatoes1.livejournal.com]

Gotta give props to Nikki, that sand modeling is pretty awesome. I think it needs a massive horn bejeweled with some sea shells but that's just me.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'd agree with you, but see, any bejeweling with sea shells would have involved getting up to gather said sea shells. And we were comfy right where we were, with the pretty boys playing cricket just there in front of us, improving the view no end!

[holypotatoes1.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, yeah it was probably best to stay where you were. You didn't want to miss the boys doing something even prettier than what they were already doing.

[bowtrunckle.livejournal.com]

Very nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. It looks like a wonderful sight-seeing trip.

but with the tide so high we only caught a glimpse of the wreck

*squints at pictures* Is the wreck tipped up so that the ship is standing on end?!

catch a glimpse of wild Welsh ponies

Oo, so cool. There are apparently wild horses that live in the sand dunes of some of the islands of the outer banks here, but we've yet to make the trip. Yet another thing to look forward to. :)

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Is the wreck tipped up so that the ship is standing on end?!
No, it ran aground on its hull - the bit you can see visible there is the main timber from the bow of the hull (or whatever that sharp bit at the end of the boat is called - I'm not a boat person!). The Helvetia was wrecked way back in 1887 so the remains have been slowly falling apart there on the beach ever since, over 120 years, so there isn't much left - just a few last timbers left jutting up into the air from the sand that were once the...I dunno what they'd be called, like the ribcage of the ship that the main planking of the hull would have been shaped around. The shape of what was once a ship is more clearly visible when the tide is out and you can see more of it...hang on, I'll google an image for you:
Here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_gower0s_50_beautiful_years/html/5.stm)

There are apparently wild horses that live in the sand dunes of some of the islands of the outer banks here, but we've yet to make the trip. Yet another thing to look forward to. :)
Oooh, now that sounds like an outing you must get around to organising sometime soon!

[bowtrunckle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to a close-up picture. It certainly does seem like the wreck's days are numbered as the sand overtakes it. What a stunning picture it makes, though, set against the backdrop of the beach.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

The sand is slowly swallowing the wreck up, little by little, as the years go by - it's done well to be as clearly visible as it still is after over 120 years! I think the sand levels do rise and fall, though - sometimes the tide brings more in, other times it washes a load away. So the amount of wreck visible ebbs and wanes a little. It has become such an iconic image of Rhossili Bay, it would be a shame to see it lost for good, but I suppose it's inevitable that it will be eventually.

[kelzies.livejournal.com]

Beautiful photos, great picspam! Great you guys had a lot of fun show watching and sight seeing :D

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Kel

[welshdreamer.livejournal.com]

I used to go to that cinema when it was in its original location in Gorseinon. Does it still show films?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It does still show films! I don't think it does many planned screenings, but there was a sign directing folk to the main desk at the Heritage Centre to request a film viewing. So it does requests and can be hired out, even if it doesn't schedule screenings in advance.