ARCHIVE PICTURES.
Sunday 9th February 2003.
Brandy Cove to Pwlldu.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind
permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland
The path I am following leads from Bishopston to Brandy Cove. It's a fine sunny winter's afternoon, a bit chilly in the light breeze but I am well wrapped up and enjoying the walk. Just beyond the gate are some outbuildings at the back of a farm house....
. ....They are clearly quite old and I particularly liked the cobblestone yard.
Apart from the ivy clad tree trunks and a few scattered evergreen shrubs there is not much greenery to be seen.
Winter trees make an attractive pattern against the sky. .
We have reached the small inlet known as Brandy Cove. It takes its name from the brandy smuggling operations that took place here in the 18th and early 19th century.
Most of the smuggled brandy, in this part of Gower, came ashore not in Brandy Cove but in Pwlldu, the next bay along the coast.
From Brandy Cove, a path to the left leads to Caswell Bay and the right hand path, which we are going to follow, leads to Pwlldu.
Across the water you can just make out the beach at Caswell. .
Our walk takes us along a path that clings to the edge of the rocks at the foot of the gorse and bracken covered cliffs.
It's fairly quiet here at this time of year, I met just one small family group and one solitary walker. .
After climbing over the stile, let us take a moment to admire the view and to trace the path we have walked to where it disappears from view behind the headland. .
Pwlldu Bay comes into sight as we round the next headland .
Apart from a small sandy area exposed at low tide the beach consists mainly of huge mounds of limestone pebbles, a result of the extensive quarrying in the 18th/19th century. At the height of the limestone trade there was quite a large community engaged in quarrying and transporting the limestone. Numerous small boats called "Muffies" would wait in the bay ready to take it across the channel to Devon where it would be burnt in kilns for agricultural purposes. The two houses, now private residences, were public houses catering for the needs of the many workers. One was called the Ship Inn and the other the Beaufort Inn.
A closer view of the "Beaufort Inn". It was built between 1830 and 1840. There are many stories of it being haunted and reports of ghostly sightings of a young woman in a long white dress. .
A steep, very rough stony track is the only way down to the bay for vehicles.
A further obstacle is the Bishopston Stream ........
......which vehicles must cross in order to reach the houses. .
The stream has cut a deep gully through the bank of limestone pebbles..
As it gets further down the beach the stream spreads out and get shallower but still is deep and wide enough to create problems for this couple trying to get across..
Over on the opposite side of the bay, with the tide swirling around me, I balanced on the rocks to photograph the incoming waves.
This piece of driftwood has been "planted" by someone but somehow I don't think it will take root. If you look carefully at the side of the cliff in the background, just above the lighter patch, you will see a thin diagonal line; this is the path we shall take to reach the top of the cliff.
We are now at the top and making our way back towards Brandy Cove. Down below is the path we came along earlier.
As we get closer to Brandy Cove, we can see, from our high position on the clifftop, the beach at Caswell Bay. .
We are now right above Brandy Cove and taking a look at the view inland.
Here, overlooking the sea, is a good spot to end today's walk.....hope you enjoyed the pics...... 'bye..
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