swancam

Pictures of places in and around Swansea, Wales.
Saturday 20th October 2001.
A walk around Port Eynon.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind
permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

St Cattwg's Church is in the heart of the village of Port Eynon and a good place from which to start my walk. The present building dates from the 12th century. Restoration took place in 1861 and again in 1901. Set in the churchyard wall is this marble statue commemorating three crew members of the Port Eynon lifeboat who were lost when the lifeboat capsized whilst giving assistance to the Glasgow steamship "Dunvegan" in January 1916.

A little way from the church is this lovely flower decorated whitewashed cottage.

I follow the twisting narrow single track road to the foreshore, where outside "The Captain's Table" restaurant, I enjoy a morning coffee and gaze out over the beach while I consider whether to walk to the left along the beach to Horton or go to the right along the cliffs towards Overton. I decided to go over the sand dunes to Horton village, come back along the beach and then go to Overton.

Both Port Eynon and Horton villages are popular with campers who holiday here each summer. Out of season both are relatively quiet, the seasonal traders having closed their shops for the winter. Here, on Horton beach, I look up at the village houses nestling beneath the rocky hillside. .

I start walking back along the sand following the curve of the bay towards Port Eynon Point. .

Near the Point, I climb to the top of the limestone cliffs.

It's a bit of a climb to the top of the Point and I am glad to sit and rest. The view of the bay is fabulous. Little wonder this spot was chosen to erect this granite pillar to the memory of Gwent Jones and Stephen Lee, both founder members of the Gower Society and to mark the help given by the Gower Society to preserve these cliffs for the Nation .

A track leads around the cliffs to the pebbly rock strewn beach of Overton Mere.

The path skirts the edge of the beach towards ......

.......a steep limestone ridge. I can see a couple of walkers ahead of me making their way up the slope, but my route at this point follows the dry stone wall inland .

I climb over the stile and take a look back before heading...

up the narrow valley between limestone outcrops. Behind me, the sea glistens in the sunlight.

On the flat land at the top of the valley I follow the pathway which will take me ,first to Overton and then to where I started in Port Eynon. There are several fields of cabbages along the way ... this tractor will not be doing any work until it gets its wheel fitted.

Walking through Overton I saw many modern houses but few older properties then I spotted this cottage and thought it would be a nice photo with which to end my walk......bye.

Thank you for visiting my website. All photos were taken using a Nikon 990 digital camera.
You are welcome to copy and use any of the photographs for non-commercial purposes. If you include any of these photographs on your own website, please credit Alex Thomas as the photographer and add a link to this website.