MY FAVOURITE WALK : TYCOCH TO MUMBLES
by Gower Walking Festival organising committee member Chris Peregrine
Walk length: c4.5 miles from Tycoch to Mumbles (c6.5 miles to Rotherslade)
Walk difficulty: 2 boots (https://gowerwalkingfestival.uk/symbols/) mostly flat, finished promenade to Mumbles then and coastal path
In ‘estate agent speak’, we have a sea view from our house in Tycoch. It’s not the best, but it is there, a glimpse of Mumbles in the distance from our landing.
Leaving home, though, is a different matter. Swansea Bay, the one likened to the Bay of Naples, opens up in front of us at the top of the hill. It is a stunner and demands close acquaintance. I am always happy to oblige. In fact, I take this relationship quite seriously. I love my walking, so as often as I can I get my kit on and head down the hill, through the lovely Singleton Park, to the sea.
The seasons don’t matter; there is weather every day. It is just more comfortable sometimes but get the gear on and get going is my motto.
Hitting the seafront is always special. It is left to the Marina and right to Mumbles, my favoured route.
I don’t hang around when I walk, but it’s hard not to glance left even when the tide is out.
At Blackpill – a designated area of special scientific interest – you’ll often come across bird-watching enthusiasts poised with cameras and binoculars. And then, at West Cross, you’ll pass the blue plaque honouring Welsh novelist, businesswoman and social benefactor Amy Dillwyn. And then Mumbles beckons.
There are always people on the front because that is where they want to be, taking in the air, taking in the view.
I normally walk on past Mumbles along the newly refurbished prom, to the pier (currently closed for renovation), up and past the lighthouse, and then head for Rotherslade on the spectacular Wales Coastal Path. It is a bit up and down, but that is called variety. Waves crash onto the rocks below and Surfside Cafe is not far away, a cosy retreat after seven miles or so on the hoof.
Outside Surfside, poems on pebbles can be found, the work of Gower Walking Festival official poet Jim Young, whose love of the sea draws him in for a dip in the bay every day of the year. The calendar doesn’t interest him.
I may walk back home or get a lift from my wife. At one point it depended on whether I was in training for the old Gower Macmarathon. This autumnal Macmillan Cancer Support fundraiser (now replaced by the Gower Mighty Hike) perfectly illustrated the enchanting multi-terrain cocktail before you, all 22 miles of it from Rhossili, home of that picture postcard view which has gone around the world, to Mumbles Cricket Club. I did it six times, and kept going back, like many others who were drawn to a coastal trek that gives you a personal appointment with nature at its rugged best.
CHRIS PEREGRINE
Former South Wales Evening Post journalist, Chris has been on the Gower Walking Festival committee since 2023. He ran the inaugural Swansea Bay 10k in 1981 and wrote a series of training tips with former Olympic hurdler and Commonwealth Games champion Berwyn Price for the Evening Post, which partnered with Swansea Council for the launch of the event).
