A Brilliant Day in Mumbles (Swansea, Wales)

Mumbles is an area that is south and west of Swansea proper. It is the home of the first passenger railway and has absolutely stunning walks along the shoreline of the Bristol Channel (Mor Hafren in Welsh). I spent the morning catching up on correspondence, enjoying a few cups of coffee and generally not rushing to be anywhere. It was such a welcome and unexpected change from every other day of this trip. I can't say I truly took a day off or a day to myself during the ITC portion of the trip.

Beach at Langland Bay

Looking down at Langland Bay on my way to Mumbles Head

 

After tiring of being around the computer I decided to go for a walk, going to the east, with the intent of heading around Mumbles Head and on up into the downtown itself. I started by going down to the beach from Irfan and Farheen's place. It was at low tide and provided so much opportunity to just enjoy the sandy beach. Even got to watch a German Wirehair Pointer playing with his ball in the surf and on the beach. From there I had a great time following the trail and seeing just how rocky the shoreline was. It also had so many brambles and wild rose bushes that I can't imagine anyone would have ever thought this to be a hospitable place to try and land a raiding party.  There was also opportunity to get off the paved trail and up onto the overlooks through relatively easy climbs. I was able to even reach a spot up on Mumbles Head where I got mobile phone service and gave Steph a call. It was cold, clear, and was it ever blowing goats. Steph could hear the wind as we talked briefly (am I ever glad to have a working mobile again). I then got the chance to sit in the lee of the wind and drink a bit of coffee, enjoy an orange, and simply just be for a little bit.

Rock Garden exposed by the mid-day low tide

I even got to wear my sunglasses for the first time since Freiburg. There just wasn't much sunshine to enjoy in Brussels and by the time I would have considered pulling them out on a couple of days, the sun hid behind the clouds as if it knew that I was contemplating sunglasses.

The fingers of the tips of the bays back to the west were part of the later afternoon's trekking with Irfan and Kaivaan. The early walk, I would call it a morning walk but I didn't take off until after 11.30am, hoping to take advantage of any possible warmth that was in existence. It was great that even the daffodils were making their best effort at it in the protected areas on the hillsides. There weren't lots of them, but they did look awfully nice. This set had a protected locale being to the side of Castellamare restaurant. It had a great view of of the lighthouse from there, but it seems like scaffolding follows me everywhere. No matter what I am hoping to see it appears to be covered in scaffolding to foil my best attempts to see it the way it was finished. I stopped there as it was after 1.00pm and I wasn't in the mood for even more orange and coffee. It was actually nice to sit and have a small spicy chicken, sausage, and peppers pizza. I haven't often taken pictures of a meal, and especially when it wasn't phenomenal. It was nice and even better it was out of the cold wind.

As I sat there Irfan called and said he was able to be done at work early so we were able to get out and enjoy a walk together with Kaivaan going west toward Brandy Cove. It was a good additional five miles of hiking after the few miles earlier in the day. Again it was cold, a bit cooler yet when we hit the wind more head on, but it was fantastic enjoying the company and sharing great views. Brandy cove is past the second finger of land as you look at the center of the photo. We thought about trying to make it out to that last finger of land, but high tide was upon us and Irfan had heard that the trail dropped closer to the water's edge, so there was a chance we couldn't easily make it all the way anyway.

All in all, a fantastic day just exploring what was literally just down the lane from where I am staying. We had a simple supper at home and have been enjoying more good conversation and discussion about so many different topics.