Welcome to the new Girlguiding Cymru walking blog!

I’m going to start by covering some walks the lovely weather has made me want to re-visit when lockdown ends.

Like many Guide Leaders who operate DofE I get to spend a lot of time in our lovely Welsh countryside, waiting for expedition groups, and have a list of walks I’m going to do again when I get time and there are no expeditions.

Today, I’m thinking of the Gower. (OS Explorer map 164, and if you need maps, worth a visit to dash4it.co.uk where the lovely people at a small business in Cornwall, will post the map directly to you, ideal when you can’t get out and about to shops.)

There’s a great NT car par at Rhossilli,  (grid ref 415 877) reasonable loos – always a plus!

Leaving the car park, head NE through the village, and just after the church a path leads up to Rhossilli Down, it’s the biggest steepest hill around, and hard to miss. It’s going to feel steep, steep, steep after so long at home only able to wander around the flat Cardiff paths.  Along the ridge, I’ll be exploring the burial chamber and checking out the cairns, then dropping down to Hillend, it’s a really steep descent, and unless we’ve had rain, will be dusty and slippy, so I’ll be taking it slowly. I’m returning along the Wales Coastal Path above the sand, below the down. There is an Old Rectory half way along this path which always makes me thing that if any house is haunted, it should be this one.

If the weather is glorious, there are plenty of paths down on the sands of Rhosilli Bay for a spot of paddling and picnic lunch. On heading back towards village, there’s a lovely local tea shop tucked away at the NE end of the run of houses which joins on to the hotel, opposite the car park, spectacular views across the bay from the garden.

There’s bound to be an ice-cream van in the car park – great local business to support. (Which is of course the only reason we would have cake and ice cream!)

The whole walk is about 5.7km, and will take around 2 hrs 15 mins with no breaks, and total climb of 207m. 

Navigationally, very easy, can be deceptively cold on the top of the down even on a sunny day.

Thanks for reading, please keep us up to date on your walks by sharing your journeys and using the hashtag #GirlguidingCymru

Michelle