Wheely great Gower

I can't count the number of times I've been to the Gower over the years - with school friends, family and my surfing buddies. But only to a very few places - Llangennith, Rhossili, Oxwich and Caswell Bay. For this trip I wanted to go a bit further and see more than just the beaches.

There are quite a few routes published - but in the end I plumped for this one: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1380953646. I like Kathrine Moore's (www.instagram.com/katherinebikes/) routes and this one started from a train station I could get to easily from London. Importantly though, I reversed it - for the longest time I've wanted to bivvy overlooking Rhossili Bay - and going clockwise would see me hitting the 40k mark at that point - over half way around.

Gower bikepack loop final.gpx

Download GPX • 236KB

The journey from Paddington is over 3 hours with a change from the comfy but ludicrously under-provisioned for bikes GWR inter-city to a 2 carriage commuter effort from Transport for Wales. Keen to save money, my Senior Railcard means I can only take a train after 09.30, so my arrival time at Gowerton was a relatively 13.55. No matter, it was a bright sunny day with sunset at around 20:10.

The early stages clockwise are nice but unremarkable - along a disused rail line south to hit the coast at the Mumbles. Then it's back inland and uphill on a B road. But before I'd hit the first bit of gravel proper I had a flat on my front wheel. Swapping out the inner for my spare, I saw that the leak was right next to the valve. Weird, but maybe the inner was to blame? Mindful that I only had 1 spare I thought it prudent to make a teeny detour to Essential Cycles Gower and get a 3rd inner. The guys there are super helpful and it's a great place just to hang out really. So, 3rd spare (with slime) pack off I went.

For about 3km. Then the same happened - a rapid loss of pressure in the front tyre, at Penmaen. Onto my third inner and it was clear that something was wrong with the wheel. A burr on the hole for the valve? A missing washer? Who knew. What I did know was the feeling as the slime filled inner packed up just 6 km on though this time at the steep drop into Oxwich Bay. It's a very busy road on a sunny day in August, but luckily I stayed mostly upright.

But that was it. The slime wasn't quite up to the task of filling the hole next to the valve - and within a another 900 metres it was back to the horrible flap flap of a flat. But no more inners and no way of fixing the ones I had. Looking at the map I reckoned that it was about 10km to Rhossili. By now it was past 6 pm. About 2 hours of daylight to push the bike there. So off I trundled along remote farm tracks where I managed to follow the wrong side of a hedge resulting in having to double back I km later! To say I was having a sense of humour failure doesn't even come close.

And then, miraculously my luck changed.

As I trundled past a row of houses next to the pretty little church of St David’s at Llanddewi, a man walking his dogs noticed the flat and asked if I needed to use a track pump. I explained the situation and Sam, for that was his name, demonstrated the true kindness of strangers. Having tried a 27.5 inch inner (which also punctured) in my 26 inch wheel, he then went above and beyond by taking a 24 inch wheel and fitting that to the forks. Not pretty, not great for braking. But it worked.

So by 7.15pm I was on my way - with air in a front tyre and a knackered wheel and a can of IPA in my rucsac (again, thanks to Sam).

I got to the top of the ridge just before 9.00pm and just in time to see the sun drop beneath the horizon in a truly spectacular show of pinks, oranges and reds. Just beautiful.

But I was beat. The bivvy bag was out and the stove on in almost record time.

///circling.husbands.essential was where I ended up - and as you'll see from the video a spot with glorious views. Though a little windy - the Stealth Stove has no real wind protection, so I burned through fuel at a prodigious rate. But the heather made for a comfy bed and it was great to see the bats flit overhead and the stars come out.

The sunrise was equal to the sunset and watching the swell far below me was hypnotic. The rest of the route goes north along the coast with the descents off Llangennith and Llanmadoc both pretty steep and gnarly. Also, the latter very overgrown with bracken and very sharp brambles.

After that the route heads east, flat along the Llanrhidian Marsh with Llanelli across the bay. A final mention should go to a couple of brutal hills on the way back to Gowerton at Crofty and Wern-olau.

Puncture issues aside - this is a really great route. Even though it was the height of August and the beaches were clearly busy I has most of the off road parts of the route to myself. And all the people I met were super friendly.

None more so than Sam. Who saved my trip.

Thanks again.