Rhossili Bay lies at the western edge of the Gower peninsula, some 18 miles from the centre of Swansea. Its three-mile-long stretch of golden sand regularly features in lists of the best UK (and world) beaches, usually near the top. It certainly is a lovely place, even in winter – the photos here were taken at the end of February.
The beach is shown more clearly in the next two shots. At high tide there is only a fairly small fringe of sand and pebbles; at low tide the water’s edge is a long way from the dunes and a huge expanse of sand is exposed. In the photos the water has just started to retreat.
Standing on the beach, your eyes are drawn to a rocky island just offshore. It is called Worm’s Head because of its shape. Here it is seen from a nearby clifftop.
Some 2.5 hours either side of low tide you can actually walk/wade across to the island. However, the tide comes in quickly and people are regularly caught out – despite the warning signs.
Sheep far outnumber people here. Below is a particularly colourful example.
Whilst the views of the bay are impressive, there are also dramatic vistas along the coastline in the other direction.
If you look closely at the cliffs you will be able to see the tide marks (some distance above the waterline). As I said, the photos were taken well before low tide, but the Bristol channel – which is what this part of the Atlantic is generally called – has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world.
It’s a lovely place! Do you know if these hills were ever forested, or have they always been grasslands?
I was intrigued by the painted colors on the sheep in your photo. Looked it up to find fields are shared by many sheep farmers and the colors identify the farm to which they belong. Also, rams are outfitted with dye bags on their chest, so when they impregnate a ewe, a bit of the ram dye color can be seen on the ewe.
It can get very windy, particularly in winter. Trees would have a hard time clinging on. Having said that, there are woods on Gower and I’m told that some of these areas were much larger once.
I was going to claim that it is the source of the famous pre-dyed Welsh wool, but since it wasn’t the first of April …