Rhossili via Llangennith Circular (Wales Coast Path) walk

A gentle walk, up to then along the downs overlooking a stunning beach with wide ranging sea views, and back along the beach itself.

20160829_113057 Worms Head from Rhossili Down
20160829_113057

Worms Head from Rhossili Down

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_113111 Worms Head from Rhossili 2
20160829_113111

Worms Head from Rhossili 2

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_113843 Rhossili beach
20160829_113843

Rhossili beach

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_113850 Worms Head from summit of Rhossili down
20160829_113850

Worms Head from summit of Rhossili down

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_115206 Rhossili beach and Spaniards Rock
20160829_115206

Rhossili beach and Spaniards Rock

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_122534 Rhossili beach at low tide
20160829_122534

Rhossili beach at low tide

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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20160829_135713 Rhossili beach - bottom of hill path
20160829_135713

Rhossili beach - bottom of hill path

Aug-16 • Andrew Murphy on Flickr

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Length 15.3km / 9.5 miles
OS Map OS Explorer (Gower)
Toughness 3 out of 10
Features

Rhossili is a truly stunning beach, regularly on best in the world lists

This easy walk starts in Rhosilli, a small village at the south west end of the Gower Peninsular, and climbs Rhossili Down (a treeless hill) behind the beach for a long ridge walk parallel to, but above, the amazing beach, with views back over Gower, and across to Pembrokeshire. At the far end of the ridge, descend to Llangennith (pub) and caravan park (cafe). The route back is along the beach itself (easy over firm sand).

Tea is on the terrace of a pub on a cliff edge, with a truly stunning view overlooking the beach.

Lunch and Tea
  • Kings Head Inn, Langennith. Small country pub. Open all day.
  • Eddy's Cafe, Hillend Caravan Park, Llangennith. Large, terrace, overlooks the dunes
  • Worm's Head Hotel, Rhossili. On a cliff overlooking the long sweep of the beach. OK food, stunning view from the terrace. Cheap. Very popular. Limited on-street parking, or large NT pay car park.
Tides
19-Mar : high: 01:01 low: 07:40 high: 14:09 low: 20:20
20-Mar : high: 02:56 low: 09:26 high: 15:41 low: 21:46
21-Mar : high: 04:06 low: 10:25 high: 16:36 low: 22:36
22-Mar : high: 04:54 low: 11:06 high: 17:17 low: 23:13
23-Mar : high: 05:30 low: 11:37 high: 17:50 low: 23:44
24-Mar : high: 06:02 low: 12:05 high: 18:20
25-Mar : low: 00:12 high: 06:31 low: 12:31 high: 18:48
Times for Mumbles. Corrected for BST if appropriate. Contains ADMIRALTY® tidal data: © Crown Copyright and database right.
Rhossili

Rhossili is a small village in a superb location at the southern end of Rhossili beach - the beach is regularlly on 'best in the world' lists. Behind the beach is a down (grassy hill). Beyond the village is a headland and the Worms Head islands.

Eat: The Worms Head Hotel, thewormshead.co.uk - OK bar food, £4 pints, has a terrace with an absolutley stunning view of the bay. Probably the best view of any pub in the country! There's a tea room next door.

By Bus: Year round bus from Swansea. Buy a bus pass. About 1 hour. Every 1 to 2 hours. Check the times before travelling, especially off season.

By Car: SA3 1PP, about 45 mins from Swansea. In 2015, the National Trust brought the village car park for £3 million, raised the fee to £4 (free to members, £2 for 1 hour), and made the charges year round. There's free parking for a few cars by the church, or on the road in to town.

Stay: There are several B&B's in Rhossili, and holiday rentals, besides the Worms Head Hotel. The nearest youth hostel is Port Eynon

Gower Walks

Clockwise from Swansea - Gower's beaches are exceptional - there really are this many 5 star walk here!

If you want to do the Gower Coast Path

  • Swansea town centre along the promenade to Mumbles is easy enough.
  • Then our Mumbles to Three Cliffs and Three Cliffs to Oxwich walks can be done in 1 go.
  • Next you can combine (Oxwich Bay to) Port Eynon to Rhossili with Rhossili via Llangennith Circular (but finish early in Llangennith, as there are rare Oxwich - Llangennith buses.
  • Then choose the Llanmadoc to Llangennith option of the Llanmadoc via Whiteford Sands Circular
  • Finally, Llanmadoc to Gowerton
Get There

The nearest train station is Swansea... but its a 10 min walk from the bus station. Some early morning / late evening buses start from it though.

London Paddington to Swansea : 3 hours, £80 off peak return. 'Advance' tickets (no changes) from £20 single. A good compromise is "Advance" out, and an (Open) "Single" back - about £60.

London Waterloo via Salibury and Bath - £60 off peak return. Much longer. Cheap advance tickets on the few direct trains per day.

Megabus (London to Swansea from £6 single) coach and National Express coach is another option.

Driving to Swansea takes about 3 hours from London. The Seven bridge costs £6.60 to Wales only (free coming back). Its not worth driving around via Gloucester, even if going to the Brecon Beacons. Its a lot longer, and with the extra fuel, you wont save much

Buses

You must check the bus times beforehand - using traveline.cymru/ Why? Because times and routes vary on school days, not school days, weekdays, Saturday, Sunday, summer, winter... It might be efficient, but its confounding for visitors. There are different day bus passes for each company which are good value (about the same price as a single!), but which one you need varies by destination and day !!!

Partial update: Summer 2018

Swansea bus station is about 15 mins walk from the train station. From there, 2 companies run buses to Gower, with a bizarre obfuscated schedule.

There is a 'Go Gower' day pass for £5.40, valid on both companies.

Notes. Mumbles official name is Oystermouth, they are the same place. Swansea, Black Pill and Mumbles are on Swansea Bay.

Current routes are

First #2 / 2B / #2C Swansea - Black Pill (bay) - Mumbles (bay) - Rotherslade (beach) - #2C continues to Caswell (beach) Every 30 mins
First #14 / #114 Swansea - Black Pill (bay) - Southgate (for 3 Cliffs Beach) ~ 30 mins
NAT #117 / #118 (Mon-Sat)South Gower : Swansea - Killay (for disused railway line) - Parkmill (1km inland from 3 Cliffs beach) - (#117 via Oxwich beach) - Port Eynon (beach) - Rhosilli (south end of the beach)~ 60 mins
NAT #114 (Sunday) South Gower : Swansea - Black Pill (bay) - Southgate (for 3 Cliffs Beach) - Parkmill (1km inland from 3 Cliffs beach) - Oxwich (beach) - Port Eynon (beach) - Rhosilli (south end of the beach)~ 60 mins
NAT #116 North Gower : Swansea - (sometimes via Llanmadoc for Whitford Sands) - Llangennith (north end of Rhosilli beach)~ 60 mins
NAT #115 (Mon-Sat) Llangennith (north end of Rhossili beach) - Port Eynon (beach) {not to/from Swansea}3 per day
  • On Sunday, the South Gower bus takes a better route via BlackPill (close to Mumbles) and Southgate (Three Cliffs). Apart from that, the routes don't overlap, so its great for 1 way walks, and to/from Swansea, but bad for to/from Mumbles, and long south coast walks.
  • On Mon-Sat, you sometimes have to change bus to/from Oxwich via a timetabled connection.
  • First Choice - via Mumbles routes
  • NAT - Gower routes
  • Swansea Bay Without a Car has online bus departure posters for the main places

New for 2018: There is a £3.50 one-way flat rate ticket for West Gower, for thoes returning to their car.

Stay

Swansea is the best place for public transport users. The city doesn't have many tourist sites except for Wind Street (pronounced Wine Street, loads of mega pubs) and the marina. Many old seafront B&B's, and mega chain hotels.

Mumbles (Oystermouth) is a pretty seaside village, quieter at night and more upmarket nowadays as the 'Mumbles mile' pubs are no more. Old B&Bs and boutieque hotels. Swansea's 'latin' quarter.

There is a Youth Hostel in Port Eynon, and a large beach campsite on Rhosilli beach near Llangennith. Also campsites at Three Cliffs. Rhosilli itself would be a great place to stay for car travellers.

Warning

The Severn Estuary has the second highest tidal range in the world (after the Bay of Fundy), with typically, a 30 foot (10 metre) difference between high and low tide.

If you walk along the beach beneath high cliffs, or far out on the sands, be aware of that you can be cut off by a rising tide!

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By Car

Start Rhossili, Gower, West Glamorgan Map Directions

Map Walk This walk requires an OS map and a compass or GPS for navigation. You can print out OS maps using the link above.
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Help

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Version

Jan-20 Andrew

Copyright © Saturday Walkers Club. All Rights Reserved. No commercial use. No copying. No derivatives. Free with attribution for one time non-commercial use only. www.walkingclub.org.uk/site/license.shtml

Walk Directions

The directions for this walk are also in a PDF (link above) which you can download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.

  1. Park either in the pay car park, or down the road a ways
  2. (from the car park) Walk back to the village centre, and up onto Rhossili Down - 193m.
  3. Walk north, above the beach as far as you wish
  4. If desired, continue as far as Llangennith and its pub, then down to the beach and Burry Holme/Spaniards Rock (both points easily visible from the downs)
  5. Walk back along the beach
  6. Climb up the cliff path and have a well deserved drink in Rhossili's pub
© Saturday Walkers Club. All Rights Reserved. No commercial use. No copying. No derivatives. Free with attribution for one time non-commercial use only. www.walkingclub.org.uk/site/license.shtml