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| BY CARL H. LARSEN |
F or a few seconds, I was back Much of the Gower is held by Britain’s

National Trust, which owns about 10
home in San Diego looking
up the coast from the cliffs
percent of the peninsula, keeping de-
of Torrey Pines.
velopers at bay. Secluded beaches, rocky
promontories and historic sites are part
In front and a bit above of me, paraglid- of the Trust’s domain.
ers rode the currents in their aerial bal-
let. Beyond, and somewhat lower was an Another protector watches over the
expanse of broad sandy beach – virtually Gower. The Gower Society sponsors
empty – arcing to the left for three miles hikes along the many trails, and helped
with the sea gently sweeping in. create the Gower Path, a 60-mile hiking
trail covering coast and inland areas.
And, what were those specks in the wa-
ter on this glorious summer afternoon? But for surfers, the Gower’s unspoiled
Surfers! coast is the premier destination in Wales.

But the plaintive baa-ing of sheep nearby “It’s touch and go whether you’ll get per-
soon broke my spell, as did the expanse fect waves if you come to the Gower, but
of dense gorse, an underbrush so thick there are a few characters to meet, the
that it is an impenetrable refuge for night life in Mumbles is classic – and
birds and other wildlife. Not to mention the sheep are friendly,” said Carwyn Wil-
the lush green coastal plateau. liams, a veteran surfer from the nearby
community of Mumbles.
This, then, was the tip of Gower Penin-
sula of South Wales, running roughly That said, there’s plenty of surfing action
seven miles across by 14 miles long. The along the peninsula. The crowd clusters
Gower, as it is known, is Britain’s first at PJ’s Surf Shop in Llangennith.
Area of Outstanding Beauty, proclaimed
by government decree in 1956. No one At remote Rhossili, the end of the road,
need ask why. there’s a National Trust interpretative
center, a pub and hotel, art gallery and
“Gower is unlike the rest of South Wales,” a few homes. In 2011, a world’s Skinny
said Blue Badge guide Bill O’Keefe, who Dipping record was set here when 400
leads tourists along the byways and naked people ran into the surf as part of
through the sites of a magical land well a cancer fund-raising effort.
on the way to recovering from the ecolog-
ical ravages of unrestrained coal-mining. Up from the beach is Rhossili Rectory,
Here, however, the scars of mining were a former parsonage that the Trust now
mercifully avoided. Left instead is an rents to overnight visitors.
area of primal beauty now protected by
government and community watchdogs. The Gower is a naturalist’s mecca, full of

Sheep grazing on a pasture overlooking the
Gower Peninsula coastline.

Wine Dine & Travel 2016 79