Swansea Cliff Top Walk
Debbie and I are on a short break at Swansea, staying at perhaps my favourite Premier Inn, on the Swansea Waterfront. It’s a great location and excellent value for money. After a huge, leisurely breakfast, where I topped up my lunch of nuts with banana chips and dried apricots from the breakfast bar, we drove around the bay to Mumbles, where we parked up ready to walk along the Welsh Coastal Path.
Debbie’s never rounded the headland to the west of Swansea bay, so impressed as she was looking east, she was blown away by the fantastic vista of the cliffs that we would soon be walking along. The quality of the path was superb, narrow but tarmacked and in good repair. It made walking a real pleasure by comparison with some of the rough paths I’m used to that seem to be actively trying to destroy my ankles and tendons. Every vista revealed by the walk brought gasps from Deb, some of them gasps for air on the hillier stretches, but mostly gasps of delight. It really is a superb walk and everyone we met along the way was very friendly.
As we approach Langland Bay, Debbie was thinking cafes and food, but all I could think of was getting in the water for a swim. I now routinely pack my micro-fibre towel and trunks, even in my smallest rucksack, so I was all set and once Debbie was settled into a cafe on the sea front I was in the water. I had a great swim, the third open water swim in the last week and I’ve loved every one of them, but this was the best. Plenty of room, crystal clear water and of course free. Getting changed on the beach I missed the convenience of changing rooms though.
I’ve become so enamoured with open water swimming, as a way to cool down mid-walk, that the first thing I did when I got back to the hotel was lookup, swimming in the Lake District and was pleased to see it actively encouraged, I’m excited.
After my swim Debbie and I walked back to the car, she drove home and I walked around Swansea Bay, one of my favourite ‘city’ walks. I love the contrast of the buzzing city life to the left of me and the tranquil bay to the right, I’m eager to cycle the bay next time I come on my own with my Brompton.
Back in the hotel I wrote the blog post for my next challenge, writing a diary blog post entry each day for the next 30 days, this post being the first of them.
Today has been a good one for free gifts, first the freebies from the breakfast deck, then a call from Premier Inn customer relations to say that they were refunding the total cost of my trip to London last week (room to hot to sleep), then free car-parking in Mumbles because the guy was repairing the pay-and-display machine, free swimming and finally free WIFI which is new to Premier Inn. Freebies always bring a smile to my face, so I was grinning wildly today!
I’m writing this post in the Premier Inn, sitting on the bed with my laptop and using Windows Live Writer, Debbie is having a nap next to me before an evening walk and a couple of episodes of Stargate Atlantis, it’s been a fabulous day!
