The Adventure Girls Club Gower Weekender

What a weekend! It was our second weekender since I launched the club, but it was the first big one - there were 23 of us, all there to hike, swim and connect in the outdoors.

We stayed at YHA Port Eynon, one of my favourite hostels in the UK. It’s an old lifeboat station with unparalleled sea views from its large lounge windows and access to the beach right from the front door. 

On Friday night, the girls started arriving from 6pm onwards. It was a chance for everyone to get settled in, meet each other and graze on some cheese and biscuits. 

A few of the girls woke early on Saturday morning for a beautiful sunrise sea dip, the best way to start the day! Everyone else woke up to a breakfast of Porridge, fruit, yoghurt and a cooked veggie breakfast to fuel them for the long day of hiking ahead. 

Once we had packed our day bags, we set off for our first hike - Rhossili Circular. We parked at Rhossili Bay National Trust Car Park and joined the coast path parallel to the beach before slowly climbing up the steep ascent onto Rhossili Down where we had 360 degree views, ponies and ancient ruins to feast our eyes on. 

We then dropped down inland and made our way to re-join the coast path on the other side of the peninsular. We stopped to have lunch with views across Mewslade beach before carrying along the rugged coastline towards Worms Head. 

Once we reached the Worms Head lookout station we could see the tide times and make a call as to whether we wanted to walk across to Worms Head or not. Luckily we had plenty of time before the tide came in and everyone was up for the walk across the causeway! I was really happy as this is my favourite part of the walk and it’s such an experience to walk over the seabed to the Island. We walked over rock pools, looking out for anemones and over thousands of muscles crunching beneath our feet. We passed an old anchor and waved to a seal who was bobbing about in the sea next to us. Once we reached the island, we saw even more seals and seal pups lying around on the rocks! We sat for a while watching them, taking in this magical moment before leaving them in peace. 

We climbed up the steep ascent to the edge of the inner island for an even better view and some photo opportunities before heading back along the causeway to the mainland. There was just a short walk back to the start of the walk where we all had a drink in the The Worms Head Hotel. 

Back at the hostel we had some scones and cake while everyone showered and got into their PJs ready for a relaxing evening. 

I cooked a veggie chilli for everyone, with all the trimmings - wraps, nachos, guac, cheese, sour cream - a perfect warming dish after a long day in the elements. We then spent the rest of the evening playing card games, chatting, stargazing and even did some group colouring in! 

The next morning a group of us went for another sunrise swim (the sea was pretty rough so it was more a jumping over the waves type of swim!) We then ate another filling breakfast and packed up the hostel ready to leave for our second hike of the weekend. 

We drove over to Oxwich bay and started our hike through the sand dunes and up along the coast path to Three Cliffs Bay. Once we had walked over the famous stepping stones over Pennard Pill we climbed up the sandy path to Pennard Castle, a 12th Century castle ruins with one of the best views in the UK. We sat here for lunch before walking back along the long stretch of beach in the golden hour glow back to the car park.

We finished the weekend with a hot drink from the cafe overlooking Oxwich bay before saying our goodbyes and driving back to reality. 

Thank you to everyone who came on this weekend trip, you all made it so special and I’m really excited for the next one!