UK, Day 11: (B)ramble On

Heading out of Llanrhidian (population 512) for the morning, we made our way to Rhossili Bay on the far western shore of the Gower.

The chilly temperatures and blustery winds didn't stop Ava and the rest of our crew from enjoying the sand at the beach, trying to perfect handstands, and generally acting silly.

On the hilltop above the beach the wind was even stronger and we were lucky that Ava held onto Chris' hat.

For lunch we stopped in at the only pub in Llanrhidian.  The kids visited the chickens and playground in the back garden before we headed in for food and drinks.

With only one person working at the pub that day the menu was limited to toasties (basically grilled cheese sandwiches) and the kids bided their time by making towers out of beer mats.  The wait was worth it (for the adults) as the melted Welsh cheese was great (albeit a bit too sharp for Ava).

Ava claims that she was convinced to stop playing football (soccer) with Matthew and Haydn by a claim from Abby that we could go on a five block walk to get to a castle.  Starting off on a well worn footpath, the first sign said that it would be 1.5 miles to the castle.  With that in mind, along with very simple written directions from the proprietors of the house where we stayed, this walk looked easy peasy.  Unfortunately, the clear path and good signage wouldn't last for long.  Making our way over stiles, through kissing gates, and up a small hill we continued to follow the small signs on the intermittent posts. 

Climbing further up the hill, on a muddy trail, and avoiding the horse manure, we eventually found an open field filled with small, friendly ponies.  Don't worry, none of the kids came down with foot and mouth disease.

The only problem with this revelation is that there wasn't a sign or path marker in sight.  We did, however, find an old man with a dog and walking stick and asked him where to go.  He was quite impressed that we were heading to the castle and warned that it was a long ways away (an ominous sign).  He offered us two options - walk along the road or walk down the path full of brambles.  We chose the latter path and walked through the narrow, brambly path being careful to avoid thorn or stick in the eye, and pausing here and there to dislodge prickly growths from tearing shirts and jackets.  Eventually the pathway opened up a bit and we had some room to walk.

When we got back to the bottom of the hill (the one I don't think we were meant to climb up in the first place) we returned to pastures and farmland.  We continued on and eventually climbed up the hill to Weobley Castle.  The view from the top was stunning and it was all free as there was no one there to collect our entrance fee.

We wandered all around the ruins and even climbed into windows.

On the way back we walked along the narrow road for a ways before finding a pub mentioned in our written directions.  Following the directions and the small footpath sign, we entered a field filled with sheep.  Unfortunately, there was no way out of the field.  Not only were the sheep scared/angry with us, but we had to turn around and walk back along the road.

With tired feet and no phone signal we nearly gave up and headed back to the pub to have Ben pick us up, but we pressed on.  Good thing too as we ran across The Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo cartoons, and eventually found a footpath back to the village and our house.

We ended our day with a pub dinner at the Greyhound Inn (home of the Gower Brewery), which we had passed earlier in the day when we were lost/walking home, and a group photo in front of our house.

Check back in tomorrow to see whether we got lost on our final day in the UK.