Gower Walking Festival - Castles of Gower

This is the walk I was looking forward to the most, the chance to find out more about some of the castles in Gower. I love castles, and here in Wales we have more per square mile than any other country in the world. The Gower is absolutely teeming with them, some visible, some hidden beneath shifting sands and tangled woods.

Today's walk was headed by archeologist Charles Hill along with the Gower Society, focusing on the buried castle of Penmaen, and the ruins of Pennard.

The castles bracket the glorious Three Cliffs Bay, and for the first stop we perched on the grassy tumps that are all that are visible of Penmaen as Charles gave a talk on the castle that was, along with prints outs and a board with diagrams - more in depth than I expected and made understanding the history much easier. We had a surprise low flyover by a WW2 bomber, which was great, and then we scrambled down the wooded sand dunes into the bay. 

Crossing the Pennard Pill meant hopping between the stepping stones, slightly hairy for those with stubby legs like mine, but no real risk with the tide out.

The next part of the walk involved a steep sandy climb to Pennard Castle, a few people found it tough, but it was definitely worth it for the views. 

We had another talk here about the history of this castle with more handouts. All very interesting, covering the various invasions that plagued Gower in bygone days, and the lords who held control of this area. 

The walk back up the road to the carpark was pretty steep and gave the old legs a further workout. Very good walk, very enjoyable.