Gower Meet Report

[vanda boyd]

Stand by for tales of pubs with no beer or coffee, beaches with no sand, crags with no climbers and marital infidelities.
Unofficially the meet started on Tuesday when two of us arrived on the Gower with B&B booked, including Jacuzzi bath, and 3 games of golf to play, including the course overlooking the official meet venue, 3 Cliffs Bay. Very nice it was too, including the roaming herd of cows.
By Thursday teatime the other meet participants had arrived, Dick & Lynne in their caravan, Dave C in smallish tent and Vanda & I in one of our 4 berth palaces.
The 3 campers decided to head to the Gower Inn for an evening meal, only to find not only was the pub car park a pay & display but they had no beer, only lager. Despite this we had a reasonable meal, only to find no coffee available afterwards. A pub definitely crossed off the list. Luckily for them, D & L failed to find us as arranged.
Next morning Vanda & I hoped to climb the cliffs whilst the others set off for a walk. Unfortunately, by now we’d realised there was no beach to climb from, the tides being unhelpful in their fullness. To pass the time we drove to King Arthur Inn to make sure they had both beer and food for the evening. By mid-day there was enough beach to scramble down to in the beautifully sheltered and warm but deserted Pobbles Bay and we eventually managed 7 routes, including a rarity, a joint solo [Diff!]. Finishing by around 6pm, the walking party were convinced we’d been, like them, in a café, but not so.
A convivial evening was had in the pub with 2 nights beer ration condensed into one.
However, this wasn’t the end of the entertainment. On settling down for the night we were ‘treated’ to a full and graphic account of the marital infidelities of a Welsh woman at full volume and X rated language from her husband, until well after 3am. It may be unkind, but on hearing him and next day identifying him, one couldn’t honestly blame her!!
Saturday brought similar weather, the odd bit of drizzle, sunshine and strongish breeze. Dave set out for family visiting, Dick and Lynne on a bike ride and Vanda & I took down the tent whilst again waiting for the tide to fall. We then spent another lovely afternoon both in Pobbles Bay and on the main 3 Cliffs before setting off home around 6pm. A easy 4 hour drive saw us back in Sheffield and finished the weekend with a Sunday afternoon on Burbage by the Sea.
Great fun and interest throughout.
Lessons to be learned…don’t arrange a seaside meet at high tides…don’t visit the Gower Inn!!
A few photos on Facebook.
Paul & Vanda

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