I hadn’t realised that ‘The Gower’, far from being just a couple of little old seaside villages, is a largish country area, spreading from the west side of Swansea out to… I’m not sure where. It’s a lot farther than I can walk, that much is as sure as old banana skins.
Okay, let’s leave that thought dangling for a bit. What other natural areas do I have within my grasp?
Well, to the north, we have an inland hilly area known as the Brecon Beacons. Some folks would argue that I should use the term ‘mountainous’ rather than ‘hilly’. I don’t think I have the desire, or the time, to argue that one out.
Now, I don’t know the Beacons awfully well. I’ve been there only once or twice and then with people who know the area only from the road to and from some pub or other.
I do not measure my landscapes by the pubs they shelter, nor by the roads between. I’m far more inclined these days to see a landscape as a convenient support for gentle walking, deep breathing, sky, tree and sea watching and, when satiated thusly, to hold a café where I can get something along the lines of sausage, egg, chips and beans and a good deep cup of black tea. Or fish’n'chips and black tea.
So, then, we have ‘The Gower’ and the ‘Brecon Beacons’, one of them a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the other not only that but a National Park to boot. The near edge of either of them is less than half an hour away by car.
The Gower is fabulous for the sea. The Beacons are fabulous for huge open views.
I am blessed. I can happily spend the rest of my life pottering around these places, sea when I feel like smelling the sea, and the hills when I feel like pretending I’m hiking again, relishing the mile upon mile of fresh, unpoluted air.
You know what? I may well do just that. I seem to have the sea and the hills and the rest of my life just around the corner and over the hill.
Just around the corner and over the hill
