Only in the UK: part 1: cymru*

We braved the motorways a day before the start of the long weekend -- along with other travellers with similar mindsets -- to southern Wales. The trip was long but the gain was worthwhile as Wales is my favourite ‘country’ in the UK -- much to the dismay of my partly Scottish-blood husband -- not sure if this is due to the stunning landscapes or the Welsh cakes or the fact that our previous two visits had glorious sunshine.

We rang the only vacant campground in the area, upon the advice of the tourist agent in Swansea, and immediately booked their minimum stay of 3 nights. When we got to the campground, we encountered chaotic mayhem. They didn’t assign individual sites, and even though the field was large, the trailers and the large multi-roomed tents made it very difficult to find a place to pitch our little tent.

The campsite was like a cross between an outdoor rock concert and the fictional Quidditch world cup (the picture below definitely doesn’t do it justice!). The campsite was complete with an Indian tee-pee; camper vans with satellite reception; inflatable trampolines, goal posts, and similar child's birthday party toys; and an ice cream truck that visited at 9:30 sharp every night. Thankfully, we spent minimal time there, as the campsite just served as a place for us to sleep. And that was only dodgy at best, as we heard every sleeper’s snores, baby’s cries, and teenaged girl’s songs into the wee hours of the night.

[Aside: One day, I swear it would be interesting to do an ethnographic study on the behaviours of different types of campers and among campers in different countries. We never did stay in caravan campsites in BC but it was neat to see people brushing their teeth with electric toothbrushes and eating a full English breakfast in their bathrobes. By the end of our 3 nights, we really hoped to do some backcountry camping in the UK next summer - if possible!]

The roads getting to the beaches on Gower Peninsula were very narrow. It could comfortably fit 1.5 cars but, of course, it was a 2-way road. We made our way to Rhossili on the peninsula early one morning. The walk to the nearly-deserted beach was well rewarded with soft sand and warm air, a swim in the water, and a laze in the sun.