Mumbles – South end car park to Caswell  Bay

Tuesday 9^th June

Steps on the trail – 13927  Miles on the trail 4.35

It was a bright sunny morning – rather windy and I returned to the South end car park on the Mumbles. I took a while to get organised and set off on the final bit of the promenade, up to the pier. I availed myself of some facilities before ascending some steep steps up on to the headland. What followed was several miles of scenic coastal walking, made very much easier by a cement track (all bar the last ½ a mile into Caswell Bay). There were many seats and a few ascents and descents. There were lots of people on the track of all sizes and ages, and plenty of dogs. I stopped first for a coffee looking back at Limeslade bay.

The wind was really blustery and I wished I was walking in the opposite direction. It was really very straightforward – dipping down first to Langland Bay – where I again used some convenient facilities. There was a terrific footpath sign, with memorial plaques, and a reference to the dark side! I stopped for a  second coffee on a bench at Snapple point (which was reasonably sheltered) looking back across the bay.

The next stretch was even more windy and a big more rugged and after about a mile wound down into Caswell Bay. I didn’t need the conveniently placed defibrillator near one of the sharp ascents. It was in good time to get a No 1 bus back to Mumbles but it stopped about a mile from where the car was parked. I had lunch on a bench on the promenade, did a little bit of shopping and walked back to the car along the road, taking in a wool shop with lots of knitted animals on the way back!

Jersey Marine to Baglan (near the station!)

Wednesday 10^th June 2026

Steps on the trail 12440  –  Miles on the trail 3.94

I got the 116 bus from 5 minutes away from base camp back to the Swansea bus station. I nearly missed my connection as the bus driver had logged off the bus before I tapped off! I had to wait for the new driver to log in again! Not very helpful. I just caught the X7 back to New Road in Jersey Marine where I had stopped on Monday. I really wasn’t feeling that special (and an hour on the bus hadn’t really helped!).

I started the trek by the bridge over the Tennant canal and retouched my touching point. I walked on soon joining a combined cycle route and walkway alongside the A483. I stopped in a garage, to use the facilities (and some of the reason I wasn’t feeling so great became apparent!).

The walk was not very exciting along side a main road but there were occasional orchids in the verge. As I drew near the M4, there was an underpass so I could get under the dual carriage way, and I then walked under the motorway (M4) (which is elevated at this point!). I carried on alongside the A48 and over a bridge over the river Neath. I had to make a choice between the red and blue options on the coast path – and I chose what I thought would be a walk on the beach/sand dunes – the blue option. As soon as I could I stopped for a coffee break on a slightly less busy road, on the corner before a turning to a recycling centre sitting on a crash barrier. Not my  most scenic coffee stop by any stretch of the imagination! It started to rain briefly so I donned my kagoul. I was contemplating putting on my waterproof trousers when it stopped!

Shortly after crossing under the M4 again, I started following the coast path signs for the blue route – which bore no relation to what the map or the guide book said – and the walk was alongside a B-road through a long industrial estate! I really wasn’t feeling it and it tried to rain on me several times.  I decided when I eventually reached a footbridge near a bus stop to regroup and was contemplating what to do sitting  on the footbridge footings. I was just under the 4 mile point, but I really needed facilities! And there was nothing obvious ahead.

I checked what was happening bus-wise and 2 minutes away was an X1. I hastily set up a touching point abandoning the activity of the day.  I took the X1 back to Swansea bus station, and was relieved to find the facilities (spotlessly clean but 30p a throw) and spent some time in there. I decided to get the 116 back home. Again feeling rather grim on exiting the bus  – I knew I had made the right choice! I had a quiet afternoon, watched some tennis and had a sleep and things have calmed down!

Mumbles – South end car park to Brynmill

Sunday June 7^th 2026

Steps on the trail 8064 –  Miles on the trail 3.48

A more leisurely start, following a church service at Murton Methodist Church – with a good exposition on the first chapter of Philippians. I liked the idea of Bible month, and enjoyed the strong Biblical focus and some super singing – with 2 great Wesley hymns.

I  parked at the South end car park on the Mumbles, it was overcast and it looked like it might rain! I failed to get the car park machine to work after several efforts (things improved a bit when I got it to prompt me in English rather than Welsh – but it failed to do the final step – so I resorted to an app). I set up a touching  point using the Southend sign on the Mumbles railway trail.  I did a leisurely stroll on the promenade in the direction of Swansea, seeing evidence of the Swansea half marathon that had been earlier. There had been significant improvements to this end of the promenade, which were opened in 2025 – it did look good, and rather better than my memories from a placement in Sketty in 2003. I stopped for a coffee after I had found a public toilet.

I walked on to Black Pill before stopping for lunch. By this stage I realised I wasn’t going to be able to get a bus back very easily because it was Sunday, and the land train wasn’t running because of the marathon, so I decided when it came to it I would get an Uber!

Lunch hit the spot – and I carried on through more of a country park. The evidence of the half marathon was littering the side of the track, and it was quite poignant as I passed the 11 mile mark. I remembered my own half marathon (run for Christian Aid and my 50^th birthday in 2011!) in and around the Royal Parks in London. I remembered hitting the wall a bit between the 11^th and 12^th mile markers on that occasion. I had trained for 6 months to get to this point and I was particularly grateful for the encouragement from the crowd as I alternated between walking and running at this stage!

I did another mile on the trail, but was getting a bit conscious of sharing the path with a cycle track and seeing several folk in county lines kit passing me at speed – I have watched too many episodes of Line of Duty!. At Bryn mill on the mumbles railway trail I established a touching point and a very chatty Uber driver took me back to where the car was parked. Just as I was getting out of the Uber it started to rain! Which continued well into the evening!

Brynmill to Jersey Marine

Monday June 8^th 2026

Steps on the trail 15329  –  Miles on the trail 6.56

I had spotted a car park near the Brynmill touching point and I headed back there. Ready to walk by 9:30am. It was bright and sunny, but cool and I decided gloves would be a good idea! There was a very patriotic bin! After connecting with the touching  point, the trail kept above the beach and was much more open than yesterday’s final section. I walked along with the developments getting more and more upmarket, (though some were not ageing well), and there was a mermaid!. Eventually where a building site blocked off the path, I turned a corner on the side of the river Tawe and a marina came into view. I found a toilet, crossed the Tawe on a foot bridge, and then settled down for morning coffee.

The trail headed inland round the Prince of Wales dock, past a Norwegian Church which is now a nursery and on to a track, with a  very impressive footbridge (suspension!) over the main road. I carried on along the track for about ½ a mile, before passing Fabian Way park and ride to a road.

I had a bit of a dither here, as I worked out whether to carry on. I did do a further 2 and a ½ miles to Jersey Marine, along a track that deteriorated to a narrow path, and went past some wetland, and eventually the last mile or so by the disused and overgrown Tennant Canal. (Thankfully this was much to remote a path for more county lines stuff! And I saw 2 cyclists and 1 man walking his dog on the entire stretch!) – There were several signs discouraging crime and telling me I was being watched!

I established a touching point where the path came out by a bridge, and wandered up the road to a very convenient bus stop. I had a short wait to catch a T6 bus into Swansea and then a number 1 back to Bryn Mill. I ate lunch overlooking the beach back near where I started, before heading back to the car.