Starting from Worms Head this walk goes above Rhossili Bay, across Hardings Down, down towards Llanmadoc before finishing at Whitford Point.

On this walk Derek is accompanied by two separate guides, guide number one is Sian Musgrove, the National Trust Head Warden for the Gower, and her patrol dog Digby.

First stop on the walk is something that Derek has always wanted to do, a trip across to Worms Head itself, but Sian has some important safety tips for anyone who wants to nip out to the headland...

Sian says... It is safe, so long as you look at the tide times before you go and the best way to do that is talking to these people here, Coastwatch.

They've taken over the old Victorian Coastguard lookout hut, and they provide all the information on tide times, when to go across, what the weather is going to be like, what you need to prepare for your journey and if they see anyone in trouble they call out the Coastguard.

Worms Head is about a mile long and a couple of hundred yards across at its widest point. One of the many people who have been stranded by the tide, was the poet Dylan Thomas, he was trapped here as a boy and later wrote of his terror at being cut off with nothing but a bag of sandwiches and a good book to keep him company.

Worms Head takes its name from the old English word for dragon, and with a bit of imagination it looks just like a giant one has landed on the edge of the peninsula.

Derek says... The worm is a nature reserve and visitors are asked to keep away from the outer head when birds are nesting, if you do get around there then look out for the blow hole where the sea shoots up through the rock.

On the way back watch you're step, not just because the rocks can be a bit slippery but because that's where you'll see crabs and fish in the rock pools, plus a wide range of other marine wildlife.

Another interesting item to look out for at Worms Head is an anchor partially buried in the sand and often covered by the tide.

It is a relic with a sinister past, from when ships were lured on to the rocks and wrecked deliberately their cargo. Look out for more evidence of this on Rhossili beach where you can see the wooden remains of another shipwreck.

Back up on the cliffs there is evidence of historic civilisations living in the area, looking over Rhossili beach you'll find the remains of an Iron Age hill-fort the first of three you'll encounter on this walk.

Before Derek and Sian part company she wanted to show him St Mary's church at Rhossili. There is a memorial here to Edgar Evans, who was from Rhossili and a member of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the Antarctic.

Derek's next guide is Sion Brackenbury, the Projects Officer for the Gower Commons Initiative, and the first thing they find is another hill-fort.

Hardings Down is the biggest of the three forts on this walk, it measures one hundred and ten metres, by seventy-five, and in its time would have been a bustling settlement.

Nowadays it's a great place to check out the views offered by the Gower peninsula and to appreciate the variety of the scenery on offer in this part of the world.

Sion says... The thing about the Gower is even when all the beaches are packed you can always find a quite spot, although it is a small peninsula it has so much to offer and if you're prepared to look and go the extra mile you can find beautiful places.

Whitford lighthouse is the last stop on this walk and it takes about twenty minutes to get across to the lighthouse, but again as with Worms Head it is important to time your walk right, as you will still have to deal with same dangerous tide.

Due to the tide times it can be extremely difficult to reach both Worms Head and Whitford lighthouse in the same walk, so check the tide times for both points and start at the end you want to see most or split the walk in two so you don't miss anything.

The lighthouse was recently put on sale for the just £1, but there is always a catch, prospective buyers had to promise to restore it and prove they had £200,000 ready to spend on repairs.

With glorious beaches, spectacular views and historic monuments, a walk on the Gower Peninsula offers both beauty and interest to all those who can take the time out to for a stroll across this wonderful coastline.

Links: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

www.nci.org.uk

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