As we approach the West Cross housing estate on our right - due to the prime location a former council house here can fetch more than £250,000 - the seafront path is ringed by trees and green swathes of grass, eventually giving way to the West Cross Inn which stands as a refreshing oasis along our route.

Just before we come to it though, there is a memorial plaque set in stone on the grassy verge at the side of the path. It honours Amy Dillwyn, acclaimed as the world's first female industrialist. Born at Parc Beck she lived at Hendrefoilan Mansion until the death of her father, Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn MP, in 1895 and then "lived frugally in Mumbles while she maintained and saved the family's zinc spelter works from massive bankruptcy."

Amy died in 1935 at the age of 90 having been among other things an author, town councillor, president of Swansea Hospital, chief fund raiser for Cwmdonkin Convalescent Home, a female emancipator, water polo player - and a cigar smoker.

Just a few yards further on is a stopping point for the Swansea Bay Rider, in some ways a scaled down version of the Mumbles Train, which operates daily throughout the summer months. It's decked out in red and black just like the Mumbles Train and runs between St Helen's and Southend, stopping at Blackpill, West Cross, Norton and Oystermouth, giving passengers the opportunity to get off to explore the sights of Swansea Bay.

The West Cross Inn is often the first port of call today just as it was when Sunday drinking was barred - except for people who had travelled three miles or more.
Len Morgans, current leaseholder of the Inn, says, "This was the first pub after the three mile limit outside Swansea - and the first place where you get a drink on a Sunday if you were not from the immediate area."
The Inn is a lot quieter than its predessor the Currant Tree was, as the 18th Century hostelry was a haunt of smugglers, who would smuggle anything that was taxed, notable tobaccos and spirits. Those days have long gone; the Currant Tree was destroyed by an unexplained fire in the late 19th Century, with the West Cross Inn eventually replacing it in the 1920s.

Pubs in Mumbles do, however, have a rich history that stretch back in some cases to Napoleonic time and nowadays of course the infamous 'Mumbles Mile', noted for its run of 10 or more drinking dens, attracts hen and stag parties from all over Wales and beyond.

The law that allowed "genuine travellers" to enjoy a drink on a Sunday remained a bone of contention among local people for many years and arguably the Religious Revival of 1904-05 led to a large number of inns closing. But most of the survivors are still around now, albeit with changed names. Poet Dylan Thomas, who famously described Swansea as an "ugly, lovely town" was frequently seen at the White Rose during his adult years.

Onward to Part 4...