My Wild Life. Any Given Sunday, Bulldog on the Beach.

This post is mostly French Bulldog photos, some of the best I have taken of my dog Molly.  In honor of the current ‘My Wild Life‘ campaign that wants to show what wildlife and wild places mean to us all, I just wanted to show our wild life enjoying the Gower beaches all year, in all weathers.

In not uncommon DimExcuses style, all these photos are taken at Three Cliffs Bay and Pobbles Bay on a 5 km walk route Molly and I often use.

A photographer once told me that the hardest thing to photograph is a black dog. He wasn’t wrong. So it was great that we finally got some strong sun to bring out the contrast and shadows that show Molly’s features which the camera usually struggles to pick up.

Molly was happy to model in the sunshine.

The tide was out this Sunday, so Molly had a great expanse to play stick…

…or just get her roll on!

Three Cliffs Bay is amazing on any day, but the real first sun of 2015 really made it a great walk.

But mainly at the moment it is all about the sticks for Molly…

…with a few rolls in between (there is a pattern forming here).

A ball does break the cycle a little.

So that is My Wild Life, making the most of the Gower beaches the wild Frenchton.

Sometimes we see cormorants, sometimes we see seals and we always see seagulls, Molly is working on her stalk to catch one (hopefully she will never achieve that), but for the moment it is all about the sticks.

So why not tell us about your Wild Life? Just use #MyWildLife on social media, DimExcuses.

Caerfai Bay, DimExcuses Beach Guide.

It is all about the jet stream. The fast passage of air that ruined summer two years ago. Well it is due to move south and when it does this sun will go and in comes the rain. So make the most of South Wales beaches while you can. Take advantage of this second DimExcuses Beach Guide and discover Caerfai Bay, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire.

If you park at the visitor centre as you enter the ‘City’ of St. Davids, you can take the 10 minute walk down the road between the visitor centre and the car park to Caerfai Bay which is a sheltered bay just South West of St. Davids.

You can just sit on the headland and drink in the picturesque blue bay or walk down to discover this tranquil cove.

The beach is not on the Pembrokeshire summer dog ban list. so this a great bay if you are visiting wild West Wales with your dog. Our surf French Bulldog cross, Molly loves Caerfai Bay.

She was straight in the sea with a gang of newly found mates.

Caerfai Bay is a very sheltered and calm bay so is ideal for water sports. The walk down is tricky so maybe it isn’t ideal for getting your kayak or Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) down there. But it is ideal for snorkeling. I as always imagine there might be some perfect waves if the right storm comes in, but I always think that of every bay. Maybe a blog post in the future.

So what are you waiting for? Get ahead of that rain and discover a Wild West Wales beach tomorrow, DimExcuses.

Camping at Croesgoch near St. Davids, West Wales. June 2014.

With the recent sunshine I finished work early and jumped in the van to head out into wild west Wales. There was not even a threat of a ripple in terms of surf so we didn’t even take a board.

Obviously Molly and Sharon came with me. Molly loves a DimExcuses trip to wild west Wales.

We got a pitch at Llainpropert Camping at Croesgoch just outside St. Davids. Llainpropert Campsite is the birth place of Unsunghero surf company, who now have a new surf shop complete with coffee bar in St. Davids. Here is the Llainpropert Campsite website, and here is the Unsunghero website.

The campsite was our base to do some DimExcuses beach guides. Blogs will follow with beach guides to Abereiddy and Caerfai Bay. But disaster struck for our friend’s with us (Nicole, Mark, James, Mia and dogs Dobbie & Bailey), they bought a tent for the trip but on opening it they found the wrong tent but the right poles. A ruined weekend ahead was saved by Stephen from Llainpropert camping who lent them his tent! What a legend, and what a welcoming site!

Bulldog beach adventures and DimExcuses beach guide photography can’t go un-fueled so we nipped to Porthgain which is only a few miles from the campsite for some awesome fish & chips in the Shed restaurant. The Shed website can be found here. Fish & Chips done we caught the sun setting on the Porthgain village fishing port.

The campsite is not far from St. Davids, so we stopped there on our way home. Visiting the Bench Ice Cream shop we discovered they do canine ice cream! Here is Molly tucking into a caramelized bacon ice cream complete with wafer.

Here is the website for the Bench Ice Cream shop.  Molly got a quick dip in the ford in St. Davids and then we were heading home.

A great weekend, a great place and a great campsite. A good base for your wild west Wales adventures, DimExcuses.

On the beach… Pwll Du, Gower. June 2014

Wow, I have so busy in wild west Wales the last few weeks! There is so much stuff and nonsense to blog about. Hasn’t June turned out really great in Wales this year. Firstly I managed to do a load of surfing at Rhossili and a first time surf at Sker beach. Sorry no photos from those, but I did get a cracking day out with friends and our dogs down Pwll Du, Gower. Firstly I am going to tell you about the beach fun and then later post a second blog entry about the fun we had in the Sea.

Molly had a real good explore of the beach, having a good sniff at these crab remains above. We were also joined by Dobbie the amazing sand camouflage dog, can you spot him in the photo below?

Here is me and Dobbie chillaxing in the sun.

Molly had a great run around on Pwll Du beach.

She loves a game of fetch.

We then had a great dip in the small Gower surf that was coming into Pwll Du Bay, but that is the next blog post. After a long day we climbed out of Bishopston Valley to get this great view of Brandy Cove to Caswell Bay.

So get ready for a few more posts this week, as I continue to catch up, DimExcuses.

The last of winter 2013/14.

So spring is here and yesterday we had a hint of better times to come. But today showed us winter may not quite finished with us yet! It has been the wettest winter, unseasonably mild, with massive tides and matching swells, all tied to bad weather that has brought storm surge conditions.

Well just as we try and wrestle free from winters grip, here are the pictures that somehow didn’t get posted over the last couple of months.

From a windswept Swansea Bay.

To a Langland Bay robbed of sand by the winter storms.

Molly the DimExcuses dog was definitely making the most of it, and making some friends.

Mind you so of those winter waves looked very tempting!

Hinting at evening surf sessions to come.

And sunsets to follow.

So here is to spring! From Molly and me, DimExcuses.

Gower Winter (Bulldog) Walks – Pwll Du February 2014

Rain, wind, storms, super swells and high tides, Gower has had it all this winter.  Yet there are no excuses not to get out and about, especially as the the days are getting longer and the weather is improving.  Therefore Molly (the french bulldog cross) and I decided to walk down one South Gower’s wilder beaches Pwll Du.

It was a bit of a muddy walk before we got onto the rocky road down to the beach. The recent daisy chain of storm after storm has produced some powerful swells and robbed the bays of much of their sand.  Pwll Du today was no exception.  Even Molly had to have a peak over the path to see what was making all that noise as the waves pumped in and crashed on the pebbles.

So we quickly headed down the path to investigate further.

Pwll Du is a much steeper bay than most South Gower beaches and is known for its imposing pebble storm beach that is much larger than it should be due to limestone quarrying in the past.

It also has a sandy beach in summer, but the winter storms have removed much of that for the moment.

There is a powerful river that runs down Bishopston Valley and blasts its way out of the pebble storm beach.  But seeing as storm beaches are made by storms, there is a much more formidable pebble wall at the top of the beach than normal, and the river is struggling to get through, much to Molly’s interest.

But it won’t be long before nature allows this river to re-establish itself on its way to the sea.  It is already starting to make a good effort to do so.

Large amounts of pebbles were falling out of the rivers way even in the short time that Molly and I looked on.

We took one last look at the bay before making the climb back to Bishopston.

As Molly demonstrates there are some quite unforgiving steps on the climb out of Pwll Du Bay.

We certainly made the most of a rather grey February day, make sure you make the most of yours too, DimExcuses.

Gower Code Red. Storm Surge January 2014

They are calling it a 50 year storm. Record high tides, combined with a massive swell and extremely bad weather pushed in by an overactive jet stream.  This almost perfect storm surge is the freaky side affect of our relatively mild winter temperatures. The weather men forecast it, the surf charts saw it coming and the relevant authorities issued weather warnings. So irresponsibly we took Molly the puppy out for a look at what this storm was going to do to Gower.

Heading out last night, Langland was our first stop, and fair play it was awesome, but there is no lighting down there, which meant it was hazardous and we couldn’t get any photos.  Just one of Molly surveying the surf.

Limeslade was better lit and the waves were breaking over the road, but again the storm was making photography impossible.  Heading to Caswell Bay it was absolute chaos.  The sea was crossing the road and the storm foam was moving into the car park. After I got this very poor shot of the chaos it was time to head home and dry off.

Today (Saturday 04/01/14) the storm has passed for a while but more high tides are due. We headed down to Caswell to survey the impact of last nights storm. Just leaving the car park the damage and mess is clear.

If it wasn’t driftwood across the road…

…it was boulders thrown up on the beach head.

The poor old Surfside Cafe had been completely overwhelmed. Water had got in and churned the whole place up.

The damage to the shutters is clear and that then just let the waves in.  Let’s hope they get it fixed up soon without too much distress to the owners, Molly and I love their latte with a bacon bagel.

The surf at Caswell was looking a complete mess, massive and dangerous.  Two surfers were in the water, but they were just getting a right royal pasting.

We decided to head around to Langland Bay as it should be getting a better wave due to its more sheltered positioning on the Gower coast. The improvement in weather combined with the dropping tide produced some epic Langland surf and plenty of riders were in the water trying to make the most of the heavy conditions.  There was a good break between sets, but the set waves were massive.

The reduction in wind was ensuring some clean faces…

…as long as you made the drop.

Apparently these high tides are continuing until at least Monday, the swell doesn’t appear to be dropping much and more storms are on the way.  Anything could happen, watch this space and stay safe, DimExcuses.

 

Exploring Gower is for life not just Christmas.

Or should I say get down to the beach in all weathers and seasons? How many people just got to Gower in the Summer, or don’t go even though it on their doorstep? Or worst of all only drive to Rhossili when relatives visit to show them ‘how lucky we are to have all this’.

The health and well being benefits of just getting out and about at this time of year are so important, especially when it is dark by 4pm!  That is why we have been making the effort to take Molly (our puppy) down to the Gower beaches this Christmas.

As a side note we have found out that Molly is a ‘Frenchton’, the official name for a French Bulldog, Boston Terrier cross.

The low sun at this time of year really brings out the rugged beauty of the Gower bays.

All these photos were taken at Caswell Bay, which is nice and accessible in all weathers which is great in December.

You also get much of the beach to yourself as everyone else is watching ‘The Great Escape’ (is that still on every Christmas?) with a box of Quality Street on their lap.

So what further encouragement do you need, get up, get out and explore Gower or the rest of South West Wales! Merry Christmas, DimExcuses.

Introducing Molly our French Bulldog, and introducing Molly to the beach.

There is a new addition to the DimExcuses household, Molly the French Bulldog / Boston Terrier puppy.  So for her first photos we took her to the beach, Caswell Bay Gower and Swansea Bay.  Here is Caswell.

And here is Molly!

She is a cutie.

She is already a fan of Caswell Bay, she is going to be a Gower Bulldog.

Here she is getting some training at Swansea Bay.

Before getting down to some serious seaweed sniffing.

It won’t be long before we are back down the beach, Molly and me, DimExcuses.

 

The Old Oak. DimExcuses MTB Ride, Derwen Trail, Brechfa.

This is just a glimpse of my favourite and trusted trail, ‘Y Dderwen’ (Welsh for ‘The Oak’) trail in Brechfa, Carmarthenshire.  It is only a glimpse as I forgot my phone and couldn’t map the trail on GPS for you.  The trail is situated in the Brechfa Trial Centre in wild west Wales and can be found on the Cognation website.  The trail centre also hosts the Gorlech red trail and the famous Raven black trail.  The Raven shares the same car park and linking fire roads as the Derwen trail we were riding.  The Gorlech trail can be found further up the road with its own car park at Abergorlech.  The fantastic Raven’s Wings sculpture is in the carpark for weekend warriors to get their facebook and blog photos (above), ahem…

The Derwen is in two parts and is ideal for entry level rider or a family.  The first part is the green loop that is 9 km long with some moderate climbs and descents.  At the midway point in the green loop you can opt for the more challenging blue  route.  This adds an additional 5 km to the ride, a challenging climb and incredibly fun rollercoaster decent.  A group of differing abilities could split into two at this point with some doing the blue run and the others waiting further on at one of the picnic benches and shelters provided.  Below is one of the much needed bench stops.

Here we are below at the summit of blue trail.  Myself and first time DimExcuses riders Sam Donaldson and Paul Jones.

We were lucky with the weather, but I would class this as an all weather trail for the hardy rider.  Obviously the wetter it is the more technical the riding becomes, especially over loose stone sections and areas where puddles develop.

It is a great ride, designed and built by Rowan Sorrel.  He has a great understanding of trails, and I find is green / blue routes designed to really flow.  A slower rider can easily follow the track, while a more experienced rider can get a lot out of the berms and table tops along the way.

I find the 15 km of both trails combined  a perfect length for the less regular rider looking for a day out.  We were around the trail and back at the carpark in less than 2 hours.  It was then a case of heading up the road to Abergorlech for some home cooked local food in the Black Lion Pub.  We must be charmed because just as our food was being served along with a well earned pint of IPA ale, the heavens opened and in came the weekend’s heavy rain showers.

As the Derwen is my favourite route, and one I like to share with people new to trail centres, I will soon be back and this time I may remember my phone, DimExcuses.