Limitless Freedom

Wales is a beautiful part of the world.

If I can't/don't want to go abroad, and I want some peace and quiet, and serenity, that's where I head.

In fact, in 4 days' time, I head to Tenby.

In April 2024, I visited the Gower Peninsula.
I knew it was an area of outstanding natural beauty and had tons of beaches.
Not pretty, palm-tree-fringed, tropical beaches, but raw, rugged, windswept beaches.

A Welsh friend had recommended a number of them; Oxwich Bay, Rhossili Bay, The Mumbles (which wasn't actually that impressive), Langland Bay etc.

But the pick of the bunch was to be Three Cliffs Bay.

It was a ball ache to get to, as was everywhere round that way.

I'm lazy and rely on Waze to get me everywhere. If there's no signal, I'm f*cked. I don't keep paper maps, so I don't know how to get anywhere.

In that part of Wales, the signal was patchy...including on the approach to Three Cliffs Bay.

You can't park near the beach — it's all private land.
So I parked about a mile and a half further back, on the roadside / a sort of path, and walked down.

It was a proper windy, sand-in-the-eyes day, so I squinted at the magnificent view as I came to the top of the hill that overlooked the beach, and the three jutting cliffs that gave it its name.

I started my way down onto the beach, on the sloping path — gorse and other hardy plants all around me.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally touched soft sand — I was on the beach itself.

But I couldn't get to the main part straight away.

In front of me was a fast flowing, and quite wide, stream.
An outlet coming from somewhere (I couldn't trace it far enough back), washing over large, chunky, grey pebbles.

There were stones laid across it, forming a path.
And on the other side of that path was a tall sand hill, AKA a dune, obscuring the full beach.

Once I'd climbed up, then back down, the hill, the world was mine.

The beach was entirely flat and stretched on for eternity, right to the water's edge - a rough, angry sea, pounding the shore (this was April, don't forget).

I was entirely alone in this vast open space.

Nothing and no one to my left or right.

I headed into the middle of the beach.

It started to rain.

I let the rain hit my face.

I stretched out my arms...and just shouted — shouted into the void.
No one to hear me.
Utterly free.

It was brilliant.

I recommend everyone does it.

I stayed there for about another 45 minutes and just stared at the inrushing sea.

Then I headed back to my car.