The Wild Days guide
Mewslade is a beach that only exists for part of the day. Walk down a wooded valley from Pitton and you come out among grey limestone crags, caves and sea-carved fins of rock, with Thurba Head standing guard; as the tide drops, sand and pools open up and join it to Fall Bay next door.
Why it’s worth the trip
This is the antidote to busy Rhossili: no road, no facilities and no beach at all at high water. You follow a narrow valley, a slade, down through trees and a rocky gully, and come out with crags towering on both sides and the sea working away at the rocks below.
On a falling tide the sand spreads out, the cliffs show off their caves and crevices, and at low water you can walk west along the shore into Fall Bay. Climbers come for the crags, anglers for the rocks and surfers for the reef. The best day is a loop: down the valley to the beach, west along the cliff path to Fall Bay and the Worms Head lookout, into Rhossili for something to eat, and back along the lane.
Make a wild day of it
Swimming
The water is clean and clear, and on a calm day around low to mid tide it is a lovely swim. There is no lifeguard and no phone, though, so stay close to shore and never swim alone. A big kelp bed lies near the Fall Bay side. Give it a miss in big surf, when strong undertows build.
Surfing
A reef here throws up an excellent wave at low tide in a large swell, and experienced locals know it well. It is powerful and rock-strewn, with a long carry in from the road, so leave it to confident surfers.
Rock pools and caves
The beach is a mix of pure sand and sea-sculpted limestone outcrops with pools tucked between them, and the cliffs around are riddled with small caves and crevices, including Mewslade Cave and the old quarry caves on the eastern side of the slade. Further east towards Paviland, the Red Chamber is a sea cave along a fault, its back wall stained red where ochre was dug in the 19th century. Only go there with local knowledge on a big low tide.
Wildlife
Mewslade is part of the Gower Coast National Nature Reserve. Spring squill flowers on the limestone clifftops in spring. Choughs feed on the clifftop turf, and Dartford warblers breed in the gorse in places. Kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots nest on the cliffs between here and Worms Head, and from July you may spot Manx shearwaters and storm petrels close inshore.
The rocks
The bay cuts through the Carboniferous limestone of the south Gower coast. The steep-sided valley is a dry slade running down to the sea, flanked by crags such as Jacky’s Tor, Lewes Castle and Thurba, and the waves have carved the beach rocks into fins and hollows.
History and stories
Thurba Head, at the east end of the bay, carries the earthworks of an Iron Age promontory fort, partly lost to erosion, and Lewes Castle above Fall Bay is another. A little further east along the coast path is Paviland Cave, where the Red Lady of Paviland was found in the 19th century. Despite the name, the ochre-stained burial is a young man, around 33,000 years old and one of the oldest known ceremonial burials in Western Europe. The cave can only be reached at low tide with a scramble.
Tides and safety
The beach is almost completely covered at high tide, so plan around low water and arrive on a falling tide. The shore route to Fall Bay is only open for a short time, and it is easy to get absorbed in the coves and caves and find the way back cut off. Keep checking the tide and never rely on wading round.
In a big swell strong undertows make swimming dangerous, and there are no lifeguards and no phone on the beach. Mobile signal is patchy too. The cliff path has sudden, unfenced drops and there have been fatal falls along this coast, so stay on the path and well back from the edge, especially with children and dogs.
When to go
Go on a falling tide towards low water on a calm day. Spring is lovely for clifftop flowers and nesting seabirds, and late summer evenings bring warm rock and quiet. Surfers turn up in winter when a big swell meets a low tide.
The walk and the tides keep Mewslade quiet by Gower standards. For real solitude come on a weekday or out of season, and at low water walk along the shore to the far corners of the bay or round into Fall Bay.
Good to know
- Toilets: none. The nearest are at the Rhossili National Trust car park.
- Food and drink: none at the beach. Cafes, a shop and the Worm’s Head Hotel are in Rhossili, about 1.5 km away.
- Dogs: allowed all year with no seasonal restriction. Keep them on leads on the way down and along the clifftops, where farmers graze stock, and take your bags home as there are no dog bins.
- Lifeguards: none, and no phone on the beach.
