Just come back from a 5 day trip to the Gower and hugely impressed. Its got to be the best family climbing holiday venue in the UK with a variety of sport climbing from . Not sampled the bouldering (is there a guide in the offing?) but keen to drag the boys there next time and ferret it out.
First impressions:
Rhossili (where Shipwreck Cove) is a beautiful headland with an awesome and massive beach with a steep walk down that puts off the crowds.
Most camp at
Pitton Cross which is only a mile from Rhossili but plenty of other other accommodation options.
Best pub I went to was the
King Arthur which did excellent food and is nice to sit outside.
There is a rock fax but you can muddle by without it from the info and topos on the
South Wales Climbing Wiki and
Gary's site In general routes are short and grades are stiff in South Wales (especially Dinas Rock!!)
Shipwreck Cove: Premier crag for the area but it is tidal, can be greasy and comes into the sun in the afternoon. No doubt if the weather is cool and there is a good low tide at the weekend then it will be mobbed by half of Bristol
Trial Wall: On cliffs above Shipwreck and is nice and shady till early afternoon. The E4 and E5 are retrobolted and ace.
Trial Wall area: Loads of short easily accessible and easy fare for beginners and kids on the crags along from Trial Wall. Nice sea level ledge below Calcite Bay for kids to jump into deep water
Oxwich: Good shaded evening crag. Fingery overhanging wall. Bouldering recently developed here. Manic beach in contrast to Rhossili
Southgate: Minchen Hole and Bowens Parlour (particularly the Pantheon) worth checking out but access to crags a little tricky to make it a good family venue. The conglomerate "breccia" is amazing. .Didnt check out Fox Hole but I did look in on this in the past and wasnt impressed but suspect my tastes have changed since then.
The routes I did are listed
here