It is about 60 miles from Cardiff to Llanelli. We didn’t want to beat our last 54-miles record – we wanted to swim! It was Thursday, the end of the second week of our journey and we had something to celebrate. A little beach town Swansea, about which we have heard a lot of good, was right on our way to Llanelli.

So, inspired by great weather and good-bye cards from Nastya, we jumped on a train to Swansea with a strong intention to bathe in the sea there!
Swansea was very different from all the other coastal British towns that we got to see. Very quiet (though, we are sure it changes on week-ends), stretched along a many-miled beach, scented with sea – not the cold sea we are used to, but hot, summer, southern sea. In town center we see a usual castle – or what’s left of it:

To find a beach we just had to go for the smell of warm sea wind. On the way we passed a small dam and a water gateway:

Tattoo ideas are right beneath our feet =)

And finally the beach! Tide came down making the sea run far away from the shore, leaving us a broad shoreline of wet sand, weeds and dead crabs.

We were rushing to warm up our feet on hot sand and took our bikes down to the beach, took our shoes off and started our way along the shore.

But it was not the best idea – we had to drag our cycles in he sand for a couple of miles, sometimes they got stuck and the cooling water was too far.

We parked our bikes near a tube and went all the way to the water. As soon as the shallow sea touched our knees, a coast guard caught up with us and said “we do not advice to swim here – you’d better go to Mumbles”. And pointed at a high cliff afar, on which we noticed something white, looking like a lighthouse – and we love lighthouses!  Well, no bathing this time – but a great view of the town from the sea!

Finally we managet to bring our Bromptons back on the road. The locals were enjoying a beautiful day.

A perfect cycle path led us to Mumbles and we enjoyed the views of little boats, toy houses and picturesque rocks.

About half way there we have met a huge pool with different fun fountains and other devices to make kids happy. What a great playground!
Mumbles is charming! A tiny village on a cliff near a lighthouse, which main street and attraction is a long and beautiful pier going far in the sea. On one of its benches we had a great lunch with smoked fish, pleasing our eyes with this picture:

Right beneath us:

А boat station on the pier:
We got closer to the lighthouse, climbing on the rocks, and found ourselves on a fantastic beach!

On the beach we were attacked by wolves =))))

After we saved ourselves from petting the blue-eyed beasts, be made our dream come true and had so much fun in clear waters! Yeah!


We couldn’t stay on the beach for a long time – tide was going up and we could have stayed cut off from the world near the lighthouse for hours. And we didn’t want to be late to meet our host in Llanelli.

It was only 15 miles, which we made very quickly in a mysterious welsh forest, under old bridges:
Crossed a bridge across river Loughor:

We got to Llanelli about 10pm and had a very sweet night with Sue, a youth worker and a cyclist, who crossed Spain and Portugal on her bike all alone!

The whole next day we have been planning a whole new route for the next week. We had to change many plans and dates and look up many new places! Why? Because we have a very nice addition to our route! We are going to share it with you soon! =)

In the evening we got out to ride around the quiet and cozy Llanelli.
The beach:

Central street:

And now we are about to start a really long night on trains with several changes across Wales – all the way from the South to the North. We talked to many locals and realized that the central part of the country is all pretty much the same, so we decided to save some time and go straight to Snowdonia – a huge National Park on the North of Wales.
There we are awaited by the beautiful nature and the first real mountains on our way… =)