I was born in Neath, moved away in 1997 when I went to Uni but have come back to see mam and dad who live in Neath. Regular readers of this blog will know that I am taking dad up to live by us up North at the end of the week so this is very likely to be the last time that I run a South Wales parkrun.
I thought long and hard about which one to do, there a quite a few near Neath that I haven't done and would get me my 50th different location but it only really came down to two options, both of which I have ran before. One of my favourites places in the world, 'Up the Gnoll' or Swansea Bay. In the end, it came down to the Gower, which was the first place in the UK to be named an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Much like the Gnoll, I had some great memories of my childhood spending many a long summer exploring Bracelet, Caswell and Oxwich Bays and that's without the glorious days watching Viv Richards, Matthew Maynard and Waqur Younis torment all before them at St Helens but when I asked dad which one would prefer he had no hesitation in saying Swansea.
We last came down here in February 2023 when I wasn't particularly fit and I ran 23.19, before this month I had got back into training specifically for parkrun, that has gone to pot somewhat since I came down but I am still in better run shape than I was 18 months ago so figured I would give it a go. (Not helped by my forgetting to look my time up before I ran)
Now, this may be down to me, but for some reason when I put the post code for the parkrun or the Secret Cafe (best coffee and breakfast in parkrun land) into my Sat Nav, it did not come up, but weirdly, St Helens cricket did ! Quick heads up in case same thing happens to others.
There's plentiful parking around the start, if you get there early head to the wonderful Secret Bar and Grill The Secret Beach Bar & Kitchen (thesecretswansea.co.uk) if not there are several other car parks nearby.
This is an out and back course in a similar vein to Ystylafera two weeks ago. Completely different but equally as stunning views. With all due respect to Ysty, this is even more beautiful than that. To have a parkrun running alongside the sea , the sound of the waves lapping on a more or less flat course (with a slight slope at the turn around point) and the beauty of Swansea bay keeping you company is the coup de gras for a farewell to South Wales' parkruns
This is the type of parkrun where you will need to position yourself quite carefully at the start as there is some congestion when you begin. We had 580 runners today and it took me about a minute or so to get into my running pace, I'd imagine if you started further back you could be held up quite a bit so you really need to place yourself according to your pace.
Once you set off though, it is very flat (joint 7th in the UK) you start off opposite St Helen's cricket ground (new home of the Ospreys) and head off down the sea front before heading off slighty right onto the coastal path. What is really helpful though, is that there are kilometre markers throughout the course which helps you to pace yourself and gives you a great target when your starting to fade, especially on the way back.
Today we were very lucky in that Tri Hard Harriers were pacing us, I kept an eye on the 23 minute chap pulling ahead of him in the last kilometre and really surprisingly came home in 22.09 which is the 20th fastest time out of 508 runs, pretty happy with that.
After that we all went to the Secret Bar for breakfast. I cannot recommend this place enough, the range of the food (including cockles) is very impressive, the portions large and the coffee delicious, even though my American nephew put the milk in his tea before he added the water (have a look at the picture before which shows my horror !)
After spending a good 40 minutes or so pigging ourselves out, we headed on down towards Mumbles to have a look at the lighthouse before finishing off in Bracelet Bay near Cresci's for ice-cream.
There were some visitors today but if you are visiting Swansea Bay parkrun from any decent distance, I'd highly recommend spending a weekend down here. Especially in the summer as it is a stunning part of the world, the seaside, the cafes, the wonderful volunteers, the run location, and the flat course make this one of the overall best parkruns I've done.
Thank you Swansea, thank you Gnoll, Ponty, Brynbach, Porthcawl and Ystralyfera. They say that you can take the boy out of Wales but you cannot take Wales out of the boy. I have been living away from Wales longer than I lived at home but I will always be very proud of being Welsh, I love the beauty of the country, the self depreciating and warm humour of the people and how everyone has been so much to my 2 nephews (both of whom said they want to move here)
As Dylan Thomas said....Swansea 'An ugly, lovely town, crawling, sprawling by the side of a long and splendid curving shore. This sea side town was my world'
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