Welcome to the district of Mumbles, in Wales. But lets back up a bit first. Even getting to Mumbles is interesting. Although this is now a bike and walking path, it used to be home to a set of train tracks. But not just any train tracks, the worlds first public horse drawn train. Built in 1807, horses would pull the train full of visitors down to Mumbles. Today, you have to walk, like a chump, or take a bus, taxi, or car, all of which create much less poop.
Okay, back to Mumbles. The star of the show is the Mumbles Eye, a portable Ferris wheel that splits it’s time between here and Cardiff.
Which of course, we had to go for a ride on. It took a couple tries before I got a selfie at the highest point. The traditional Summit selfie lives on! The lighthouse as seen from above was built in 1793. But that isn’t the interesting bit here. What about the name of this town, Mumbles? Where did that come from? The leading theory is that these two islands look like, ummmm a female body part. More specifically, a pair of female body parts. The French word for which would be mamelles. Over the years due to errors and Welsh pronunciation has become Mumbles. I would not have guessed that. The view in the other direction of Swansea Bay. No body parts over here however, probably. The main attraction at Mumbles before the Ferris wheel showed up would have been the “Victorian Pleasure Pier”. Built in 1898 it was home to a search and rescue station. But a recent fire and structural issues have the pleasure pier partially closed. Looking back at the female body part look alikes from the pier. The pier is also home to a “penny slot arcade” which I can assure you is more than penny now. Looking back at where the horse drawn train would have been and Swansea Bay in the background. More on Swansea in the coming days. Mumbles is also home to the Mumbles Mile. A strip of restaurants, shops and bars. Where we finish our visit to Mumbles with a nice meal over looking the ocean and Mumbles.
[…] The bought us a couple drinks. The Welsh are very friendly. You can read more about Mumbles here: https://www.tripbagger.com/2025/05/25/shawn-bags-mumbles-wales/ Categories: HikesTravelWales Travel Tags: Coast hikeCoast walking parthcoast walking […]
2 Comments
Ted · May 27, 2025 at 12:49 am
I’ll try not to mumble, another interesting visit!
Shawn Bags the Wales Coast Path – Wales - Trip Bagger · June 1, 2025 at 12:00 am
[…] The bought us a couple drinks. The Welsh are very friendly. You can read more about Mumbles here: https://www.tripbagger.com/2025/05/25/shawn-bags-mumbles-wales/ Categories: HikesTravelWales Travel Tags: Coast hikeCoast walking parthcoast walking […]