New Year Dog Walk - Oxwich Beach, Gower, Swansea.

For the first time since 2019 we were able to hold our traditional Christmas get together and dog walk. As usual we chose to hold it at Oxwich Bay beach on the Gower, Swansea.

(Click here to go straight to our gallery website to see all the photos.)

Unfortunately due to new Covid restrictions we could not organise the initial meet-up indoors at the nearby hotel so we decided to use the club's gazebo as a meeting point.

The weather leading up to this event had been extremely wet and windy and the previous night was no exception - however when we arrived the weather wasn't too bad so we decided it was OK to put up the gazebo - this proved to be a wise decision, as by the ned of the walk it was hammering down with rain and the little bit of shelter was most welcome.

We had asked everyone to be self-sufficient with drinks and food but to be on the safe side we did provide the kettle and cooker as backup and Jane and Colyn provided a lovely selection of cakes for us all to enjoy.

We started off with the compulsory group photo and I thought lining up people on the beach edge in front of the gazebo would be a great idea but unfortunately the crowd obliterated the club banner - but never mind, the important thing was to see the display of over twenty dogs and their owners. A few more arrived later and joined us on the beach but I'm afraid I didn't do an accurate head count.

Off we all went down the beach and the weather stayed quite friendly for us for half hour or so, but as all the dogs were enjoying splashing about in the stream going across the beach to the sea - the rain came in with a vengeance. But Welsh Springers and their owners are great believers in the old adage that "…there is no such thing as bad weather - there's only the wrong clothing" - and we continued our walk for another hour.

There were quite a few young dogs and puppies present and there was a lot of sniffing, chasing and getting to know their new friends - or for the old one's getting to recognise old friends. Of note there was the rather large "Welshie" present, really a red and white setter called Iolo who lives with his stablemate Teifi the WSS, he was more than welcome and they thoroughly enjoyed chasing each other around the beach.

Then there was Ruby who had previously joined us at our Barry Isalnd walk - she was with a gang of her friends when we came across a pool formed around a wreck - she ran into what she thought was four inch deep water when all of a sudden it became two foot deep and under she went, she came up spluttering and looking quite surprised - we didn't laugh very much, honest (see the photos).

I'm sure there were a lot more funny incidents like that - and I believe all dogs had a pretty wonderful time - I didn't see or hear any grumbling or bad behaviour even from my grumpy old man, Owain, who famously likes to inform others that this is 'his' beach. A good time was had by all and I can't wait for the next gathering - hopefully without any restrictions to worry about.

Please check out the gallery of photos on our separate gallery website (www.wsscswgallery.wordpress.com) – and if you have any photos you’d like to add to the gallery please send them on to me at – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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And make sure you regularly check out our website and Facebook page for announcements of future events.