Oxwich is a rarity on Gower in that the bouldering there is actually bouldering, in that you get the satisfaction of topping out! The boulders were man-made and a result of the nearby quarry which, incidentally, contains a fine array of sports climbs. They are rather disappointing on first acquaintance - because they are covered at high tide there is plenty of barnacles and seaweed about. Fortunately a few of the faces and aretes are clean and offer an excellent group of problems. Oxwich is definately better for the mid-grade boulderer - the cleanest lines are mostly above V3, and there is little to interest those operating in the V0-V2 bracket. One boulder in particular stands out as having the lion share of the best lines, and this is one that is focused on here.




The numbers in the diagram correspond to those given in Adrian's guide. The photos below have number/letter tags that relate to the boulder face combination in the diagram. The majority of the best bouldering is concentrated on boulder 5, with a few bits and bobs on boulder 1.

boulder 1/a

The nearby arete is a fine sit start V3, the right hand side of the face, eliminating the right arete, is a project at a suspected V7/8.

The opposite side of this boulder is a pleasant V2/3ish up the centre of the face

In the background of the photo is boulder 5.

boulder 5/a

Boulder 5 has some of gower's best problems. The centre of the face is the main attraction and is worth V4. The right arete is also superb at around V4/5.

The groove on the left is useful decent, although the arete proper is a tricky project above a both a small rockpool and big rock!

boulder 5/b

The obvious ramp, heading up to the left arete, is barnacle-y to start but gives good climbing at around V2. The arete direct is horribly barnacle-y but is around V3/4. Right arete is project as mentioned above.

boulder 5/c

The blunt arete gives a balancy sit-start worth V4, you might need to clean the mussels out of some of the pockets!

The wall to the right is good at V1ish.

boulder 5/d

A fine wall at around V1/2. The right edge is useful for decent. Left arete, mentioned above in 5/a, is brilliant at V4/5