This week sees the two hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the oldest passenger carrying railway in the world, the famous Mumbles Railway
Sadly it is no more…
I well remember riding on the rock & roller some fifty or so years ago. It went from Swansea to Mumbles (and back, of course). Nowadays the same journey can be completed in a much smoother fashion by car or bus, if you can spare the time to wait in the inevitable traffic jams!
It was first started a few years before as a goods railway, but it is as the first ever passenger carrier that it achieved its fame.
I remember the outcry when the powers that be decided to close it, but to no avail… it went, anyway…… followed more recently by the Slip Bridge, which I think bore a commemorative plaque about the train, and the Leisure Centre which had been built very close to the terminus. Nobody listens!
In place of the railway lines, there is now a ‘combined’ pedestrian walkway and cycle track all around the beautiful Swansea Bay. We have walked along it and cycled too. The combination is a nightmare.
For pedestrians, there is always the threat of a whizzing and frighteningly silent cyclist approaching from behind (bells are now, I think, compulsory on bikes, but for some reason, many cyclists appear to be too macho to consider using them!)
Cyclists, however dread the sight of a gaggle of wanderers dawdling along enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting in their way… a recipe for disaster!