Hillend Camping - Day 2

Had a good nights sleep, in which I dreamed I was on a work's team bonding sesh in some half remembered place solving clues and exploring various abandoned side streets and vacated shops looking for more clues to whatever mystery we were supposed to solve. Woke when my better half needed the toilet-just as I was reaching the last few clues, and walked to the campsite toilet block thinking 'well, all that puzzle-solving I'd achieved during my sleep was a waste of time.( laughing emoji). Spent the morning chatting to the usual camping gang, drinking coffee and eating vegan been sonnies.

Hillend Camping

Early start at work today so I could do my 8-hour shift and still leave the office early.

Conor had organised a camping trip for us at Hillend, down on the beautiful Llangennith fringe of the Gower Peninsular. The days are already getting shorter, however  and by the time we had finished some last minute shopping , driven down to the site and set up camp, there was only a brief opportunity to head down to the beach to catch sight of the evening's glorious sunset.

Shell Island - Part 4/4

In the final of 4 blog posts exploring Shell Island and the locations there and thereabouts featured in Guy N Smith's Night of the Crabs, I will share a few more scenes from the island before stopping of at Barmouth to show you a few more images of places from the novel.

The dramatic mountains of North Wales dominate the horizon around Shell Island. And whilst he weather during our camp on the island was very changeable, the clouds afforded some dramatic scenes around the various beauty stops:

This is our tent:

These are the dunes on the southern end of Shell Island...

...where visitors are welcome to camp:

The old farmhouse, below, is reputedly haunted by a girl, and has featured on the UK TV paranornal investigation show, Most Haunted:

This is Dartmouth Townhall, where plans on how to defeat the invasion of giant crabs were drawn:

The building now also doubles as a local theatre.

This is Dartmouth harbour, featured in the latter stages of Night of the Crabs:

And finally, here is the bridge that carries the traintrack along which Dai Peters and his passengers met King Crab before being consigned to their watery graves:

And that's all I have to share from my trip to Shell Island. Until, that is, next year when my Guy N Smith's Night of the Crabs pilgrimage will feature in GNS3 - the 2026 issue of the Guy N Smith fanzine.

As 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Guy's introductory novel in his Crabs franchise, GNS3 will be devoted to the author's giant crustaceans. Harking back to GNS1, I will also share a Gallery of Lego book cover mock ups of Guy's recent Crab book reissues. 

And that's not all. Whilst I can happily crack on with further crabby content for GNS3, like GNS2, I would ideally like to feature the creative work of other Guy N Smith fans in the fanzine. So, if you have any creative writing, book reviews, artwokmrk; quizzes or any other crab-related work you would like to see printed within the books covers of next year's Guy N Snith zine, get in touch with me via the new WhatsApp group devoted to the publication.