Love Trails Festival has wrapped up its sold out tenth anniversary edition on the Gower Peninsula, with more than 5,000 people taking part in four days of running, hiking, music and community at West Castle Farm, Llanrhidian.
Across the weekend, participants covered in excess of 100,000 kilometres between them, roughly the equivalent of circling the globe two and a half times. The milestone crowned a packed programme of trail runs, hikes, talks, workshops and live music, and cemented the festival’s place as one of the UK’s leading events for the new wave of movement culture.
The Weekend by Numbers
* More than 100,000 kilometres covered by runners and hikers
* Over 5,000 attendees on site across the four days
* 720 wood fired sauna dips and cold water plunges
* 521 programmed activities
* 500 solo arrivals who found community through social mixer runs
* More than 80 distinct run and hike routes
* Over 50 panels, talks and wellness workshops
* 27 live music acts and DJs
* Ten years in motion
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Beyond the Start Line
Two of the weekend’s most talked about moments were the Jubel Beer Relay World Championships, a chaotic 400 metre team and solo race with a can of beer after every lap, and the return of Timed Out, Love Trails’ own race format that pauses the clock at immersive stations for creative workshops, yoga and DJ sets.
The festival’s programme stretched well beyond conventional racing, blending coastal runs with live podcasts, morning yoga with grassroots crew hikes, and trail sessions with poetry, mindful movement, wild swimming, foraging, climbing and paddleboarding. The overall effect, organisers say, was to turn running and hiking into something more sociable, creative and unpredictable than a typical race weekend.
Music on the Gower
Live music ran alongside the trail activity throughout, with 27 acts and DJs across the four days. The Joy Formidable opened the main stage before Mr Scruff closed out the opening night, while Joshua Idehen and Nubiyan Twist brought spoken word and jazz fusion to Friday. Saturday’s headline set came from nimino, and the weekend closed with The Zawose Queens and Hackney Colliery Band on Sunday.
Festival founder Theo Larn-Jones said the tenth anniversary event was the clearest expression yet of what Love Trails set out to do, describing running as simply the excuse for making friends, making art and learning something new about yourself. He added that whether people arrived with an established crew or entirely alone, movement had once again proved itself the ultimate social connector.
Looking Ahead to 2027
Love Trails will return to the Gower Peninsula in July 2027. A waitlist for tickets is open now, ahead of general sale this Wednesday, 8 July: Click here
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