With 58 miles to go to the end of the WCP, I looked at the logistics of getting this done with three more trips. I therefore decided to do a fairly short day of 16 miles, which would take me to the east of Cardiff. My daughter Nicola accompanied me on this walk, although I failed to mention to her that it was 16 miles!
The sun was well and truly up as we parked near to the Tesco store in Pengam Moors. A #11 bus, which would take us into city centre, arrived within 30 seconds of us standing at the bus stop. We alighted from the bus slightly early to have a quick look at the Castle and the Millenium Stadium. The Millenium (or Principality as it now) is an amazing building, crammed tight into a space right in the city centre. We caught one of the frequent trains to Barry, where we started walking 25 minutes after starting out. The first 3 miles or so where alongside a road and through mainly industrial parts of Barry.
We eventually emerged on the coastal path as we passed through Sully. The path was straight, flat and dry. Good views were had across the Bristol Channel towards Weston-Super Mare. After rounding Lavernock Point we encountered increasing numbers of walkers who were coming from the direction of Penarth. As we entered Penarth, the crowds were out in force on this glorious Easter Bank Holiday. As we climbed through the town, we were rewarded with a great view across the Bristol Channel and back down to Penarth.
We descended over the hill down towards Cardiff, where we had great views down to Cardiff. The Cardiff Bay barrage was an amazing piece of engineering. It was an incredible sight seeing the height of Cardiff Bay some 7m or 8m higher than the receded tide mud flats of the Bristol Channel. The whole area was alive and busy with people. We passed the Dr Who exhibition, the Norwegian Church and some incredible statues. I particularly liked the War Memorial statue of a face carved into the bow of a ship – simply amazing. I also thought the Welsh assembly building and Wales Millenium Centre was brilliant with its purple and green slate brickwork and the champagne-coloured stainless steel cladding was very striking. I must look up the meaning of the words “In these stones horizons sing”, which was emblazoned across the building.
The walk out of Cardiff was tedious and we both started to flag abit. we agreed that a cup of coffee would be nice, but could see nothing in sight, then not more 30 metres away Nic spotted a Greggs!! Result. A cup of Coffeee and pastry slice for £2 was fantastic value. We sat in a nearby bus shelter and ate our lunch. We were joined by a gentleman, who was also walking the WCP and we talked for a while about the Path.
The last mile or so close to the Tesco store is best forgotten. As we passed close to a permanent Travellers site, the rubbish and fly-tipping was probably the worst I have ever seen. I have seen cleaner cleaner council tips!! The rubbish and filth was not restricted to outside of the site, but inside the site rubbish, refuse and scrap was piled sky high. I have walked past other Traveller sites and most are clean and well kept. This site however, was truly appalling – disgusting even!
Despite the end of our walk, I really enjoyed walking through Cardiff. The Bay area was a delight and a place where I would like to go back to.
We managed 5.5 hrs for the 16 miles.
note: because of the wonderful things to see I found it very difficult to limit myself to showing only 4 photos, so I have done 6 instead!!
Distance today = 16 miles
Total distance = 1507 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 