Introduction
As I am only
one year away from the completion of my end-to-end project of walking 100 miles
a year from Lands’ End to John O’Groats, I was delighted when Phil suggested
that he wanted to start married life with another long-term walking project. He
loves walking in Wales so what better idea could we come up with than the Wales
Coast Path. It was close to home with good rail connections around the Province
and, with 870 miles of glorious coastal scenery, a 100 mile a year schedule
would see out my walking days. So the only decision to be made was which end to
start. I love the idea of walking home, so we went for a south-to- north plan
and a start on the Welsh/English border at Chepstow. For the first year the
obvious place to finish was at Ogmore where a diversion inland up the estuary
brings the route close to a railway station with a direct train home.
Monday 10th August 2015 Chepstow
– Caldicot
Bridges and Tunnels
Phil and I
met in Nero’s and then wandered down to the station for the Birmingham train.
There was time for a coffee before the Cardiff train pulled in and we took this
down to Chepstow. We did not have to look far for a café. The First Class Café
is part of the station and here a friendly young lady provided us with bacon
baps. The early morning rain had cleared away and it was tee-shirts and shorts
from the very start. The walk to the old bridge took a good ten minutes and
when we arrived at the river, the bridge was under wraps and scaffolding. But
there was pedestrian access so we were able to walk over to the English bank
and then turn, shake hands and begin our Welsh odyssey.
The route
was marked by a symbol, a Welsh dragon in an egg. This appeared on signs and
was even embedded into the pavement. We retraced our steps to the station and
then up a steep hill into the suburbs of Chepstow. A wooded path eventually
came out into some fields and we caught the occasional view of the River Wye
below us. The first of the Severn crossings came into view, a towering
structure carrying a motorway from England. The path went under this motorway
and then turned alongside it through some industrial estates. There was a lovely
old church in Mathern, St Tewdric’s, and we stopped for a peaceful peep inside.
Then we crossed the very edge of St Pierre’s famous golf course before reaching
the sea wall. Here the vista started to open up and we got views over the Severn
Estuary towards Avonmouth.
We then came
to a charming little hamlet of terraced houses and a large warehouse. This was
Sudbrook and an information board gave us the history of the place. These were
the cottages for the construction workers who had dug the Severn Railway Tunnel
for Brunel. The industrial buildings include a pumping house that removes large
ingresses of water from the tunnel. Out again on the sea-wall, we smelt the sea
for the first time and the view was dominated by another huge bridge, the
second Severn crossing, a beautiful construction of curved white concrete. Once
more we passed underneath and then alongside it for half-a-mile before turning
away from the coast and across a motorway footbridge. This led to the town of
Caldicot and our accommodation for the night. We left the official route at the
railway line and crossed into the town. Our b&b was five minute’s walk up
the road.
Chepstow
dep. 13.22, Caldicot arr. 16.55. GPS 10.42 miles in 3hr 28m 51s including a 10
min stop at the church in Mathern.
We stayed at
Brooklands Motel, Pill Row, Caldicot. We ate at the Haywain in Sandy Lane. The
Castle Inn was closed on Monday’s. I had fish and chips and treacle pudding
& custard. The beer was Brains SA (4.2%).
Tuesday 11th August 2015 Caldicot
– Newport
From Power to Nature
We
breakfasted at 8am, a habit we maintained all week. So we were on our way
before 9am, back down the road to the railway and the coast path. The weather
looked fair and I had donned sun-block and a hat. The path followed the railway
for some way, along tracks and lanes, before turning back towards the seawall.
As we regained the coast we met with barriers across the route. Construction
work was taking place ahead and we were being barred from continuing. However
we had little choice. A glance at the map showed no feasible alternative but to
climb round the barriers and continue through the workings. A contractor
stopped us and explained that there was an official diversion. We had passed no
diversion signs so we could only assume they were catering for walkers coming from
the other direction only. We pressed on and were lucky to hit a tea break as no
machines were manned and we scampered through without meeting anyone else.
Getting out the other end was more of a problem and involved scrambling down to
the foreshore and back up a concrete wall.
Then there
was a long section of sea-wall, grassy and overgrown in places. Porton House, a
pink-coloured property, could be seen ahead for an hour or so before we reached
it. Soon after, the route left the sea wall and turned inland up a lane passed
a café appropriately called Seawall Café. Here an enterprising couple had set
up a coffee shop and information centre where we picked up pamphlets about
Newport and its coastal features. We sat outside in the sunshine to have our
refreshments. Then it was up the lane and over the fields to the village of
Goldcliff.
The route
back to the coast was rough and complex, turning and twisting over fields and
nature reserves. It was a relief to get back onto the seawall but this did not
last for long because we then entered a wetland site that had been created from
the old ash disposal beds of Uskmouth power station. I found the power lines
were more interesting than the bird life, as the wetlands were hidden from the
perimeter path by high reed beds. It was such a long way round that we kept
passing the same people, some staggering along on walking sticks, before
arriving back close to where we had started. So it was a blessing when we left
all this behind and set off at last towards Newport. After the village of Nash,
there was a most contrived section across pathless fields. This brought us into
heavy industry and eventually out onto a site road busy with heavy vehicles. A
friendly driver got out of his cab and directed us to the overgrown path
towards the Transporter Bridge. We had done nearly 20 miles and Newport was
only 200 yards away. Imagine our chagrin when we found the bridged was closed
and we were faced with a most unwanted two extra miles of industrial estate and
busy roads to get to the new bridge. Then it was a further mile of steep uphill
passed the hospital to our digs on the top of Stow Hill.
Caldicot dep.09.03,
Newport arr. 16.50, GPS 22.50 miles in 7hrs 17m 53s walking time plus a 30 minute
lunch stop at the Seawall Café near Goldcliff.
We stayed at the Knoll Guesthouse, Stow Hill, Newport. We
ate at the Pen and Wig at the lower end of Stow Hill. I had a pulled pork
burger and chips. The beer was magnificent, the Otley 01 Original (4.0%),
brewed in Pontypridd, getting my highest ever rating of more than 9 out of 10. Perhaps
I was just thirsty. The bells were ringing from a practise session as we
staggered slowly home past the cathedral, a lovely end to a long warm day.
Wednesday 12th August 2015 Newport – Penarth
Crossing the Barrage
There was
hardly a cloud in the sky as we left Stow Hill and headed back into Newport and
onto the coast path. In all it was four miles of road and track before we
finally came back to the sea wall at West Usk lighthouse. Then there was (or
should have been) a delightfully long section of sea wall path for miles down
the coast. But just after we passed a pub called the Lighthouse, we came to
another ‘Path Closed’ sign and more uncrossable barriers. This time however, a
diversion route had been well signed and maintained and we were quickly round
all the diggers and machines and on our way again.
We could see
the city of Cardiff in front of us, and the landscape began to be dominated by
heavy industry. As we approached a huge landfill site we were turned inland on
a good path through a beautifully maintained wetland. Eventually this deposited
us onto a very busy road which we followed as best we could on contrived
pathways to either side. Just before we left the roads, the route dived left
through an area of travellers’ homes. This was a frightening and depressing
section where the track was covered in black ash and metal from the burning of
waste that seemed a local occupation. But we climbed round a little headland,
passed a modern sewerage works and then out onto a busy modern road through
light industry, passing office blocks and tennis centres.
Newport dep.
08.48, Penarth arr. 16.00, GPS 20.60 miles in 6hr 59m 07s walking time plus a 10
minute halt to eat a flap-jack.
We stayed at
Allandale Guesthouse, Plymouth Road, Penarth. Our host welcomed us, took our
money, told us there was no breakfast, and disappeared. We never saw him again or
anyone else in the guesthouse during our short stay. On our way into town we
called at the Railway. We were put off from staying by a poor pint of Hereford
Pale Ale (4.0%) from Wye Valley Brewery. So we moved onto the Bears Head, now a
Weatherspoon’s pub and found a beer much more to our liking, Central Session
Room IPA (4.0%), brewed at Banks Brewery by Ernesto Mora Romero. I ate dragon
sausage and mash with a piece of garlic bread.
Thursday 13th August 2015 Penarth
– Limpert Bay
Power to the People
A b&b
without breakfast was a novel experience but it gave us the freedom to get up
early and slip out of the silent guesthouse as and when it suited us. So we
were back up in town before 8am, waiting for Wetherspoon’s to open. A large
fry-up put us right for the day and, just before 8.40am we were on our way. We
descended back to the pier and along the deserted promenade. It was a lot cooler
today and the forecast had threatened rain, possibly heavy rain.
After days
of walking on flat shorelines, it was quite a shock to be faced with a big
hill, a steep climb up steps and open grassland. Then it was into a section of
narrow paths heading south between low coastal woodland with very few views of
the sea far below. The islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm dominated the
seascape and would do so for most of the day. A corner was turned at Lavernock
and we were heading west once more. We skirted a caravan site as the route
passes between houses and the sea. This lovely section was soon to come to a
most unpleasant end. A sudden turn inland led to a series of busy roads that
led into Barry, not the most pleasing of the towns that we had walked through.
Eventually we came out on the now deserted docks and passed a totally inactive
steam railway. This was August and no one was here. A brief encounter with the
café-less town centre ended at the railway station which had a café that closed
at lunchtime! So on we went, desperate for a break, across the access road onto
Barry Island. A steep hill took us through dreary streets and the island looked
terribly disappointing until we pulled round a headland on the south side and
there below us was spread the most fabulous looking beach, almost deserted.
Whitmore Bay seafront was lined with cafes and we chose one with the best
looking cakes and sat outside for a short rest.
The afternoon
began with a lovely walk out to Friars Point before we left the island across
the same access road and headed westward once more. Another climb took us over
more clifftops and then dropped us steeply into Porthkerry and a magnificent
train viaduct. Here we came across the only other people walking the coast
path, a couple from Merseyside who had done the entire coast in
sections coming
north to south. We climbed up through a wood and came out in a grassy field at
the end of the runway of Cardiff Airport. As a jet screamed over our heads we passed
into a caravan site where we had to ask, at the main office, for directions. We
dropped into Rhoose which looked a large town away to our right. The coastal
path went out over some old quarry workings. We were on limestone. Rhoose Head,
we learnt from an information board, was the southernmost point of the Welsh mainland.
One last caravan site was negotiated. Yet again it was so quiet. Was no one on
holiday in Wales this year? One huge monstrosity stood in front of us. We
dropped onto the foreshore and across an inlet with the chimney of Aberthaw
Power Station rising hundreds of feet into the air. As we got closer, the other
buildings came into view and we rounded the station on a perimeter walkway of concrete
between the security fence and the seawall. As soon as we had completed this
walkway, lo and behold, here was our guesthouse for the night.
Penarth (Wetherspoon’s) dep. 08.41, Limpert
Bay arr. 16.00, GPS 21.16 miles in 6hrs 44m 13s walking time plus a 30 minute lunch
halt in the K9 Plus 1 Café in Whitmore Bay.
We stayed at
Limpert Bay Guesthouse, right on route but remote from any pubs. We got a taxi
up to Llantwit Major to eat in the Old Swan Inn. I had duck breast and mash
washed down with a large range of real ales: Oxfordshire Bitter (3.7%) from
White Horse Brewery, Maid Marian (4.5%) from Springhead in Nottingham, Falling
Star (4.2%) from Wickwar, and Celt Experience (4.7%) from Castell Coch in Caerphilly.
Friday 14th August 2015 Limpert
Bay – Ogmore-by-Sea
Into the Rain
The rain
that had been promised all week finally arrived in the early hours and it was
still pouring down as we had our early breakfast. It was quite warm so I was
unsure what to wear as we set out. As it was, I chose nothing more than a
short-sleeved top and an umbrella. There were only a few occasions when I
regretted not wearing more, these being on the steep and slippery descends into
the steep valleys that were a feature of this section of coast. Here I really
could have done with a free arm for balance.
Out into the
pouring rain, we started up a road inland towards Gileston Farm, slowly at
first to allow our sore feet to bed in. The route back to the coast was not
well marked and certainly did not look well walked. After crossing grass and
stubble fields, a stile eventually led out onto a storm beach of huge smooth stones.
It was not obvious where one was to leave the beach but after a difficult few
minutes of ankle-breaking progress, a path up a wooded hill became apparent.
Then we broke out of the trees and onto a glorious section of cliff top where
the only danger was the cliff falling into the sea.
After a few
more miles, the path dropped into a small bay and a car park, a lifeguard point
and a beach café. Just time for a coffee and cake, then it was out again into
the rain. This was easing now but the sky was still dark and threatening. A
series of steep sided valleys were crossed, each with very slippery paths
leading down and up the other side. In the wet conditions our trail shoes were
not gripping and we each had falls as we slithered gingerly along. In between
these clines there was easy walking in grassy fields along the clifftop. On a
sunny day, this would have provided the best views of the trip. But it was not
until we were in sight of our day’s objective that it finally stopped raining
and allowed us to stow away umbrellas and waterproofs. In fact it was pleasant
and warm as we rounded the coast under the village of Ogmore-by-Sea and continued
to the cark park at the river estuary. Here we finished our first section of
the coast path and shinned steeply up to the road to find a bus stop. The bus
arrived spot on time and took us into Bridgend where we had time for a meal in
the Wyndham Arms before shuffling up to the railway station for the train to
Manchester. Getting off at Wilmslow, Jill was waiting in the car to take us
home for a well-earned rest.
Limpert Bay
dep. 08.34, Ogmore-by-Sea arr. 14.00, GPS 14.70 miles in 5hrs 12m 37s walking
time plus a 15 minute coffee & cake stop at the Llantwit Beach Café.
Overview
We walked 90
miles during the five days. 87 miles of this were on-route. So we have another 783
miles to reach Chester perhaps 8 years into the future. We shall be back next
year, we hope, to continue along the coast to Swansea, the Gower and beyond.
