140. Penarth to Barry Island

Due to the heatwave, I’ve suggested on an early start, and when I say early, I mean early, this photo of the sunrise was taken just after 6am.  Haha wonder why we are never up and out walking at this time of the day – the low sunlight over the water and the pale blue sky scudded with wispy clouds is mesmerising.

It feels like Penarth promenade would feel this sedate at any time of the day, not just six in the morning, with its parade of benches, streetlights and strings of festoon lights.  The colourfully painted buildings are lit up beautifully, we pass an array of boathouses, maybe a boat club then the path leaves the road into a residential area then small woodlands.

It’s easy walking along a gravel path, through trees, long grass and pretty flowers, with plentiful wildlife to accompany us.

Within half an hour we arrive at Lavernock Point. What a cute little church, we don’t go in but re-trace our steps a bit when we realise where we are and pop out onto the beach.  The pebbles are the type that are just the wrong size, making them extremely tricky to walk on. So we stop at the top of the beach, admire the horizontal strata on the cliffs and enjoy our breakfast.

The coastal path follows the small road away from the point towards the Marconi Holiday Village.  I always love any reference to Marconi as my mum gets so excited, telling tales of when she worked at Marconi House on The Strand in London in the 1960’s.  It turns out that the Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, received the first wireless transmission on the clifftops here, from Flat Holm Island, in 1897! There must have been big celebrations then but today all is quiet in what is now a delightful nature reserve, that is, once we’ve walked round the holiday village.

The paths are a little overgrown with nettles and thistles but once we get out into the open we walk round beautiful meadows and a great carved wooden bench.  No time to stop it’s now nearly half seven and starting to get hotter. We admire the view of Flat Holm and Steep Holm Islands with the Somerset coast in the hazy distance.

The coast path diverts inland around another caravan park, then down a “tree-tunnelled” road which eventually pops out right on the waters edge at Swanbridge.  I have to admit I wasn’t expecting a little community of houses or a pub and restaurants. Sully Island, or Ynys Sili, looks navigable but we haven’t checked the tide so continue past the Captains Wife, Seashore Grill and 1988 Indian restaurant.  There are two further holiday parks – the Spinney and Island View, then a large sports ground.

By now it’s gone 8am and the dog walkers are out, plenty of them, I guess from the holiday parks and we are now on the edge of the village of Sully. We take a brief stop on the concrete walkway out to the beach. Ahead is woodland and what I believe is the white building of Ty Hafan children’s hospice nestled amongst the trees. We know that the path soon diverts inland around the industrial docks area of Barry, so take a breather before continuing.

The coast path soon has high wire fences to our right then industrial chimneys ahead of us and before we know it, we are walking along busy roads with lorries whizzing past. It’s well signposted but hard work in the intense heat (it’s now nearly 10am), walking along busy roads, crossing roundabouts and seeking shade where possible. Many of these roads are familiar, having driven along them from our holiday accommodation to the beach this last week.

The stretch along “Ffordd y Mileniwn”, parallel to the railway track is the hardest as there is no tree cover.  A statue of David Davies, the industrialist who is largely responsible for Barry Dock, stands proudly outside Barry Dock Offices – a stunning baroque style building which is now a council building.

Thankfully the coast path now crosses the road to a new residential area alongside the massive dock – I wonder what David Davies would think of this now? The clean waters of the dock stretch ahead of us towards the sea, the sails of a tall ship silhouetted against the blue sky.  The end of our walk is in sight, but first stop off at a supermarket for an essential break. I love the Welsh word for Supermarket – Archfarchnad.  Bizarrely, Duo Lingo choses this week to teach me this word!

Then it’s round the corner, past residential houses with their front doors right on the main road, to Barry Island – no longer an island but I feel very much enjoying the affective wording. We join family on the delightful Whitmore Beach, having walked 10 miles in about 4 hours.  Time for an ice cream then a train ride back to Penarth to collect our car.