138. Cardiff Bay to Penarth Marina

The best way to see out the longest day of the year is surely to head to the coast to watch the sun set.  So, after a busy day with family, on Barry Island, three head to Penarth Marina to walk to Cardiff Bay and back.

We follow the landscaped pathway across the barrage to the bay then wend our way back.  Mermaid Quay is somewhat busier and more boisterous on a midsummer Saturday evening during a heat wave than it was on a wet windy day March. Maybe too busy and clamorous for me, ha-ha.

Snap a few photos of the boats bobbing in the still waters of the quay, the big wheel and the Pierhead building – I love its nickname – “Welsh Big Ben”, so appropriate. It’s a shame not to take a tour round this iconic building where the dockmaster oversaw the to-ing and fro-ing of one the busiest docks in the world. I’ll add it to my list for when I’m back in the city.

The towering lights of the Roald Dahl Pass contrast well against the puffy clouds, we briefly pop into the Millenium Centre not expecting it to be quite so busy – there’s a theatre show about to start.  So, head away from the Roald Dahl Plass, formerly known as the Oval Basin and over the modern red bridge with Roath Basin to our left.  I omit to take a photo of the very cute but slightly incongruous Norwegian church, where the author was christened, which now seems to be a café and arts centre, but is closed this evening.

Onwards we pass by the equalling bustling Tiger Yard, with its food hall and colourful containers stacked like Lego bricks to form the perimeter of the music venue.  It’s a lovely atmosphere promenading alongside “the bay” – pedestrians enjoying the warm sunny evening, some having running races, others just taking it slowly like us.

Local schoolchildren have made colourful posters depicting their memories of Cardiff Bay and celebrating 20 years since it opened.  I love this one, maybe Ava-Mai is a graffiti artist of the future?

I’m not so sure about the swift tower to encourage swifts to nest, at first I think it’s a roaring success but the bird song is recorded to encourage them to roost.  The children’s playground looks like somewhere to head back to later in the week as well as the crazy enormous crocodile, lets hope he’s not as greedy as he is in Roald’s book.

We take the lower path next to the still waters of the bay and read up on Captain Scott’s expedition to the south pole on his ship the Terra Nova, which set sail from Cardiff on 15^th June, 1910.  They certainly do look cold in the photograph from the South Pole.

The spit narrows as it nears the barrage, we wander along the road towards the bright blue locks, over the sluices and apparently a state of the art fish pass to allow salmon and sea trout to return to the river after their adventures in the sea.

It’s still an hour till sunset, so after admiring the “War of the Worlds – esque” pink hut we head to the custom house for a cocktail on the terrace.  Would be rude not to.  I’m curious as to how the locks work so look up a video, only to realise that the lights are flashing and it’s about to happen before our eyes.

It’s been a delightful first walk of this holiday, all be it short, but finished off by the setting of the sun on the longest day over the bay. Beautiful.