Letting the bike take the strain

A change of strategy for this section of the Wales Coastal Path. Alec and I decided to take our bikes on the back of #duettovan to Pyle and then cycle to The Mumbles. A good decision because it enabled us to to get through the built-up areas of Port Talbot and Swansea quickly. The ride was of 31 miles which included the return back to Swansea Railway Station for the train ride back.

The highlights? The route Alec took us around the back of Margam Country Park yielded a lake where we watched a model boat club sailing their vessels. Then there was the surprise of the Aberavon promenade and seafront which neither of us had seen before. A lovely expanse of sand.
September 04, 2014 at 1135AM (1)

The marina at Swansea, I’d never seen before either – we watched as two boats went through the lock and then we cycled along the seafront against a wind that seemed to get stronger the further we went. Eventually we got to Mumbles and found a great pub – The Pilot – which has its own micro-brewery and also serves a mean pint of Bass, a beer I hadn’t tasted for several years. Lovely.

The ride back to Swansea was much easier. The tide had gone out and with it the wind had died down. The sun had shone all day, the legs which had been tired in Mumbles recovered on the platform at Swansea as we waited for the train to take us back to Pyle.

The Google Map of the trip is shown below …

Wentlooge – the sea wall and the levels

This 12.0 mile walk started, with our bus passes at the ready, at the Central Bus Station where we got onto a bus that took us through parts of Splott and Tremorfa I’d never seen before, before letting us off at Pengam Green. As we walked past the Waste Collection Centre on Lamby Way, I think we both wondered what we’d let ourselves in for on this stage of the Wales Coastal Path.
Wentlooge-1

We of course, had another wonderful walk, meeting a threesome who were walking the Path in similar fashion but using a car at one end and then a bus to the other. Indeed one of them told us he was a curator at the Sambrook Village Museum and offered to make us a cup of tea if we should visit on a Friday (see reference to this here).

The Wentlooge Levels are a twitchers dream. Loads of wading birds, some kestrels and loads of goldfinches. The saltmarshes have these creeks and there’s evidence of an age-old method of fishing.
Wentlooge-3

You walk past the golf-course and see this lake before you arrive at The Lighthouse Inn, near St Brides, which was our planned lunch-time stop. Let’s just say we enjoyed our lunch. The friendliness of the bar maid was just great.
Wentlooge-4

All along the walk you came across inlets such as these where the drained marshes have a controlled flow out to the estuary.
Wentlooge-5

Finally, a really pleasant surprise of the walk were the wildflowers we saw along the way …
Wentlooge-6

… and here’s the Google Map of the walk …