Wetlands and filling the gaps

Newport RSPB Wetlands to Goldcliff Sea Wall

On the trail steps, 12,600 on the trail miles 5.40. Off the trail steps 5231, off the trail miles 1.93.

Tried to pick an interesting walk as Athene was joining me (and this one was recommended as a highlight!). After a bit of faffing about, and a quick look inside Redwick church, I met up with Athene and we got the cars in strategically a good start and end point (as this is an area with no buses!) It was great to see Athene, and we started in a very civilised way with coffee and a welsh cake, and a comfort stop before kicking off on the coast path around the wetlands, once a touching point had been established.

There were quite a lot of benches and people, and occasional sightings of birds and lots of orchids! We also saw the sister of the lighthouse I had seen yesterday – the thinner and less squat East Usk light house! It was good to catch up and chat as we talked, and after numerous benches the need for a coffee stop came after we had just left the grounds of the wetland centre. It took ages to find a not very scenic or comfortable spot by a lane (so we didn’t linger!)

Then we walked around the salt marsh – where we not were allowed to walk on the embankment so as not to disturb the nesting birds, so the view of anything was extremely limited, and then across fields (which was increasingly getting rather overgrown!). The meadow sections were rather pretty (and we did see a marsh harrier though no red beaks (oyster catchers) – though I have seen them several times on the trail.

We eventually resorted to lunch in a bird hide (as at least there was a seat!) we were joined by a couple of birders but not much to be seen! Post lunch we soon wound down to the car by the sea wall and took a quick walk up to see the sea and establish a start point for when I pick up the trail again in this place.

We drove the second car back to the RSPB place, and had another drink and comfort stop before going our separate ways. Next stop with Athene is centre court at Wimbledon (so excited!!!)

Two gaps

On the trail steps, 16843 on the trail miles 7.26. Off the trail steps 9497, off the trail miles 3.4.

I did 2 distinct sections of walk to join up all the trail that I have done. First from the wetlands back into Newport – which turned out to be rather overgrown in places and clearly not the most walked bit of the Wales coast path. I started from the wetland centre – but was so early that the café and toilets were not open!! I found my touching point and set off.

Due to the overgrown nature of the paths, there was quite a bit of checking I was on the right path. There were several fields with sheep and cows including some young ones (who were a bit frisky!). I saw absolutely no-one on the first part of the walk. Navigation and the going got a lot easier when the path joined a cycle path as we got closer to Newport (and landed in the inevitable industrial estate). I was soon back next to the A48 and over the road bridge to my touching point. There were again excellent views of the not functioning transporter bridge.

I crossed the road, and availed myself of the convenient costa coffee I had seen on my previous visit. I then hailed my first ever App based taxi service (Veezu in Newport!). This worked amazingly well and they ran me back to the RSPB place (as there are no bus options).

I drove a rather eccentric route back, finding somewhere to eat my lunch, and then went down to Rhoose to pick up Gavin for the second gap walk from Rhoose into Barry!

This turned out to be a much better path with no overgrown bits and much more up and down! We went back to the most southerly point of Wales touching point, and set off! Again lively conversation was had, as we headed towards Porthkerry through the inevitable caravan park, and down through the trees – some ancient ones!.

We stopped for a breather and a drink in Porthkerry park, and then a stiff ascent up and then over into Barry. The ascent began with steps and a false summit, it eventually levelled out with a wide expanse of green, and posh houses with a fantastic view! We had to work over to the coast path a bit for the steep descent (without steps). We had a brief pause at the Roman remains on display at the bottom of the hill. Then a bit of a canter along a short promenade. before catching a short cut across the beach to connect with a path and a bit beyond my original touching point from last Saturday.