It might seem odd to some to start walking the Wales Coastal Path on the Heritage coast – which is neither at the beginning or the end of the 890 mile path. It was here that the idea of walking around Wales was aired. Lucy was in training to walk a section of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route and I was planning a trip to South America, with a lot of walking at altitude. Neither of us were “match fit” as it were.
We started training together and decided that if we still wanted a challenge when we returned from our travels, we would continue walking with the aim of completing the Wales Coastal Path in 90 days – with time out for holidays and other commitments that would bring us up to April 2018. We hadn’t done much pre planning so we were walking in one direction then walking back to the car – using this technique we would have walked 1780 miles before we completed our journey round the coast of Wales.
We decided on one car and a taxi return to the starting point initially, then a two car solution with the option in the summer season to take the local buses.
This walk was done in autumn 2016 and starts with a climb up the steps at Tresilian Bay, Llantwit; Silian was a Welsh Prince and Saint. The walk is mainly over large fields passing the Seawatch Centre at Summer house Point, then winding down to Penry Bay – which is very pebbly and not easy to walk across.
Take time to look back at the dramatic cliffs of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast. It will distract you from the Aberthaw Power Station which dominates the landscape ahead. At this stage we are only walking some 4 to 5 miles as we walk back to our car….
Lessons learnt: Pre planning your travel logistics is a good idea. Oh, how naïve – and what a learning curve!