Leaving the beach we head over Baglan Burrows – a mix of salt marsh and brackish marsh, reed beds, and shrublands, the dunes are gouged with tyremarks from illegal motorbike riders – I can understand the attraction but it must play merry hell with the plant and wildlife.
Past the power station and pipeline we soon see Brunel Tower, named after the designer of Briton Ferry docks – Sir Mark Brunel – not much here now to denote how busy this dockland was in the 19th century
A bit of banter with three middle aged cyclists before crossing the Briton Ferry bridge, where Lucy recounts the time when her Dad had a car accident on the bridge, and her mother only found out about it when she saw the car on the news. One can only imagine the consternation in the O’Donnell household.
Before we headed under the M4, we sneaked a look over the edge of the bridge to have a good look at what exactly sits in that little triangle between the M4 and A48……some moored boats, a couple of houses and a fire station.
We marvelled at the pillars shoring up the M4 – you don’t fully appreciate the engineering that goes into our roads until you walk over and under them!
We followed the A483 for a while, and we’re glad to turn off this busy road to Jersey Marine and the quieter stretch of the Tennant Canal, previously known as the Glan y Wern and used to transport coal.
We skirt around the Park and Ride car park before ending up in the SA1 area of Swansea.
Crossing the Trafalgar Bridge, Lucy and I are feeling pretty smug having completed the South Wales section of the Wales Coastal path -114miles/184km.
We felt we fully deserved lunch at the Grape and Olive – with great views from the high rise location