Month: May 2017

The national weather forecast is dire. We are walking in bright sunshine with arainbow to guide us. We are at the western end of the Gwent levels – past Peterstone Gout (nothing to do with ailing feet) – apparently it is a flap which allows fresh water from the reens to flow out to sea. Your next question is what are reens? Give us a break!!!

WHY WINTER WALKING?

When you have 890 miles of path to cover – you have to start somewhere.
We made a decision to walk the more urban and industrial sections in winter – we are walking the grittiest sections at the darkest most dismal time of the year.

It hasn’t been dark and dismal – it has been sunny and startlingly beautiful – the salt marshes, the bird life on the levels – this is on the Atlantic migration route for all sortsof birdlife! It has left us enthralled and bewitched by the path and we are still WCP novices.

BACK TO THE PATH

Anybody starting off at the car park by the Lighthouse Inn, which is next to a chalet park should pop in and have a pint or a bite to eat – the staff and locals here are as helpful as it gets and the food is hearty and decent, plus easy access to the shoreline and WCP.

We head towards the West Usk Lighthouse – one of the first of 22 built by Scottish architect James Walker in the 1820s. Pylons project out of the landscape – gritty – OH YES!

The path leads us through the housing estate at Dyffryn – a bit of confusion here with signs. We can’t figure out if the direction has been switched, but the Wales Coastal Path official app helps us out and we meander through the estate – some urban litter squalor here adding more grit to the day!

Hats off to Newport Borough Council who have managed to link the walking in their neck of the woods – so despite a bit of confusion we can appreciate the planning and the extra mile so to speak in joining up their pathways.

TRANSPORTER BRIDGE
Continuing under a busy road following the signs we get to the Waterloo Hotel. We opted for a cuppa at Fanny’s café – you get coffee milky or not. We like the lack of pretentiousness – breakfast looked good too!

The highlight of this walk is the Transporter Bridge – a master piece of Engineering – not open in winter, but still in working order. Spanning the lower River Usk it dates from 1906 – the River Usk has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world and there are only 7 examples of this kind of bridge in the world

LYSAGHT VILLAGE
We trudge on .. we always trudge towards the end of a walk. Over the elegant City Bridge to Lysaght Village, named after John Lysaght who established the Orb Ironworks in Newport in 1898. Hard to believe now that Orb used to employ 3,500 men on this site, rolling some 6,500 tons of steel transported by a sister company in Scunthorpe. It is now a new housing estate built on the river the taxi driver is sceptical as to the sense of it all ……

LESSONS LEARNT
Make a list of the places you want to revisit at a later date. You will not remember at the end of 890 miles

We started the walk at Lysaght Village and headed down a very busy road and trading estate to the Transporter Bridge. The mist turned to rain. It was a dismal day. We had intended to walk to Gold Cliff but cut the walk short at Newport Wetland Centre.

We walked along side the river Usk – in Lucy’s words the landscape is
Apocalyptic; a good choice of vocabulary..

We did not see the coast. We continued passed the industrial edges of Newport
through several low lying fields past the village of Nash and were grateful to get to get to the Newport Wetlands Centre

The centre was built to alleviate damage to birdlife and habitat that might occur with the loss of large areas of mudflats following the development of the Cardiff Bay Barrage.

A National Nature reserve it has 3 trails (way-marked) and the areas around the reed beds are easily accessed by wheelchairs, and on our visit several young mothers with prams. The entry is free so a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Having got wet through we were more interested in the café – after drying off, and during a break in the weather we had a stroll around before getting a taxi back to Lysaght. The first walk we have curtailed due to adverse weather.

LESSONS LEARNT
Invest in wet weather over trousers. Yeh – we told you we were novices!

Walking away from the Wetlands Centre – you can see the scale of the reserve – some 4.38 sq km. The joy of walking in winter is that you can spot the birdlife quite easily. Great for the novice.

We head towards the tiny East Usk Lighthouse before tromping through farm land.  We meet several birdwatchers with serious cameras and binoculars making for the various hides along the marshes.

“Morning girls – nice day for a walk “ was the standard greeting. We stopped for lunch at the hide near Redhouse Farm and benefited from a running commentary by a couple of “twitchers” already comfortably set up in the hide

Never to old to learn something new! There really are lagoons in Newport !!

Don’t expect to see a massive cliff at Gold cliff but you will find a café/shop at GoldCliff. We walked along the embankment looking down on the mudflats. The sea wall has been reinforced with massive boulders along this stretch of the WCP. A pipeline mars the landscape.

We eventually reach a lane, double checking with a couple of fishermen that this leads to Redwick, we head up a very muddy lane leading to an even muddier farm yard before reaching the village of Redwick.

LESSONS

Rubber boots were great on this muddy path.
Learn to expect mucky farmyards in winter