Lead: Carroll and Mary
A very encouraging number of members met at the Village Hall for the trip to Cowbridge.
We parked in the car park at the rear of the cattle market and met near the Scout Hut. All duly booted and spurred we set off by negotiating a low stone wall before setting off across the playing field.
At the corner of the field we joined a “made-up” path behind a row of houses at the end of which we were confronted by a very rough and muddy path which was riddled with tree roots on the side of the valley.
This path eventually gave way to a metalled road leading to a farmhouse. We joined this road and headed towards Llanblethian. Passing through Llanblethian we came to factory Road and turned left to make our way downhill towards the ford where factory Brook crossed the road. We took the footpath on the right which led to a bridge over Factory Brook where we had a brief discussion about the old Flannel factory.
Further discussion also took place regarding the identification of a sapling growing by the bridge. Robbie eventually succeeded in identifying it as an Almond Tree and emailed his results to us all.
Leaving the ford behind us we made progress up a narrow, fairly steep and stoney road with views across the valley of the River Thaw. Leaving this road, we headed across two fields. At the edge of the second field we stopped for a coffee break and the group photograph.
The route now took us along the edge of the field to a stile and across another field before meeting a by-road near a very impressive pair of gates which still had a display of golden balls which, we assumed, were the remains of Christmas decorations. A short uphill walk on the road brought us to another stile into a field heading towards the outskirts of Cowbridge.
At this point the faster walkers were about 100 yards ahead of those of us who can’t quite keep up the pace. They were well ahead at the next stile and at the bottom of the last field and so missed my cabaret act which was observed by my three colleagues. Fortunately, the only thing that was damaged was my pride.
Passing through the outskirts of Cowbridge we took the footpath along the bank of the River Thaw and below Quentins Castle and eventually reached South Gate where some members chose to return to their cars whilst 6 of us had a very well-deserved Coffee break in the Aroma Café.
Wick Wanderers 