Lead: Liz
After several weeks of dreary, drizzly weather and a forecast that was similar, the likelihood of a dry walk seemed slim. Only three of us were free for walking as a church fundraising lunch had attracted a number of our usual Monday walkers.
At 10am, Graham, Stuart and I set off for Cowbridge, parked up, donned boots and enjoyed walking past the cottages on the south side of the main road, towards the flyover, under which we went and then climbed up the steep steps alongside it. We found some nice holiday cabins at the top, presumably part of the farm there. After a field edge path, we set off over a couple of stiles into the woods, to the south of Penllyne castle, with the Cowbridge composting farm to our right, making a fair bit of beeping noise as large trucks whizzed backwards and forwards. Soon we left them behind and wended our way up the track, rather damp and muddy underneath, but passable and dry overhead except for a 5 minute bit of drizzle. On reaching the road we crossed over, walked under a canopy of trees and then decided to take a new route, along another muddy but attractive track, heading towards Graig Penllyn. Crossing another road, we decided to continue on a track we had done once before, so arriving out onto road to the west of the village.
A coffee stop was by this time welcome, sitting in the sun, believe it or not! The packet of shortbread fingers vanished rapidly and after dodging a continually circulating woman cyclist, clearly trying to do multiple laps of the playing field, Graham managed to get a good photo of us. This was our furthest most point, so we set off through the village, up a steep hill and then down one equally steep until we found our path back alongside the woods, but this time in the fields to the east of our outward walk. We had to walk right though the composting area this time, noise and smell accompanying us, then over the field, down the steps and back along Cowbridge High street to Oscars’ for a good coffee and bit of lunch for some.
We had walked rather further than the plan (5 ½ miles) as the weather had turned quite pleasant and none of us were in a great hurry to get back, so felt able to explore a couple of new lanes. The walk is certainly one worth repeating perhaps on a crisp autumn day, should we ever get such a thing!
Wick Wanderers 