Meeting up at WVH, it was lovely to see so many WW and we welcomed Richards’s daughter and son in law who are over from the States.
After arranging car share, we headed off in convoy towards Barry and parked in the large carpark of the Toby Carvery. Once we were all appropriately kitted up for whatever weather we may have, we set off along the lane to Cwm-Cidy cottage and farm, where the lane ends and the footpath takes you down into Porthkerry Country Park. The park consists of 220 acres of woods and meadows in a sheltered valley leading to a pebble beach, and spectacular cliff park was purchased from the Romilly estates in 1929 by Barry Council.
Passing under the railway bridge we followed the road and branched off along the path through the woods. Along the wooded path are new information signs about the local flora and fauna and we noted that the trees still have a lot of the leaves on obviously due to the mild weather. At the end of this path, across the road is Mrs Marcos Café and we enjoyed refreshments sitting outside in the bright sunshine whilst admiring the view of the sea and the very impressive Porthkerry viaduct.
Graham told me that there was problems with subsidence when the viaduct was being built, so I checked this out. The viaduct was built during construction of the Vale of Glamorgan railway in the 1890s. Work on the viaduct was troubled by subsidence in1896 causing temporary closure and construction of a loop line. The viaduct finally opened in 1900 and is still used today for passenger and some freight trains between Cardiff and Bridgend.
After the group photo in front of the very impressive Grade 2 listed viaduct we headed back through the meadows, enjoying the autumnal colours to retrace our footsteps back up the footpath out of the park to the lane.
By now the weather was considerably warmer and had taken us all by surprise, so most of us needed to remove some layers. Back at the car park we all agreed it had been a lovely autumn walk and the discovery of a new path into the park.
Thank you all for joining me today.
Wick Wanderers 