With early morning rain, numbers were low but by the time we got to Barry the sun shone down on the 7 walkers.
We parked by the Gorsedd Stones, marking the National Eisteddfod which took place in Romilly Park in 1920, before crossing the road into the park itself. We all agreed that the park was a worthy winner of its Green Flag Award, beautifully maintained by the Council who were gifted it from the Romilly family in 1894 on condition they built a road around it and didn’t cut down any trees.
From the park we walked under the railway bridge and into Cold Knap gardens with daffodils in full bloom. This, too, was Romilly Estate farmland which was acquired by the Council in the 1920’s and developed using UE Grants Committee funding, providing work for local unemployed men. Walking past the lake in the shape of a Welsh harp (news to some of us!) and the Lido which, to Moyra’s disappointment, has now unfortunately been filled in, we made our way to Watch Tower Bay with its coastguard tower.
Wandering back through the gardens we were met by the many swans in the garden who lost interest in us once they realised, we didn’t have any food! It was time for coffee though, so after the obligatory photo we sat in the courtyard of a local coffee shop soaking up the sun – it was like being on holiday!
Eventually we dragged ourselves away and made our way towards Pebble Beach and onto the coastal path. Here we stopped to look at the Roman remains, deciding there were many worse places to have had a guesthouse!
A steepish climb brought us onto the clifftop and what a view! Taking a right turn we entered a small nature reserve which was developed by local residents to avoid house building on the site. The path led us back to the edge of Romilly Park and the site of the Glastonbarry Festival – slightly different to the 1920’s Eisteddfod! Back at our cars we all agreed that the spring sunshine had made for an enjoyable morning’s walk and that we’d all learnt something new about an area we thought we knew!
wickwanderers.com 