St Athan<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\nParking in Aberthaw we discovered that one of us (who will remain nameless but has experienced many years walking the footpaths of South Wales), realised he had brought two left footed boots and would have to walk in the shoes he was wearing!<\/p>\n
It was a grey day with glimmers of sunshine. We started by walking back up the road to the coastal road, we stepped out quite smartly, hesitating only to look over the parapet at the structures within Aberthaw<\/p>\n
We walked north across land associated with a castle and investigated the remains of a dovecote. Several trees had large black bracket fungus on their trunks. As we approached St Athan a large caravan\/chalet park could be seen in the sunshine.<\/p>\n
Turning south we could see the airport; several planes were parked up. Then our most experienced walker said, \u2018I\u2019ve never walked this path.\u2019 It was a very short section, but the walk planner was very pleased to find something new!<\/p>\n
On reaching the coast we scrambled over the stones and through the 2nd world war sea defences to gaze out to sea while we ate our lunch. The tide was out but five surfers entertained us by riding the slightest of waves.<\/p>\n
This part of the coastal path was wet underfoot until we reached the firmer path in Aberthaw. A structure out at sea is the sea water intake used for cooling in the power station .There is a tunnel connecting the caisson to the land so personnel could walk out to it if required.<\/p>\n
As a coal fired power station Aberthaw could supply enough power for 1.5 million households. It is now silent and there was evidence of buildings and contents being dismantled. When it was active, coal trains would come in and out of the site on a continuous railroad without stopping; the carriages released their load from the bottom onto a conveyor belt which carried the coal to a store. There is now a hill of coal ash at the edge of the site where several species have set up home.<\/p>\n
Reaching the end of the high wall around the power station, we walked through the nature reserve back to the cars. Drinks in the Blue Anchor rounded the day off nicely. Walk 7.8m 280ft. Map OS151<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cwm Gynfig near Margam Park January produced some icy weather, causing anxiety about the forecast of snow flurries or freezing rain after 4pm. We parked on a road south of the route to avoid driving on icy\/narrow country lanes. Although cold (layers were the order of the day) it was a beautiful sunny day, and we were soon striding out. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3We","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13006,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13006","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":0},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – ABER, BRYN, CWM, PONT","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES We\u2019ll now look at some common elements in Welsh Place-names. ABER I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen this element in many placenames. The word \u2018aber\u2019 means \u2018the confluence of two waters\u2019 and because so many places containing this word are situated on the coast, it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5498,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5498","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":1},"title":"Pobol y Cwm","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The BBC recently used the Wenvoe Community Centre to film scenes for the Welsh language series Pobol y Cwm. These scenes will be screened on Monday, February 11th at 7.30pm, and also on Sunday on the Omnibus edition (all 5 episodes) of the week, it normally starts at around 5.00pm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Notices"","block_context":{"text":"Event Notices","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=237"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5692,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5692","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":2},"title":"Parc Cwm Darran","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Parc Cwm Darran. Parc Cwm Darran lies at the site of the Ogilvie colliery where coal was mined from 1923 until 1975. We started by walking along the Ogilvie lake. There are a few sculptures to the side of the path and numerous pieces of outdoor gym equipment (the Ogilvie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Picture3-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10324,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10324","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":3},"title":"Parc Cwm Darran","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th September 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Parc Cwm Darran On a fine day at the end of June we travelled to Parc Cwm Darran, north of Bargoed. Even the drive here was interesting as we found ourselves driving across an area which none of us had ever visited before \u2013 a vast coal reclamation site. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Picture8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10421,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10421","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":4},"title":"Rilgrimages to Raise Funds","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th October 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"x THE MONK\u2019S TROD \u2013 AUGUST 2021 The Monk\u2019s Trod is a track that runs between the two Cistercian abbeys of Strata Florida and Abbeycwmhir, two of seventeen such abbeys in Wales. A group of friends decided to walk the route and having been advised to walk it in dry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reader's Travel Tales"","block_context":{"text":"Reader's Travel Tales","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=125"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Picture8-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5575,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5575","url_meta":{"origin":15142,"position":5},"title":"February Planning Applications","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Planning applications. \u2022 Cwm Derwen Farm, Waycock Road, Nr. Barry. Extension to existing farm building to accommodate in-door lambing and storage of machinery and fodder. No objections \u2022 Waunwyrdd, Port Road, Wenvoe. Proposed alterations and extensions. The height of the present bungalow is not to be altered hence the Council\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Planning Applications"","block_context":{"text":"Planning Applications","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=151"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15143,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15142\/revisions\/15143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/footsteps.jpg?w=860\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Picture10.png?resize=300%2C181\")
<\/a>As we approached a farm, a woman came towards us asking \u2018Where are you going?\u2019. \u2018How friendly\u2019 I thought. But she changed her whole demeanour, became very angry and told us in no uncertain terms that there was no footpath through her land and if we went across the fields, we would find sheep, cows and bulls. Several people had maps in their hand and tried to explain quietly \u2018look the footpath is on the map\u2019. She would not listen to reason and berating us told us to go back down the hill and take another track; of course, the track was not a footpath. Our skilled navigators soon had us back on route and the rest of the walk passed without incident.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Picture11.png?resize=500%2C360\")
<\/a><\/p>\n