By Joy Strangward

AFTER ALL the hot weather recently, for the penultimate evening walk by Penarth and District Ramblers it decided to rain as a group of 14 walkers joined Joy with dogs Bracken and Biddy at Burnham Avenue in Sully.

All togged up against the rain they set off alongside the still parched looking cricket field towards the coast and joining part of the long distance Wales Coast Path, tramped along the narrow pebbled path in front of Lynmouth Drive before continuing beneath trees to reach the public slipway.

The rocky and seaweed covered foreshore and mudflats were clearly visible as it was low tide and continuing along the leaf strewn narrow path as the trees are shedding their leaves in order to maintain their energy because of the lack of water, they passed Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice which opened in 1999.

Leaving the WCP, the rough track criss-crossed with tree roots and stones led them on past the old Sully Hospital, built during the 1930’s for the treatment of those who were suffering from Tuberculosis and which has now been turned into apartments and re-named Hayes Point.

The expected views out over the Bristol Channel which normally stretch from Swanbridge to the Severn Estuary and across to the Somerset coastline right as far as Porlock were sadly blotted out by the rain, although Sully Island and Flat Holm were still visible.

The coast path led them on past Hayes Wood to pass the now closed site of HMS Cambria, which had been the home of the Royal Navy Reserve that was founded in Cardiff in 1947, but moved to this site in 1980 and has since moved back to new quarters in Cardiff since October 2021.

By this time the incessant rain had stopped and the Bendricks Rock along with Barry Harbour and its lighthouse and part of Barry Island was visible, as the clouds began to clear on the Somerset side of the channel opening up some views toward Minehead.

Crossing rocks they arrived at the Bendricks which is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest as dinosaur footprints have been found there, most of which can be seen at the Museum of Wales in Cardiff, although some are still visible at times of low tide if you go searching. They learned that during the late 1980’s a Dark Ages cemetery was discovered along with the remains of a Roman Well, and other graves have been found which may relate to crew members or soldiers from a ship which sank in 1798 when it was transporting soldiers to Ireland, to help quell a rebellion. A storm blew up and the ship ran into the Tusker Rock off Porthcawl with bodies being washed up along the coastline including at Bendricks beach.

Heading up the remains of an old slipway and out onto the road they followed it past the Atlantic Trading Estate which also contains the local recycling centre and crossing Hayes Lane reached Hayes Road to walk eastwards. This area once housed the SRD (Supply Reserve Depot) which was built as a packing station for emergency rations for the Armed Forces and which employed many local people. The area near Hayes Wood was also in bygone times used as a prisoner-of-war camp and an American forces camp during WW2 prior to the Normandy landings. Arriving at the site of Hayes Farm and Windmill, where the overgrown remains of the windmill are hidden behind a fence but are Grade II listed, they learned Hayes Farm stood on the south side opposite the windmill whilst to the north lay the Sully Moors and the Barry Sound before the building of the Barry Docks in 1888.

Then re-joining the coast path led them back to fields in front of Beechwood College (once the old Sully Remand Home) and onto South Road to return via the footpath opposite the church and Lynmouth Drive, very wet but still in good spirits.

You can follow the group at www.penarthramblers.wordpress.com or on Facebook.