Llantwit Major to Southerndown

After a lot of changing our minds, we decided that for our second walk we would do the Llantwit Major to Southerndown route which is 8 miles.  We headed to Southerndown where we left the car to catch a bus into Llantwit Major. It was a rather foggy morning with not a lot to see at this point:

But while waiting for the bus the fog magically lifted – the guidebook said that bus 145 was the one to get us to Llantwit Major, but that had been replaced in 2013 by the 305, which turned up 15 mins late, and we were on our way.

Once in Llantwit Major we headed for the beach (which explains why we walked nearly 2 miles further than the coastal path today), grabbed a coffee and hot chocolate and headed up the first cliff.

We had debated whether to go with walking boots or wellies, and opted again for wellies, which turned out to be the right choice after the first mile which was mainly spent sliding from side to side in the mud.

We found a contender for house by the sea at Tresilian Bay

Once we climbed up the other side of this cove we were faced with a problem:

Part of the path had fallen off the cliff into the sea below, but we were able to detour slightly and keep the walk going:

Lunch followed at St Donat’s castle

And off we set on better paths to the Nash Point Lighthouses

The rest of the walk was one of the most picturesque and quietest walks we have been on, very few people had ventured out today, and this was one we will return to on a summer’s evening when the views will be even more spectacular:

There were some massive slippery slopes to climb down, and some equally large hills to climb up, and Sharon gained the first injury of the walks when she slipped on to some gorse and drew blood (I didn’t pass out!!).

And time for a very nice view while eating afternoon tea

And before we knew it the walk was almost at an end as we past through Dunraven castle, and on over to Southerndown and our waiting car.

For those who like statistics (and who wouldn’t!!), the walk was 15km or just under 10 miles, and took just over 3 hours including breaks.  During the walk we gained a total of 654 metres in elevation.  So that is now 17.5 miles completed, and 852.5 to go. Already planning the next leg of our journey.

Andrew and Sharon