Well it is the first day of Spring and we have decided to increase the pace and start walking some weekends with the kids as well (well some of them at least) – might be harder to convince the big ones!!
The compromise on this route was that because most of the walk coincides with national cycle path 4, the kids were allowed to use bikes (plus with them riding ahead then coming back they did even more miles) and it allowed Cleo to get a ride part of the way.
So we parked up at junction 38 of the M4 by Margam Crematorium and walked towards Aberavon Sands – this isn’t a single leg in the book we are following – but the end of the Porthcawl to Port Talbot route, and the start of the Port Talbot to Swansea route, so it will make both of those legs a bit more manageable in future weeks.
We soon found the coastal path sign (along with the alternative red route which goes through Margam park) – do we have to walk that as well in the future to say we have done it all lol?
The first couple of miles really are not anything to write a blog about – So Cleo stayed tucked up in the basket with Rhiannon navigating. Here is a selection of what we saw!!
Then you end up on the main road to Aberavon and past a new blue cycle bridge, and along an estuary which is when it starts getting more picturesque and Cleo got to stretch her legs and walk for a few miles.
You head up a slight hill, and suddenly notice sand on the path and as you walk around a corner – bang – the most amazing views:
The walk along the sea front is beautiful (as long as you don’t look behind you towards the industrial area) and we stopped for hot chocolate and cookies on, of all things, a whale!!
We decided to walk a bit further, so that when we resume this walk another day we can cut down from Baglan station, so it meant walking as far as the kids could cycle before the path diverted in land.
And that ends the coastal path element for today 6.5 miles done, making 63.5 miles completed and 806.5 to go.
But we had to get back to the car – so in a first for us, we had to then walk back again!! After a stop to play on the beach of course:
Nothing much to say about the return journey, pretty much the same as the way there and thankfully the kids rode a bit slower (until they got a couple of mini magnums inside them!!).
But it was good for us to have pace setters to keep us moving – according to Strava the total was 22.1 km (which is 13.7 miles in total today), and we managed it in just over 3 and 3/4 hours. Definitely getting fitter which is a good thing with all the walks we have got planned in the coming weeks, sometimes back to back as well – might have to take the kids again.
Andrew and Sharon
Walkies Cleo and Bonnie 
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