Around the Edge of
Wales (10)....Llantwit Major to Swansea
Low tide is the best time to visit the section of coast
between Llantwit Major and Ogmore. The rock formations on the beach look like
frozen waves and the offshore gravel banks created by the strong currents in
the Bristol channel are clearly visible, fringed by the white foam of breaking
waves.
The path through the deep green woodland around Atlantic College
was edged with the intense pink of red campion flowers. Towards Nash point the
coast opened out into a swathe of yellow and lime colours under blue skies.
Skylarks rose from the open salt-scorched edges of a nearby rape field and
crows picked through the stubble of a
mid-May silage cut near the lighthouse. Fulmars
appeared every now and again above the cliffs, slicing though the updraughts on
rigid wings, and a solitary chough flew and called above Nash lighthouse where
a wedding ceremony was being held.
Beyond Nash Point the cliff landscape was stunning, and the
path dramatic – though slightly frightening for anyone with a fear of heights. On
the vast beach, far below, a line of fishermen stood still and patient at the
edge of the shore, their cast lines forming a series of fine triangles along
the quiet surf. Dunraven was, for me, one of the most beautiful wooded valleys
I’d ever seen on the coast. Harts tongue fern, rockrose, moschatel and
bluebells grew under a canopy of stunted sycamore and rowan . Three choughs were busily hopping around on the
adjacent open slopes and a peregrine falcon called in the distance.
Ogmore, at
the end of a sunny afternoon, was gradually emptying. Cars purred past in a
slow end-of-the-day chain , evening skateboarders began to emerge to claim
their space on the shore. A lone sea kayaker
glided up the estuary through glowing dunes. I watched with envy, my feet
throbbing, facing the prospect of a hard and painful walk along the roads and
pavements of Baglan and Swansea Bay.
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