Taff Trail through Cardiff

The Taff Trail goes all the way from Cardiff to Brecon, and while seen as a cycling route, it is equally (or more) attractive for walking, especially through the city of Cardiff.

I started my walk at Cardiff Bay Railway station and walked past the Wales Millennium Centre with its enigmatic inscription about "horizons singing" in Welsh and English, to the Senedd, where the Welsh Assembly (and occasional demonstrators) meet. It is made of glass to illustrate transparent government, but I am yet to see anything of interest through the glass. However the sculptures dotted around have a certain wistful charm reminding of previous times when this a working dock, and indeed rather a rough area before all being redeveloped.

The Taff Trail starts by the Senedd and continues around the cafes and restaurants of the new Cardiff Bay development. In my youth my Uncle worked as a boiler maker, repairing ships that visited Cardiff Docks. When he showed me around, as a fascinated youngster, I looked out over the grey, muddy banks of the estuary, sloping gently into the River Taff, from one of the docks occupied by a bulk carrier. The cranes of the docks where he worked are now gone, or preserved as monuments to the past outside expensive apartment blocks; the docks themselves are a pleasant backdrop to the new developments, restaurants and flats. A barrage across the mouth of Cardiff Bay means the estuary is no longer tidal so the muddy banks are no more, moorings for yachts and motor boats have taken their place.

Instead of following the Taff trail along a busy road as marked on my Ordnance survey map, I took a longer route along the Cardiff Bay Trail, following signs for National Cycle route 8, seeing both modern flats, fancy shops, a posh hotel and a wetland for birds before reaching older housing. It was then a walk alongside the River Taff past the old housing estates, into the centre of Cardiff. There were a few important sights, the Brains brewery which has long provided Cardiff's beet (with slogans painted on various railway bridges), and the more recent Millennium Stadium. Cardiff Central train station is in easy reach at this point.

When there is no event on you can walk along the river on the same side as the stadium, as I did today, admiring the mosaics of the flags of rugby playing nations, a mixture of big places such as Australia and small ones like Samoa.

After the Millenium Stadium I turned right onto Castle Street to admire Cardiff Castle. While there was a fort and castle from Roman and Normal times, much of what you see today is a Victorian romantic imagining of what a medieval castle should look like. The 3rd Marquess of Bute was responsible for creating the castle as it is today using money earned as a result of building Cardiff Docks. The 4th Marquess of Bute gave the castle to the people of Cardiff.

Behind the castle is Bute park, with three teashops, flower beds, a bit of the old Glamorganshire canal and a variety of trees. You can either follow the River Taff by walking through Bute park, or cross the Millennium pedestrian bridge and follow the river on its opposite bank through Pontcanna fields, which is what I did today. Before reaching Pontcanna fields I passed the Sophia Gardens Cricket ground where I glimpsed  Glamorgan playing Leicestershire through the gaps in the stands to a very sparse audience (Leicestershire won, Wales is a rugby rather than a cricketing nation). In my youth I sang (with a few hundred other children) in the Cardiff schools choir in the Sophia Gardens pavilion, fortunately some years before it collapsed, and was pulled down.

I left Pontcanna fields by crossing the pedestrian suspension bridge at Blackweir, and followed the Taff trail through the trees, in paces with a carpet of wild garlic under them. The trail continues along the river passed housing to the next weir, where sea gulls and a maybe a cormorant were sunning themselves opposite the rowing club. Hayley park was the next park the trail runs through before a road in modern housing along the path of the old Glamorganshire Canal. You still pass some evidence of the canal in the shape of a restored beam pump, used to supply the canal with water.

There is an alternative route beyond this point, following some of the remaining canal through the Glamorganshire Canal Nature reserve, however today I stuck to the river, apart from a diversion caused by some work in the area. From parts of this section you can see the railway line on the other side of the river, cut into the steep side of the valley, one of the railways that ultimately put the Glamorganshire canal out of business, being closed in the 1940's and much of it now built over.

The Taff Trail now crosses under the M4 motorway and a high and low route is possible up the Taff valley. I took the high route that climbs through the village of Tongwynlais to Castle Coch, on route I helped someone painting their walls by passing a pot of paint up, which left me with an bright orange finger for the rest of my walk. Red may have been more appropriate as Castel Coch means red castle in Welsh. Like Cardiff Castle it was originally a Norman castle rebuilt by the very same 3rd Marquess of Bute as a Victorian view of a medieval castle, and has been widely used as a film set.

After Castle Coch, the trail climbs up the side of the mountain with glimpses through the trees of the view down the route I had followed from the sea. One wishes that a few of the trees could be chopped down so that the view could be appreciated better. Dropping down again into Taff's Wells, it was then a short work to train station.

A gpx file of the route is located on Wikiloc, and the route can also be found on ViewRanger (shortcode johnpon0008) where it can be downloaded onto a smart phone.