Rhymney Trail through Cardiff

Cardiff has three rivers running through it: the Taff; Ely, and Rhymney. All three have trails alongside them although the trail down the Rhymney River, which I followed today, is least developed. Signs are sporadic and not all the route is defined. It is described on the Cardiff Outdoors website.

I had recently walked from the town of Rhymney at the head of the valley (different from the Cardiff suburb of Rumney) along the Rhymney Riverside Walk to Caerphilly over one day and then to Llanederyn's old church and inn on another day, finishing at the Cardiff Gate Retail Park at Pontprennau. Consequently, I decided to start today from the Retail Park. First, I threaded my way through modern housing, trying to find the alleyways between houses that were part of an (unmarked) public footpath, soon reaching a green corridor heading south with a tarmaced path. Grass, trees and a children's playground made this a pleasant gap between housing. Shortly I reached my first blue sign (somewhat disfigured by graffiti) directing me to the Rhymney trail. On top of the signpost was the symbol of the Rhymney Trail, two swans facing each other (not that I saw any swans, just a few ducks).

The tarmaced path led me to Church road, where a right then left took me into an underpass beneath the busy A48 dual carriageway. Murals of everything from lorries to dog walkers to policeman covered the walls, beautifully drawn, but marred by graffiti, some encouraging class warfare. After the underpass, I turned right, heading south. Turning left along a muddy path would have taken me up to the Rhymney Riverside walk that I had completed on an earlier occasion.

A48 Underpass

The underpass marked a change from neatly mowed grass between housing to more unkempt ground, where the path took me through meadows and woodland, spoilt somewhat by litter and the noise from the adjacent A48. After reaching the "Park and Ride" carpark (which cannot be accessed from the path, all gates being padlocked) I turned left and crossed the river. (Rather than crossing the river you can continue to the suburb of Pentwyn as an alternative). The trail then follows the embankment on the east of the river as it meanders across the wide flood plain, which has either been left wild or used for football and rugby pitches. Surprisingly, the river appears little wider than it was many miles upstream. I did unfortunately see areas of Japanese knotweed, an alien species taking over areas of the bank all down the river. A more pleasant riverbank sight were the bulrushes, back lit by the sun, where the path turned and headed up to the suburb of Rumney itself, via a tennis court and bowling club.

Rhymney Trail by Pontprenau

Rhymney trail by Rumney

I crossed through the Rumney housing via the old St Augustine's parish church, a 12th century building that looked out of place among the much more recent (1930's?) housing. Leaving the housing I crossed over the main Cardiff to London railway line and into Parc Tredelerch, an area of wild plants and bulrushes surrounding a lake used by fishermen, dog walkers and the like. It is here that the Rhymney trail meets the Wales Coast Path. I crossed the path to look at the river, now suddenly a tidal river flowing beneath the busy bridges and flyovers carrying the capital's commerce.

Officially the Rhymney trail now followed the Wales Coast path east onto the flatlands bordering the River Severn between Cardiff and Newport. However, to reach the Rhymney estuary I took the Coast Path west. After briefly running alongside heavy traffic, the coast path heads south, following the road on a grassy path (Update: this was before the Coast Path was diverted into Tremorfa). Last time I took this route it was impassable, overgrown with brambles; fortunately the undergrowth has been cut back allowing a pleasant walk with views of the river, now with boats moored in its centre or stored on its banks. Grey mud lines the tidal banks of the river here. When I was little I had bad dreams about stepping onto the mud and being sucked into it, to be drowned by the rising tide.

Near the mouth of the river

Bricks rounded by the sea

I turned off the coast path by some ponies, probably owned by the travellers who had a camp not far away, untethered despite the area being open to the nearby road. Walking down to the where the river joined the sea I admired the beach full of bricks, the remains of Cardiff's past industrial history, long since in decline. At the very end of the river, on the final point on the cliffs of mud, only seagulls and a few cormorants admired the view across to the Bristol channel, and the old Lamby Way landfill site on the left being turned into a green space.

The above walk is 10 km long, 6.25 miles, but I had to walk a few extra kilometres back into Cardiff to catch a train home. A gpx file of the trail can be found on wikiloc. For smart phones and tablets the route is also on Viewranger short code johnpon0011.