Ely Trail, Cardiff

The Ely trail is rougher around the edges compared with the other great paths across Cardiff: the Taff Trail and the Nant Fawr Trail, however it perhaps gives a more realistic feel of the Cardiff area mixing history at St Fagans castle, with river side views alongside railways and under busy roads, with 1930's housing and industrial units, ending in urban regeneration as a marina and posh flats where once the Ely docks loaded ships.

While the trail starts at St Fagans, this blog covers a route from train station to train station, which gives the opportunity of visiting some additional woodland, so the path starts at Fairwater railway station. From there I walked to the Dingle Dell as we used to call it when I was young many years ago, which sounds more exciting than the official name of Fairwater park. In the Dingle Dell we fished for newts in a pond somewhere at the top and shrimp like things in the little brook.

Dingle Dell

From there it is across Fairwater green (resisting the temptation of the very pleasant Coffee Shop opposite) and down Cartright road and under the railway line into Ely. As a child we were all frightened of the Ely kids, who were reputed to do evil things with razor blades, no doubt much exaggerated as all seems safe and law abiding these days. A few right turns then takes me into Plymouth Great Wood, covered with white wood anemones at this time of year (April), with the promise of bluebells later.

The path through the woods ends at St Fagans, home of the magnificent Welsh National History museum and St Fagans Castle. The Museum used to be known as the Welsh Folk museum in less politically correct times, as it has 40 or so original buildings of the type lived in and used by ordinary people such as farms, a "prefab", a pub, shops, cottages, a woolen mill etc., a refreshing change from "history" as old churches and castles (although it also has a castle). Each nuilding was moved to St Fagans brick by brick and more are added as time goes by. There are a number of places for refreshment before tackling the Ely Trail itself.

St Fagans village

The Ely Trail starts at St Fagans village and begins by following a meadow by the river. I was intrigued by the river gauging station soon after the start of the trail, which uses a wear and a water level reading to work out the volume of water flowing down the river (the maths is more complicated than you may think). In addition to following the river, the path is parallel to the Swansea to Cardiff main line, indeed a new railway station (or rather re-opening an old one) has been proposed at St Fagans. Compared to my youth there seemed to be more passenger trains and less good trains using the line. The old goods trains used to have a guards van at the end and we would wave to the guard and occasionally gained a wave back. Waymark signs for the trail includes a picture of a Heron, and I was fortunate to see two today, as well as someone fishing. As a child we used to walk this way. In those days (before paedophiles existed) children could walk around unaccompanied but not before my mother gave me firm instructions not to paddle in the river where she claimed little boys had been drowned (and not to talk to strangers even if they offered sweets).

The trail then goes down Bwlch road before I turned right under a railway bridge, where I once stood to see the Queen go by, sadly, but in retrospect not surprisingly, the train quickly shot by the waiting people with no sight of any royals.

After a short path I joined Wroughton Place, several bunches of flowers were tied to railing beside the river, now dead and wilted, marking the spot where an 18 year old was found dead a few months earlier.

Although the Ely trail will eventually follow the river in the next section, the area is still under development so I diverted onto Cowbridge Road East for a short while before recrossing the railway line on an iron bridge, resisting the temptation to go to Up and Under, my favourite Outdoor shop just down the road. I then followed the trail past industrial units before eventually turning right into City park, with some bored looking teenagers siting on swings. After a right and left I rejoined the river and followed a tarmaced path a few miles beside, or underneath a dual carriageway, actually more pleasant than it sounds. At one point the path goes under a flyover. I am always amazed that the enormous weight of concrete and cars just rests on a small area of metal at the top of the supporting columns (no doubt to allow some movement due to thermal expansion).

With the day warming up it was time for a cup of tea and a scone, and fortunately the trail passes the Pumping Station, an old Victorian building that now houses a range of antiques for sale (although the extensive collection of old games and lego sets appeal to me more than the old furniture) and also a cafe and toilets.

Suitably refreshed I walk on into Grangemoor park, a former rubbish tip, but now grassland with birch trees and bushes. The final section reaches the periphery of the redeveloped Cardiff Bay. Where there were once docks (in this case Ely dock), cranes, warehouses and railtracks, there are now marinas with white, masted yachts and posh flats where visitors must contact the concierge to gain entry.

One final crossing of the River Ely (on a swing bridge to allow yachts to pass) takes me to Cogan station. Having seen two trains heading towards Cardiff as I walked the last kilometre down the river I was worried about a long wait, fortunately trains on the Barry line are frequent and I was soon on my way home.

In total I walked 14.2 kilometres (excluding any wondering around St Fagans) along a route which was mostly flat. The gpx file of the route is on Wikiloc, and a version that can be downloaded to a smart phone is on ViewRanger.