Barpen one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 83.33% of reviewers

I walked this route from Penarth to Barry (after following "Carpen one " from Cardiff) on a wet August night.

I found myself reaching for my torch as soon as I passed Penarth Station, and there were few places where it was not needed between there and Barry.

My first detour was to use Sully Place instead of Archer Road to avoid climbing a flight of stairs, at several other places the route did not seem to align with the footpaths on the ground - so I followed the footpaths rather than the route including crossing Sully Sports Field instead of the Caravan Park (their entrance had a sign pointing out that the public footpath was further down the road), and around Y Rhodfa. In each case the route I walked was the obvious one on the ground if not exactly to the official route.

The walking surface (on a wet august night) ranged from dirt to lose pebbles, rather a lot of walking on tarmac roads with no sidewalks or street lights, and I only found one patch of particularly challenging mud (between Marconi Holiday Village and Lavernock Fort).

Much of the coastal walking is actually hidden from the coast by hedgerows and trees, so the route was maybe not a scenic as one might expect.

I picked this route over Barpen Two as I assumed that by following the Coastal Path it would be easier to navigate, and I was glad to keep seeing those signs that I was on the right path, but I think I will try the other route next time.

I did the walk the other way, starting in Penarth and ending in Barry.

The walk along the clifftop to Lavernock Point was OK, but a bit disappointed with the restricted views of the sea. Lavernock point is worth pausing at, still no outstanding views, but take a look at the plaque commemorating the first successful transition of a radio wave over water from there to Flat Holm by Marconi in 1897.

After that the path goes inland past round a caravan park and then re-joins the cliff top near some WW2 gun emplacements and after another detour passes sully island. If the tides are in your favour (and do check), you can take a trip over the tidal causeway to Sully island.

There's a mile or so more of pleasant costal walks before the rout goes inland and goes through suburban Barry. It's a bit of a disappointing end to an otherwise pleasant work, but there are no alternative ways past Barry docks. Shame!

Overall a pleasant easy to follow walk presenting no difficulties, I've the first stretch to Sully a few times.

January / July 2022. Direction: Penarth to Barry.

Done in two separate walks. The section from Penarth to Sully is a lovely walk along the coast (the walk mostly follows the Wales Coast Path anyway). After reaching the road at Sully it`s quite a long stretch along the busy main roads right into Barry, which for me lost it a couple of stars, but it gives you an interesting insight into Barry and its docks with its industrial history. The route is about as direct as you can get given the limitation of the big chemical plant boundary.

This route is almost entirely on the Wales Coast Path, meaning this is a nice walk along the coast from Penarth to Sully and then a bit of a slog along busy roads from Sully to Barry.

This is a lovely route and can be ran or walked, a bit busy from barry into sully with a few busy roads and lots of cars...but once you reach sully and back on to the coast , the scenery is stunning with a route through two caravan parks which has access to toilets and caffies. This leads into Penarth along the coast into Penarth Town ( which is lovely with lots of cool little shops)

I would walk /run this again, with two small busy towns to occupy you on route.

Most of this route is on the Wales Coast Path. The section between Penarth and Sully is very nice - almost traffic-free with plenty of sea views. The path near St Mary's Well Bay can be extremely muddy, especially in winter - but it's also the nicest, most rural part of this route. Between Sully and Barry it's very urban and could be cycled.

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