South Wales walks: Cardiff Bay trail

One of my favourite local walks is the Cardiff Bay trail, a 10km (6.2 mile) circular walk around the city’s waterfront.

The scenic trail, which follows a path around the bay to the nearby town of Penarth and back, passes many of the city’s most notable landmarks, including the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), the Cardiff Bay barrage and the Norwegian Church.

I used to do the walk all the time when I was younger, but I hadn’t done it for a few years. So in May, I decided it was time to revisit this old haunt…

I started my walk at the waterfront down near the Senedd (above) and the Pierhead building.

The eye-catching Senedd, which opened in 2006, was designed by acclaimed architects Lord Richard Rogers and Ivan Harbour.

Made from concrete, glass, wood and steel, the modern Parliament building was designed to be as sustainable as possible.

The building is currently undergoing renovations, as the number of Senedd members is set to increase from 60 to 96 next May.

The red brick Pierhead, meanwhile, is one of the city’s most iconic buildings (above).

Dating back to 1897, it was built for the Cardiff Railway Company when Cardiff was one of the world’s biggest ports and exporting a third of the world’s coal.

It’s now owned by the Senedd and is often used to hold events.

When I was a child, the bay was a rundown series of docks and mudflats, but in the late 1990s, the area was transformed into a huge freshwater lake and a host of restaurants, cafés and shops opened up along the waterfront at Mermaid Quay.

From the Pierhead building, I strolled through Mermaid Quay, glimpsing the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff’s premier performing arts centre, in the distance.

As I walked along the boardwalk next to the water, I was intrigued by the many messages and mementos that adorned a shrine to Ianto Jones (above), a character from the TV show Torchwood.

I headed in the direction of Techniquest (above), a fabulous and fun hands-on science museum that I adored as a child.

The museum has more than 100 interactive exhibits that bring science, maths, technology and engineering to life, as well as a sensory garden and planetarium.

Meandering through the old docks, I passed the Voco St David’s Hotel, the city’s only 5-star hotel (above) – it’s where David Hasselhoff met his wife Hayley Roberts – on my way to the wetlands.

The eight hectare Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve (above) lies on an old salt marsh and is a lovely, tranquil place to escape from the bustling bay.

I ambled along the paths and boardwalk, stopping a few times to watch the birdlife, which included mallards, coots, swans and a family of geese (above).

From the wetlands, I passed the Cardiff Yacht Club, scooted under the flyover and made my way into Hamadryad Park (above).

The small, leafy park is named after HMS Hamadryad, a hospital ship that was moored in the area between 1866 and 1905.

Crossing the park, I continued my walk along Clarence Embankment.

At the end of the road, I turned left traversing the River Taff over Clarence Bridge (above) and turned left again, following the signs for the Cardiff Bay trail past Avondale Gardens.

I followed the path along the riverbank for a while, passing a series of houses and flats, as well as Cardiff Rowing Club.

This isn’t the most exciting part of the trail, as there isn’t much to look at other than the river and the residential properties.

I got a little lost after the flyover (above), as the way I usually go was cordoned off.

So I ended up walking through the car park of a few apartment blocks, which I don’t think I was supposed to do.

I was then briefly questioned by an overzealous security guard as I crossed a stretch of wasteland (there’s nothing there, so I don’t know why he seemed so bothered) and came out between Cardiff International Pool (above) and the National Ice Skating Rink.

I ambled through what the council enthusiastically refers to as the ‘international sports village’, passing the Cardiff White Water Rafting Centre, down towards the River Ely.

Here, I crossed the river via the Pont y Werin bridge (above) and followed the trail through Penarth Marina (below).

Whenever I walk along this stretch of the trail, I’m always amazed at how many boats and yachts there are.

There must be millions of pounds worth of boats moored in the area and I always wonder who they belong to.

Having traversed the marina, I came upon the impressive Cardiff Bay Barrage (above).

The barrage, which was built between 1994 and 1999 at a cost of £220 million, is one of the world’s most sophisticated flood defence systems (above).

As well as playing an instrumental role in creating the bay’s freshwater lake (below), the barrage also helps protect the city from the Bristol Channel, which has the second highest tidal range in the world.

I crossed the barrage and followed the Cardiff Bay trail back towards my starting point.

Along the way, I stopped to look out over the Bristol Channel, where I could see the islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm, as well as the Somerset coast in the distance.

There were lots of interesting things to see, too, including a wooden radio (above), which commemorates the first radio message sent between Flat Holm and nearby Lavernock Point, and a small exhibition about Scott of the Antarctic, who set off on his ill-fated voyage from the city.

There’s also a statue of Cardiff-born Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile.

As I got closer to the end, I passed the BBC TV studios, where they film the likes of Casualty and Pobl y Cwm.

Shortly afterwards, I came upon the Norwegian Church (above), another of the city’s most recognisable buildings.

The church was originally built in the 1860s by Norwegian seafarers and moved to its present spot in 1990.

As I reached the end of my walk, I veered off to take a look at the imposing HMCS Montréal, which was temporarily moored in the Roath Basin (above).

I really enjoyed my walk around Cardiff Bay. It’s a great trail, with lots of things to see and is very easy underfoot.

I don’t go the bay anywhere near as often as I should, despite living close by, and it’s somewhere I should make more of an effort to visit, as it’s a lovely part of the city.