Walks from
Cosmeston Country Park
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park is a good starting point for walks
with free parking, toilets and cafe. As well as having firm paths around the
park, there is plenty of wildlife to be seen - the lakes with abundant birdlife
and meadows and woods with wildflowers and dragonflies. Public rights of way
radiate in all directions giving access to Penarth, Sully and Dinas Powys and
the coast is just 15 minutes away on foot. Close by is the Cosmeston
Mediaeval Village which has won tourism awards.
The area is covered by OS Explorer map 151 and the grid
reference for the start is ST 17843/69244. Click here
for a map to the start.
Two short
walks within the park
Walk 1 - Just three-quarters of a mile. Also suitable for
pushchairs and wheelchairs.
Facing the lake, head left along a boardwalk, through reeds and with the
visitor centre to your left. The boardwalk becomes a winding, stony track. On
meeting a track with a post marked 'E 5', head right. Shortly after crossing a
bridge over water head right along a broad track which skirts the lake to your
right, bringing you back to where you started. (15 mins, 0.77 miles).
Walk 2 - This 2.5 mile walk takes you around the country park. The first half
is on good firm paths, the second half a bit less even and muddier after
rain.
Facing the lake, head right following the track around the lake as it curves
left. Pass an adventure playground. On meeting a main track with another lake
opposite, head right. After about 17 minutes walking turn left by a post marked
'U 20' to pass through a kissing gate. Stay on the track as it later broadens
and winds through the trees. Where the path forks by a sign marked 'M 10', head
right. Pass another lake and conservation area on your left. Cross a wooden
bridge, then meet a main track and head right along it. After 50 yards, by a
post marked 'C 9' head left along a concrete track, passing the Mediaeval
Village on your right. By a bump in the track and opposite the entrance to the
village, turn left over a wooden bridge to follow the track, partly on boardwalk
to re-emerge by the car park and visitor centre. ( 47 mins, 2.57 miles).
Longer walks
from the park
The longest walk is just under 12 miles or 19
kilometres. You pass the Sully Inn, The Captains Wife pub and restaurant and
there are cafes and toilets in Penarth. The going is flat with a total ascent
and descent of
only 212 metres. After heavy rain you could find Cog Moors quite wet and parts
of the cliff path muddy. You can shorten this walk by returning from St Marys
Well bay via the red track on the map below which reduces the distance to just
over 8 miles. Alternatively you can follow the red track from Cosmeston towards
St Marys Well bay and then pick up the long route to Penarth and back - this
circuit is 5¼ miles.
Facing the lake,
head left along a boardwalk, through reeds and with the
visitor centre to your left. The boardwalk becomes a winding, stony track. On
meeting a track with a post marked 'E 5' turn left for 50 yards and then right
along a track which crosses a bridge and then skirts another lake to your right.
At a junction by a post 'M 10' turn left and head along a broad path winding
through trees, ignoring side paths. The track eventually narrows and passes
through a wooden kissing gate, 20 yards beyond which is a main track with post
'U 20'. (26 mins, 1.5 miles).
Left, ancient church of St Peter at Old
Cogan. Right, herringbone brickwork.
Head left along this straight track to meet a fork where you turn left, passing
a white house, Old Cogan Hall, via a gate. 150 yards beyond and on the right is
the ancient church of St Peter with some remaining herringbone brickwork. Carry
on to meet a road, then head left along it, taking care as there is no pavement.
Where the road turns sharp left, keep straight ahead passing a sign 'No Through
Road to Dinas Powys'. Follow a waymark post and then stile and short wooden
bridge. Head up the middle of a field with wire fence on left, then left over a
gate at top of the field and immediately right by another gate. Keep ahead along
right-hand edge of next field passing a white metal gate, a subsequent green
gate bringing you onto a road. (45 mins. 2.51 miles, ST 16140/70345).
Head right along the road which eventually descends to meet another road - head
left along this for 200 yards to meet a busy main road. Head left along this
main road with care for 100 yards then cross the road and head right by a
waymark post (ST 15423/70522) to follow a footpath which crosses a stream and then
heads left alongside a playing field with a stream to your left. Cross a tarmac
entrance to the playing fields keeping ahead along the footpath which rejoins
the playing field. Cross a series of stiles and a concrete farm track keeping in
the same direction, the main road a little to your left. Just after walking
under an electricity line head towards a stile by a black metal bridge and cross
this to meet a road. Head right along the road with care. Just before a bridge
over a stream head left to drop down and then cross a stile to enter a field,
heading diagonal right with the stream on your right.
After crossing a short wooden bridge, look to the left for a stile in a
hedgerow. After this head diagonally across the field aiming for the right-hand
end of the houses ahead of you where there is a stile (ST 14948/68887). Cross the
stile and wooden footbridge, now heading left across the field aiming for a
stile this side of a farm barn. Cross a clapper bridge to reach the
stile, now heading to the right of the farm buildings to reach a stile by a
road. (1 hr 37 minutes, 4.97 miles).
Rocky
foreshore with Sully Island in the distance, causeway under water
Head right along the road into Sully, then right again on meeting another road to pass the
Sully Inn. Just before reaching a main road curve left to pass in front of
Sully's Parish Church of St John the Baptist. On meeting the main road, head
left. 40 yards beyond a wooden bus stop, cross the road to take the footpath
opposite via a kissing gate. The path brings you to the beach. Now head left
along the top of the beach, passing a playing field, more housing and then a
second playing field. Sully Island soon appears in front of you and Flat Holm to
the left of it with white lighthouse. Other bumps in the Bristol Channel are
Steep Holm beyond Sully Island and to the left, Brean Down in Somerset. As you
approach a caravan park, head left along the end of the field past some
conifers, at the end of which is a wooden kissing gate which brings you onto a
road. Head right to reach the Captains Wife pub and restaurant (2 hrs 7 mins,
6.6 miles, ST 16735/67467).
Carry on through the car park to pass through a gap in the wall at the far end
and head along the coast road. Pass a blue sign indicating Bay Caravan Park. If
you are doing the long walk skip to the next paragraph. For the shorter version,
carry on along the road, passing under a railway bridge to meet a main road.
Cross the main road with care to take the bridleway immediately opposite by a
metal gate. Cosmeston Mediaeval Village appears to the right - just past this
take the concrete track to the right by a post, 'C 9'. At a bump in the road
opposite the entrance to the Mediaeval Village, turn left across a wooden bridge
and follow the trackway and boardwalk to reach the car park where you started.
(2 hrs 37 mins, 8.26 miles).
To continue on the long walk, just past the blue Bay Caravan Park sign look out
for a grassy trackway on your right, just beyond wooden fencing (ST 17514/68061) which
leads into a field (2 hrs 22 mins, 7.41 miles). Turn right along this trackway
and keep along
the left-hand edge of the field. After 250 yards follow the hedge boundary as it
curves to the right and then left to reach a gap with waymark in left-hand corner of the
field. With the hedgerow now on your right head towards the large cream house
ahead to pick up a path with chippings to the right of the house. A stile brings
you to the road - head right along this passing a chalet site on right which
gives access to the Marconi Inn. There are also two entrances on the right to
the Lavernock Point Nature Reserve which brings you to the cliff top and good
views over St Mary's Well Bay (see photo) but you will need to retrace your
steps to the road to carry on. Continue on the road passing the church of St
Lawrence which has a plaque on the perimeter wall to Guglielmo Marconi and George Kemp.
The road ends as you pass Lavernock House on your left, becoming a path which
heads left along the cliffs.
St
Mary's Well Bay with Sully Island beyond - the bay only visible from the
Lavernock Point Nature Reserve
Good
views open up ahead around the coast of South Wales with the second Severn
Crossing visible on a clear day. The path reaches a greensward after 18 minutes
- continue along the path to reach a parking area with children's play area,
public toilets and a cafe/restaurant which is open most of the year.
Looking
East towards Penarth, on the right Penarth Pier.
From the car park,
continue along the cliff-top path which descends to pass cafes, restaurants and
shops and then Penarth pier which may be offering fish and chips etc. (3 hrs 18
mins, 10.28 miles). When you reach the
pier cross the road by the pedestrian crossing to head up Bridgman Road, Windsor
Court on your left. As the road curves left, cross the road and head into the
park on your right, Alexandra Park, via green gates. If the park is closed, head
up the track to the left of the park. Once in the park, head up the tarmac path
to the left with the stream (streambed in summer!) on your left. Leave the park
via another set of green gates by a concrete bridge and keep straight ahead. A
bridge takes you across the stream then head up some steps. On reaching a road
with the Job Centre ahead of you, turn left passing the Turner House Gallery on
your left, then just past the GM2 building head right along a track with a
signpost, Berkley Drive, black railings on your right. Take the next right where
the path has around a dozen conifer trees growing in it, the path then curving
left with some industrial units on your right.
You
are now on the line of the old railway, the extension to the Cardiff to Penarth
line which ran to Barry via Lavernock, Swanbridge, Sully, and Cadoxton. Go under a bridge and keep ahead across
grass. The track reappears and passes under another bridge. A further bridge
brings you to a housing estate. Keep ahead on the pavement then, on meeting a
road, head right where you will see the track reappear about 100 yards away. The
track goes under another bridge then meets a road crossing it. Head right,
downhill, down the road and follow it as it winds through the houses to meet the
main Penarth to Sully road. Cross with care opposite a bus stop, head left and
then right to re-enter Cosmeston Country Park. (3 hrs 57 mins, 11.9 miles).
Map
of longer routes
