Caerphilly to Cardiff - Gwyddau a chestyll (digaffein)

It's now six and a half years since myself and BAM (Best Aussie Mate) started walking the Chesters of England and it took a long time for us to realise that there were any chesters in Wales at all, because the Welsh prefix Caer- wasn't immediately obvious to us!

Better late than never, I suppose - Caerphilly and Cardiff clocked up our 43rd and 44th Chesters, respectively and, with only 18 more Chesters to go (although we do keep finding new ones!), we're just over two-thirds of the way through our Chester walking project.

It's quite an adventure going to Wales, both because of the distance, but also because of the subtle cultural shift - we've often experienced the difference between regions in England, particularly when we head up north, but Wales is a different country and that, somehow, made it feeling like we were really travelling abroad!

Because of the nature of the journey (and the price of Friday night train tickets to Cardiff), we changed our usual routine of Friday/Saturday walking, leaving on Saturday instead and doing our Chester walk on the Sunday, which may be a first.

Lodging and victuals

It was pouring down with rain, when we arrived at Caerphilly station on a cold and dark Saturday night at the beginning of February.  Most of the local inhabitants were safely indoors, enjoying some Saturday night telly, or in the local pubs and restaurants, oblivious to our arrival, as we walked through the town, past the gloom of Caerphilly castle and the dark brickwork of the cottages on Bedwas Road.

At the end of Bedwas Road, the Premier Inn Caerphilly Crossways shone like a beacon, guiding us to our evening meal and a good night's sleep!  We were absolutely drenched by the time we got there, but the lady on reception was lovely, as the staff at Premier Inn always are and made no comment on our bedraggled state or the reasons we were abroad on such a dank and miserable evening.

The on-site restaurant at the Premier Inn is called Brewers Fayre and served up a passable evening meal, which saw us through until breakfast the following morning.

Caerphilly Crossways to Caerphilly Castle (1.2 miles/1.9 kilometres)

Luckily the weather improved a lot overnight and, although it was quite cold when we set out from the Premier Inn on Sunday morning, it was dry and the distant view of the mountains motivated us to make our way back along the Bedwas Road towards Caerphilly castle.

There was a local race going on, so the first part of our walk involved dodging some rather exhausted-looking men, women and children, who were doing some kind of circular run, involving the Bedwas Road.  BAM loves a good run, but I must admit that I can't think of anything less appealing that getting up early on a cold Sunday morning, to don the skimpy clothes that runners seem to favour and launch myself into the bracing, winter air for an activity that seems to involve a wholly unnatural challenge for the human physique!  Give me a 13-mile walk to Cardiff over that any day!

The castle in Caerphilly is impressive, although it looked very closed and we had it all to ourselves, apart from a couple of Malaysian tourists and a pack of geese, who were engaged in some kind of goosemageddon!  My abiding memory of Caerphilly is the huge goose-fight we witnessed outside the castle.

Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle and moat

Goosemageddon

I'm more than a little bit vague on the Romans in Wales, but perhaps my knowledge will increase, as we do more of the Welsh Caers?  I used to think the Romans never made it to Wales, as they never conquered Ireland, but Caerphilly Castle and many of the other castles in the Welsh Chesters we'll visit, is built on the site of a Roman fort, later taken over by the Normans and a succession of English and Welsh families.

Wales does have some spectacular castles and we saw three in total during this walk, which I also think is some kind of record for our Chester walking.

Caerphilly Castle to Craig yr Allt (3.4 miles/5.5 kilometres)

Caerphilly looked very closed on a Sunday morning and, as we made our way up the Mountain Road towards Caerphilly Common, I was getting a bit worried about BAM, as she hadn't yet had her morning coffee, which can be a rather dangerous situation!

Caerphilly Common

The lack of coffee was made up by the stupendous views from the top of Caerphilly Common - we got talking to a young Welsh couple who do lots of walking the in the local area and they were able to point out the Brecon Beacons at a distance to the north and the Welsh coast and Somerset, far way to the south.

Psalm in Welsh and English

View towards the Brecon Beacons

In my mission to find coffee for BAM, I got us a little bit lost, convincing myself that a distant roadside cafe was the direction we were meant to be going in, rather than completely the wrong direction.  As a result, we spent quite a bit more time wandering around the top of Caerphilly Common than we'd meant to, witnessed some dog-walker rage and eventually found our way onto the Glamorgan Ridgeway, which was the path we wanted to follow across to Craig yr Allt.

View from the top of Caerphilly Common

Countryside around Caerphilly

The views from the top of Craig yr Allt were equally stunning and, as we drifted along the ridge in contemplative (and decaffeinated) silence, I marvelled, not for the first time, at the fact that so few of our Chester walks have brought us anywhere near the mountains.  I can see how attractive the Rhymney Valley must have been to the Romans - close enough to the coast, but hidden behind hills like Craig yr Allt, that separate Cardiff from the Valleys.

BAM on Craig yr Allt

View towards the Bristol Channel and Somerset

Craig yr Allt to Castle Coch (4.8 miles/7.7 kilometres)

I felt quite sorry for the River Taff, squeezed in between industrial estates, as it made its way slowly south towards the sea.  From our vantage point at the top of Craig yr Allt, we also slowly made our way down into the Taff valley, following the river for most of the rest of our route all the way to Cardiff.

Bridge at Taff's Well

BAM revived somewhat, as we sat on a bench on the Taff trail, munching chocolate.  We were a bit behind schedule at this stage, so we resolved to bomb it along the trail, which was now quite clearly signposted and took us into the Fforest Fawr, through a gap in the hills and down to the wonderful Castell Coch. The well-maintained trail made it easy for us to regain some time.

BAM on the Taff Trail

Although the Normans were the first to build a castle on this site, just outside the (difficult to pronounce) village called Tongwynlais, the current castle is very much 19th century, in its Gothic revival style, reminiscent of something from a Hollywood movie.  We didn't go inside the castle, but walked around the grounds a bit, before making our way down to the village below.

Castell Coch front entrance

Castell Coch

Castle Coch to Gabalfa (4.4 miles/7.1 kilometres)

At Tongwynlais, we followed the Iron Bridge road down to the river and then the surprisingly busy path, alongside the river Taff, through Cardiff's outlying suburbs, Whitchurch and Llandaff, all the way to the high-rise apartments in working-class Gabalfa.

The Lewis Arms at Tongwynlais

The river looked like it was in more of a hurry at this point and we passed lots of families with kids, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and a chance to take the dog for a walk.

The Taff Snail

Attractive building at Whitchurch

Gabalfa to Cardiff Castle (2.5 miles/4 kilometres)

By the time we got to the far end of Bute Park, we were completely mucked up to the eyeballs and in no fit state to stop in at a restaurant in Cardiff city centre.  So we made a pit-stop at the National Express bus station in Sophia Gardens where we got a code for the station toilets, so we could change out of our muddy boots and hiking trousers, into clean shoes and jeans.

High rise buildings at Gabalfa

Footbridge over the river Taff

Unfortunately the men's toilets were out of action, so BAM had to smuggle me into the ladies' loo, where the lights weren't working, so I found myself changing in the dark.  BAM being BAM was very organised and had a head torch to facilitate the transformation from muddy hill-walker to respectable citizen.

The River Taff at Taff Castle (aka Cardiff)

I'm very fond of Cardiff, having been there quite a few times before for work and as a tourist, so it's always lovely to go back and they've done a lot of work to the city centre, making it very attractive to visitors and residents alike.  I have a favourite restaurant there, Giovanni's, so I was able to introduce BAM to the Giovanni experience and their quatro staggioni pizza went down a treat after a cold day in the outdoors!

Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Church Street

Access for wheelchair users

The first part of this walk, on higher ground was pretty inaccessible for wheelchair users, however, the Taff trail looked fairly accessible and it runs all the way from Cardiff to Brecon which, at 55 miles, would make for good multi-day wheelchairing!

Image credits:

All photos were taken by me - please feel free to reuse them under the following Creative Commons license:

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