Penarth : the rail trail

A few weeks ago I took you on a tour of parts of the Cuckoo Trail, a walking and cycling trail that runs along the path of an old railway line in East Sussex. Well, here in Penarth in south Wales, we have our very own rail trail.

This is part of what was the railway line to Barry but, just as with the Cuckoo Trail, this local line also fell foul of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Goods trains stopped running to Barry on 7 October 1963 and trains stopped running through to the cement works (now long gone) in Cosmeston in November 1969, according to an article on Penarth railway station on Wikipedia.    

The passenger trains now stop at Penarth Station and, for two kilometres beyond that – though, unfortunately and rather short-sightedly, not accessible directly from the station – the trail has been converted, in part, to a much-used walking and cycle path. Also unfortunately and short-sightedly, the old track bed from Cosmeston to Barry was not retained in public hands – it would have been a wonderful public resource and environmental link to have a walking/cycling track along the entirety of the old railway line.

Though most of the indications of the former halts and stations have now disappeared, the four railway overbridges are all still in place, carrying road and pedestrian traffic across the rail trail. A couple have odd-looking metal attachments still hanging from them – some sort of signalling equipment perhaps?

The trail is edged on both sides by houses and, indeed, encroached upon by a later housing development at one point – you simply walk along the pavement for a short distance. Though the trail only continues as far as Cosmeston Drive, it still provides a pleasant stroll along a tree-lined alley, which, depending on the season and the aggressiveness of the council strimmers, is also lined with wildflowers.

The rail trail also provides a nice sheltered spot to search for wildlife, mostly of the winged or small-and-crawling varieties, though a friend whose garden backs on to the trail has quite recently seen a fox, and I once spotted a slow-worm in greenery next to the tarmacced path (thanks to an inquisitive cat). You can see just a few of my local finds by heading on over to earthstar, my daily nature blog, and putting “Penarth rail trail” in the search box.