Llantrisant and the Solitary Trails to Sker Beach Cycle Ride

A cycle ride from Llantrisant town, along the Ely Valley, the Sustrans Route 4 trail, Tondu, through Parc Slip nature reserve and down to the south coast of Wales to the rural Sker Beach.

I was so lucky to have a break in the weather. On this ride we start at the top of the hill at Billy Wynt, a short tower remains that historians believe was once a mill.

I start my ride mid-afternoon, once out of Llantrisant town we cycle north west up the Ely Valley, this allows us to get onto the Sustrans Route 4 trail so we can have a mostly traffic free cycle ride.

Many parts of this trail, as we cycle along the ridge between Gilfach Goch to the north and the hills of the Glamorgan Ridge to the south, I find quite solitary. Whilst it is used by walkers and cyclists, and I did see a couple, it tends to be quite a lonely place and has a darker edge to how it feels. The sort of place you need to be in the mood for at the time.

After the ridge we then pick up the trail at Blackmill Village where the railway once ran from Tondu and up to the end of the valley as well as the junction that would have sent the railway along the ridge we cycle.

We head south from Blackmill to Tondu and over to Parc Slip nature reserve which allows us to cover a few miles towards the beach.

The last section from Kenfig Hill and Pyle we have to use roads mostly, though some of the roads as we pass over the M4 Motorway do have a path along the side of the road, the last stretch does require some road cycling which isn't for everyone.

Looking for the entrance to one of the Bridleways allows us to cut across some of the scrublands and eventually pick up the dramatic coast line of the wild beach, Sker Beach.

On this day the tide was in, something I have been waiting for to time this ride with because the beach is transformed with waves crashing on the rocks wild the sun heads slowly to the horizon.

If you visit when the tide is out, the sea retreats far down and miles of dark golden sands are revealed which can be walked as far as Port Talbot Steel Works. It must be noted that bathing here isn't necessarily recommended due to potential dangerous currents in the water, though some people do swim and surf here, there is only one life guard at the east end of the beach with limited times. There are no facilities here being a rural beach.

I hope you enjoy this ride.

Timecodes

0:00:00 Llantrisant Hill and Billy Wynt
0:02:43 Llantrisant Town
0:05:49 Disused Ely Valley Railway Cycle Trail
0:09:18 Sustrans Route 4 Trail to Blackmill
0:15:29 Disused Ogmore Railway Cycle Trail
0:17:55 Route 4 Board Walk
0:19:02 Parc Slip
0:23:24 Kenfig Hill to Kenfig
0:29:56 Sker Beach
0:32:38 Cooking on the Beach
0:41:13 End Credits
0:43:43 Bonus Footage