Welcome to another Short Walk on a Long Path.

Route Overview

At Margam, the Wales Coast Path offers two options to continue westwards to Aberavon. The “Official” route follows bland urban roads through Port Talbot and is considered by many to be an uninspiring walk. An “alternative” high route crosses the hillsides above the M4 and offers a far more scenic walk.

It’s possible to combine parts of the high and low routes to make a more interesting, but longer walk, so that’s how we tackled this section.

Starting at Margam, we followed the high route as far as Aberavon town centre, then took a link path to join the low route to the seafront.

We did this walk in early May, the best time of the year to experience the natural beauty of the landscape on the high route.

Start point

A car parking area is situated just off the road leading to Margam Abbey. It’s free to park but spaces are limited.

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Walk Highlights

From the start the path climbs immediately uphill on a woodland trail, so it’s an early chance to stretch the hamstrings for the walk ahead.

At the top of the woodland the path emerges on to an open plateau, the site of the picturesque ruins of Capel Mair ar y Bryn.

The “Chapel of St. Mary on the hill” dates back to the Middle Ages and was built by the Cistercian monks of Margam Abbey as an alternative place of worship for local workers.

Like many Cistercian sites, this enchanting setting can still be admired today, the serene landscape unchanged from centuries past.

The path cuts through a field shimmering with colour as banks of bluebells swayed in the light breeze. Further along, amongst the trees, we spotted some Margam Deer. They were shy creatures and quickly disappeared out of sight.

The path then tracks around the hillside before leading back westwards on a ridge above open slopes, which are carpeted with a dazzling springtime display of bluebells and wildflowers.

There are superb panoramic views across the coastal plain stretching from the Kenfig Burrows, across the vast Port Talbot steelworks to the broad sweep of Swansea Bay.

Along the ridge we passed by some abandoned concrete buildings and wondered why these had been built in such an isolated place high up on the hills. We found out later these housed radar defences for the Bristol Channel during the Second World War.

The path reaches the end of the hillside with views across the valley. To reach the far side of the valley the path descends then climbs the hills with quite a few steps along the way, so you certainly get a workout on this section.

There were some lovely sections of shaded woodland trails, where buzzards circled high in the sky above, their distinctive high pitch calls carried on the breeze.

With clear blue skies and rolling lush green hillsides it was easy to forget that the busy M4 motorway and the vast steelworks are not too far away from here.

At Broomhill we crossed the hillside on a woodland trail before the M4 motorway came into view and the path headed down into the village of Velindre.

At Velindre we crossed the River Afan on a metal footbridge to an area underneath the M4, amongst the huge concrete columns which support the motorway across the valley.

The path leads to a pedestrian crossing near the Civic Centre, at this point we left the coast path high route.

From the pedestrian crossing we followed cycle route 887 through Aberavon. This shared cycle and pedestrian path provides a direct link between the Wales Coast Path high and low routes.

For the avoidance of doubt, although we followed a cycle route, we remained on 2 feet, not 2 wheels along the next section!

The Story of a Working Class Hero

Aberavon is linked with one of the most legendary and tragic events in Welsh social history. This route takes you on a journey to discover more about the man at the heart of the story, Dic Penderyn.

Near the Civic Centre we go through an underpass, decorated with murals about Dic Penderyn.

The route then leads around Aberafan Shopping Centre (there’s plenty of choice here for snacks and drinks) and through another underpass to a street where St. Mary’s Church is situated. At the gates of the churchyard, is a plaque on the wall “Dic Penderyn is buried here”.

So who was Dic Penderyn? His real name was Richard Lewis and he was born at Aberavon in 1808. His family moved to Merthyr Tydfil where he grew up and worked as a coal miner. In those early industrial days, workers had no rights and were paid a pittance for long hours labouring in notoriously tough conditions. In 1831 he was involved in protests about such conditions, known as the “Merthyr Rising”.

The government of the day sent in a regiment of soldiers to put down the protests and during the ensuing riots, 24 workers were shot dead outside the Castle Hotel.

One soldier was wounded in the melee and Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn) was accused. At his trial, with scant evidence of his involvement, it was clear he was being tried for a crime he did not commit. But the powerful ruling class of the day needed an example to quell the masses and he was swiftly found guilty and condemned to be hanged.

Despite an outpouring of public support, a petition and appeals for mercy, Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, was executed on gallows at St. Mary Street, Cardiff on the 13th August 1831.

On St. Mary’s Church Hall building is another impressive mural, the scales of justice, Lies outweighing truth.

Even on a warm day, this tale of injustice can send a chill down the spine. His last words were “O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd” (Oh Lord, here is iniquity).

Over forty years after the execution there was a dramatic twist to the story. A Welshman who had emigrated to America shortly after the Merthyr Risings, made a death bed confession that he had wounded the soldier and Dic Penderyn was an innocent man.

The name and legend of Dic Penderyn lives on, “A Martyr for the Welsh working class”.

A riverside walk to the seafront

From the churchyard we continued on route 887 to cross the River Afan and headed south along a lovely riverside path. A weir across the river has a modern fish pass which enables salmon, sea trout and eels to reach their spawning grounds further up the valley.

At the roundabout on the A4241, we crossed over the footbridge to join the Wales Coast Path “Official” route, following the familiar blue way-marker signs.

When the Wales Coast Path was opened the original route crossed the River Afan on an iron bridge, at Riverside Road. However the bridge was deemed unsafe and has been closed off in recent years, awaiting funds for repairs.

So, until then, it means taking a lengthy detour around roads and side streets to reach the other side of the bridge on the western bank.

The river widens here and long rows of rotting timbers from long gone wharves hint at a maritime heritage and busier times. There’s a wide strip of sand at the tidal zone and a young family was having fun building sand castles, happy to have a beach of sorts all to theirselves.

In the distance we could see the hills we had walked across earlier in the day.

A short distance ahead, the path turns to run alongside the dunes and Aberavon’s “small beach”. At last, we were back on the coast!

A long breakwater, the North Pier, separates the small beach from the more popular main Aberavon Beach.

There’s a lot to like at Aberavon seafront. The wide level promenade runs for 2 miles and is perfect for a relaxing stroll above the beach, separated from the road by landscaped open space. There are some decent cafes along the way too.

Aberavon Beach has lovely wide golden sands and at 3 miles long is one of the longest beaches in Wales.

If we had remained on the high route from Aberavon to Baglan we’d have missed out on this splendid promenade walk. One prominent feature is a huge 12 metre high steel sculpture, The Kite Tail.

Our walk ended just along the promenade where we stopped off at Franco’s Cafe to treat ourselves to American pancakes with Italian coffee and nature’s bonus of a golden sunset over the beach.

Until we lace up our walking boots again. Happy wandering!

Route Stats

Until we lace up our walking boots again, thank you for reading.