Join me as I explore the southernmost point of mainland Wales
and i never thought i'd start a video off with a view
of an old power station.
Well hello and welcome from a rather overcast
south wales coast although travel is no longer banned within Wales
it's still strongly discouraged and I don't want the Welsh first minister
'sexy' Mark Drakeford coming after me so for this video, I'm staying local
also, Wales is in a bit of a limbo at the moment
bars and pubs are allowed to open until 6 p.m
but they're not allowed to serve any alcohol
it'll be like the old days of dry Sundays
they'll be forcing us back to chapel next
anyway today I'm going to walk a small section of the Wales coastal path
along the Vale of Glamorgan to the southernmost point of mainland
Wales so let's get started but nothing's ever
simple it was regarded that Breaksea Point
was the southernmost point of mainland wales
but it's now claimed that Rhoose Point is actually
a metre further south and Rhoose Point has what Breaksea Point
doesn't have a sign but it doesn't really matter
because on this walk we go to both and actually Breaksea point
is sort of where we're starting the walk next to the old Aberthaw power station just
over there so today's route we're starting at
Aberthaw power station Limpert Bay just over there actually that closed
down, earlier this year decommissioned, we'll be heading east
and on the way, we'll be discovering some of Wales's
world war ii history as well as some of its
industrial heritage
by the way i forgot to mention the southernmost points the actual
southernmost point of wales it's Flat Holm island just in the
Bristol Channel over there and it's regarded as part of Cardiff
obviously, we can't get there at the moment
uh and also Breaksea Point, the tides in but Breaksea Point is just over there
but before we go let's explore a bit of Limpert Bay
so i've already walked about 200 yards from the car park
by Aberthaw power station and i've come across the first signs
of Limpert Bay anti-invasion defenses these large concrete blocks so just to
give you a sense of scale of these things i'm six foot
these defenses date back to the early part of world war ii
and formed parts of western command's sea defense system
as well as the lines of cubes there may be some pillboxes remaining let's go
see if we can find those. So nearly buried in a bank of pebbles
i've come across the first pillbox let's go and take a
closer look
again another row of these concrete block defenses
this row is getting buried in the pebbles
and at the end of this row is another nearly buried pillbox
i read when i was researching this that some of the blocks
have got the names of the people that made them
they etched into the wet concrete I had look I couldn't find any
i'm sure there are some around and look at the top here you can see
where they pushed pebbles into the wet concrete that disguise the pill boxes
well this block has ended up on its side and you can see how they made it
they've used the pebbles from the beach and there's some sort of frame inside
and the pebbles are stacked up inside and the outer skin
is a concrete layer so i'm now going to leave
the world war ii defenses at Limpert Bay and head east along the Wales coast path
towards Rhoose Point
i'm now walking along the wales coast path
past the old Aberthaw power station which is currently being decommissioned
and looking at it, I know what it could be used for
a classic doctor who series 70 style, Tom Baker
John Pertwee so now I'm at Breaksea Point which was originally
thought to be the southernmost point until Rhoose point and the extra metre
and pesky sign when I was a researching the area I
was looking at the historic Wales website
and they've got 39 shipwrecks listed on this exact point
as well as a number of others very close by
so it must be very hazardous and i think the number was due to the
fact Barry Docks and Cardiff Docks aren't that far away
so now I've reached Aberthaw Lime and cement works
which was established in 1888 by David Owen
who was the owner at the time of the Western Mail newspaper
it operated from 1888 up until 1926. anyway that's enough chatter let's
have a look inside, looks really
interesting
so i've changed to my mobile phone so i can stick it
in a little hole, ooh err misses! so I can look up
at the old brickwork let's go have a look.
the lime produced in these works was useful because it's set under water
so it was really useful in the construction of things like lighthouses
and harbours before they built these line works
there was a sort of cottage industry in the area and there's quite a few
smaller lime kilns dotted around the coast here
around Aberthaw
so we continue onwards along the wales coast path
to the southernmost part of wales Rhoose Point
Danger Cliff Face
anyway not far to go
so I've made it to the southernmost point of mainland wales and as I said
Rhoose Point does have a sign
just over there less than a mile is Cardiff
International Airport and people of a certain generation still
refer to it as Rhoose Airport. and if you're a fan of Gavin and
Stacy Dave Coaches thinks it shouldn't be
called cardiff airport it should be called
Barry international airport because it's closer to Barry than it is
the Cardiff he does have a point well anyway
the point is not inspiring to be honest there's a
old fence behind it so I'm gonna get through a little gap there
and walk down to the sea itself let's go take a look so that's Rhoose
Point the most southernmost point in Wales
from the beach side we made it but over there in the
distance you can see the old Aberthaw power
station where we started
this is typical as it gets the end of the day
the sun comes out
well anyway i hope you enjoyed the walk along a small stretch of the
wales coast path if you didn't know it does go around the entire coastline
of wales 870 miles don't forget to check out some of our
other videos if you stay until the end they'll pop up there and I'll see you in
one of those so until next time bye for now bye
look at this sun
bye