Coast Walking (Wales): Porthcawl to Ogmore-by-Sea 25 May 2016

We caught a bus from right outside our hotel in Laleston to Porthcawl. This time we followed the coast path east above Sandy and Trecco Bays, the first with "Coney Beach" funfair above (rather deserted on a Wednesday in May - not surprising given the "Guns and Toys for Sale" sign!) and the second with caravans and much Annual Wall-rocket. After Trecco Bay we went round a very wide bay with a beach of sand and rocks and a shoreline of dunes. The dunes at first (Newton Burrows) were very trampled and full of aliens – the first time we had seen such a great area dominated by Snow-in-summer! This was followed by Merthyr-mawr Warren, mostly nature reserve, but we still found it very disappointing, with the wet slacks just dominated by Silverweed and Water Mint. Perhaps with more thorough searching we might have found an area of diverse dune vegetation, but this system was obviously generally decrepit, with not an orchid in sight. A Buzzard soared above. Paths through the inner dunes, however, were usually solid enough for easy walking, whereas the coast path at the edge was so trampled that the sand was too loose and difficult to walk. We then came down to the beach as the tide subsided and finished the bay walking on wet sand with pebbles. Arriving at the mouth of the River Ogmore, too wide and deep to cross, we had to follow the left bank northwards, over dune with much Houndstongue and passing besides some large areas of saltmarsh supporting a wide range of plants – Thrift, Seablite, Sea Purslane, Shrubby Seablite, Sea Milkwort, and the less often seen English Scurvy-grass, standing taller with larger flowers than the usual scurvy-grasses, and with longer, often toothed, leaves. We had to bear inland through dunes to get round a sewage works, the road to which was the first bridging-point over the river, but we were prevented from access by tall railings – a shame that a walkway could not have been built along here (although there were sights of interest further up the river that would then have been missed). Unfortunately there was heavy use of the coast path through the dunes by horses, making it difficult to walk. As walkers made new tracks to the side, horses started using these too and spoiling them, so that the route was becoming increasingly wide and more and more dune was being ruined. Either horses should be banned from the path or they should be confined to a single separate path. What with this difficulty and the smell of the sewage works wafting from the east, this was not a pleasurable section to walk. There was a patch of Seaside Pansy that was purple, compared to the usual yellow colour we had seen so far. We also saw Great Green Bush-cricket and the Leaf-beetle Cryptocephalus hypochaeridis. The dunes ended at a car-park with well-timed public conveniences (so seldom encountered on the coast walk!). From here we followed a minor road NE to the small village of Merthyr Mawr, which had an impressive large church with a churchyard where the grass was allowed to grow and flowers to bloom, including many Stars-of-Bethlehem. A path led from here to a new footbridge, the first effective crossing of the Ogmore, but unfortunately beyond a fork where a tributary (the Ewenny) comes in, so that a second crossing was necessary. The shortest and more interesting route is along a track towards the ruins of Ogmore Castle, where there is a ford of stepping stones. We began the journey across the stones, but found that a few had been dislodged and were standing at angles, making the journey too unsafe, as the river was full and swift. We were therefore forced to track back and use the other option. One compensation, however, was that the horse-trampled wet pasture leading to the stepping-stones had frequent plants of Buttonweed, a plant we had not expected here. The coast path avoids the stones by crossing a field to another footbridge and then up to the B4524 leading south to Ogmore-by-Sea. This has no pavement but mostly grass verges at first, but eventually travels through unenclosed common where a separate path was possible paralleling the road, starting from the car park by Portobello House. There were views of the river, including the birds using it (Cormorant, Mallard, Canada Geese, Shelduck and Wigeon). We eventually arrived at an extensive car-park at the north edge of Ogmore-by-Sea, where a seat gave us a magnificent 180-degree view up and down the river and across to the way we had come, all the way from Porthcawl across the dunelands. We sat here for lunch, despite a piercing cold east wind. Beside us a low sand cliff had Sand Martin burrows and the adults flew around us continually catching invisible flies. We continued south along the cliff path, the village of Ogmore-by-Sea above us, past some old walled enclosures of pasture-fields, after which we climbed up to the road once more, just where there was a small car park for use tomorrow when we continue. We walked back through the village hoping for a café and other facilities but there were none at all, not even a pub, this being a purely residential village. There was therefore nothing for it but to wait for a bus to come along to take us to Bridgend, so that we could change to another service to Laleston, just outside Bridgend. This being a cold day (no more than 13°C) with little sun, insects were hardly seen at all.