18 February 2007
Ride Report – To The Barrage

Leader: Alastair Rayment

It must have been the bright sunshine that got everybody out - 
for I counted eleven of us gathered by the Millennium Bridge 
in Bute Park. This was a journey to the sea via urban Cardiff 
on a Sunday. We crossed the road by the Cardiff Bridge and 
cycled slowly past the covered market on the embankment making 
a mental note to visit it upon our return.

Cycling down the River Taff in this part of Cardiff is a 
slightly surreal experience. If you look to your right, 1930s 
semis give the feel of middle England and looking left across 
the river the old industrial complex of Brains Brewery soon 
changes to the manga style new flats of the Bay Area. It 
could almost be New Tokyo circa 2055 …

Negotiating the cycle tracks weaving their way down to the 
seafront made me thankful that someone had the vision to start 
thinking of traffic free environments in days past and how 
much easier and relaxing it was to cycle without having to 
worry about cars driving manically around (although there 
seemed to be a lot of broken glass to avoid).

When we got to the hinterland between Cardiff and Penarth 
there was the odd sight of a supermarket surrounded by almost 
empty roads and a veritable Nazca lines ensemble of road 
markings, some of which were actually Cycle lines!
Then we reached the sea or rather the enclosed Cardiff Bay. 
Just by the Sailing Club is the nature reserve. Now I’m sure 
whoever maintains it does a good and very worthwhile job but 
visually it isn’t very striking in February. But then the 
conservation of nature is not just about keeping aesthetics 
good for us humans.

The sunshine that had characterised the early part of the ride 
was now gone and grey clouds now dominated the sky. We all got 
a taste of Petrolhead paradise when we cycled across the 
Penarth roundabout en route to the barrage. Car after car, 
etc., etc., I was glad I was in a group of cyclists! Passing 
Tescos and an upmarket housing estate we emerged by the Barrage 
and were given a quick talk on how it worked by Alistair 
Rayment (who organized the ride). Time for rest and refreshments, 
so off we headed to a shed which sold hot drinks, or rather 
didn’t as presumably they didn’t have the foresight to open in 
February. So it was the upmarket restaurant that got our custom 
- although its mysterious absence of internal lighting meant 
conversations were somewhat fragmented! 

The highlight of the way back for me was crossing the Ely 
Bridge and looking across at Cardiff and the surrounding area: 
always an amazing juxtaposition of old and new. The only 
disappointment was the vanishing sunshine, still at least the 
rain held off. A big thank you from all of us to Alistair for 
organizing and enlightening our journey to the Barrage and back.

Nigel Baker