Coast Path walk

As the weather was reasonable, we went to Penarth again for lunch today. Then we walked along the clifftop as far as Sully Bay, passing the substantial concrete remains of World War Two coastal defence positions at Lavernock Point, something I've not visited before. The route has been upgraded, fenced at dangerous points and properly waymarked, all as part of Wales' 870 mile Coastal Path, currently receiving a fresh publicity boost in national news. Several years ago before the path was stabilised, we walked only as far as St Peter's Church Cogan and I got very muddy indeed.

The churchyard wall bears a plaque commemorating Marcon's first ever broadcast in 1897 of a radio signal received at Brean Down on the other side of the Severn Estuary.

The tide was at its lowest during our walk, revealing a two hundred yard pavement of Jurassic rock strata reaching out from the base of the cliffs for a hundred years or so. The worn rock layers form edges and ledges whose pattern seems to imitate the movement of waves coming ashore. Along the steep cliff edge bushes bearing May blossom were in full flourish.

Overlooking Sully Bay is a gun emplacement which was unusually constructed with heavy steel shutters, presumably to keep out the wind and the rain when not in use. The shutters, though much corroded over the past seventy years are still there - one is fused by rust into its guide rails. The other lies within the shelter, torn out of its mountings and thrown to the floor. What the Lufwaffe and dodgy scrap merchants could not manage has been achieved by idle handed idiots incapable of valuing a significant if ugly token of our island history.

Watched the final two episodes of 'The Bridge' after supper. Lots of suspense, the odd snatch of quirky humor but it was hardly worth watching ten episodes of grisly melodrama to see Saga, Ms Robocop finally display a few seconds of normal human emotion. Impressive acting, to have remained stony faced for so long, but the whole thing was ultimately disappointing. The fact that the series used Danish and Swedish languages because of the mise en scène was only capable of entertaining someone adept in Scandinavian languages.