Ogmore beach to Southerndown Walk

View of the Bristol Channel from Ogmore

The coastal path from Ogmore-by-Sea to Southerndown is well worth a visit especially when the weather is nice. Park your car at either Southerndown beach or Ogmore beach. You can then stroll along the high cliff-top path enjoying the fantastic Bristol Channel views. Both locations have good car-parking though there is a small charge (about £3).

The coastal path here is along the top of the limestone cliffs. The cliffs are about 40m (130ft) high above the rocky beach. The path is a little way from the edge of the cliff which is a good thing, as there isn’t any protection from the sheer drop into the sea below. It’s advised to keep children and dogs well under control!

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Tufa cliffs at Cwm Nash Beach

We went down Cwm Nash last weekend.

This photo is at the end of the Cwm (valley) looking back inland. It’s quite interesting because all of the rock either side here (out of view) is grey liassic limestone that weathers to a light buff colour. But all of the buff coloured cliff face here is post glacial tufa. Tufa is a calcareous deposit. All of the cliff that you can see here is lime that has precipitated from the valley stream since the last ice age – only about 12,000 years ago. So the cliff has slowly built up from the stream. The stream is currently quite small and now comes out of the bridge structure over to the right.

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