Cardiff in Covid: Walking the Boundaries

A few weeks ago Cardiff was placed into lockdown to contain the Covid 19 pandemic, its inhabitants were not allowed to leave the city (which is also a county). Not knowing where the city officially ended, and not being allowed to legally exercise beyond it, I decided to walk around the boundary, circumnavigating Cardiff. This track records four days of walking, one day each week, following "rights of way" within, but as close as possible to the boundary marked on the OS map. However, before I had finished the rules had changed yet again. All of Wales has now been placed in a "Firebreak" or "Circuit Breaker". Walking is allowed but only if you start and finish from your own home. Having started I decided to finish my boundary walk.
As my route was controlled by what appeared to be a very arbitrary county line, it does not aim to pass through any particularly scenic landmarks, however, I incidentally visited some attractive areas and parks I had not previously realised existed. Inevitably there was also some walking along roads in suburban estates, but less than one might have thought. I started by walking around Cardiff Bay, walking across the barrage between the sea and the enclosed lake. Crossing the sea locks I accidentally entered a sliver of Penarth, which lies in the county of the Vale of Glamorgan. Returning quickly into legality I followed the Cardiff boundary up the wooded banks of the River Ely on the Ely trail (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ely-trail-cardiff-from-fairwater-to-cogan-train-stations-12887442). Crossing the river at the nearest bridge at Cowbridge road, I then doubled back on myself to reach Trelai Park. After a few streets of housing I climbed up the wooded side of a hillfort, a major archaeological site, unsigned and unvisited and surrounded by housing. Within the embankments lay the ruins of St Mary's church.
After more housing I walked over rough ground on a barely visible path to re-cross the Ely River and the main railway line from Cardiff to points west. St Fagans Castle and the folk museum was closed due to the coronavirus but I walked through the beech trees and fields behind it, where once a major battle of the English Civil War was fought. After more cow filled fields I went under the M4 motorway on a small road to join the busier A4119 by the small St Elteyrn's church. At this point the boundary of Cardiff bulges out into the countryside, why I do not know. As I headed north on a quieter road, the map indicated a dolmen, a prehistoric burial site in someone's garden although I failed to find it.
Turning east through woods and the remains of quarrying, the route led up to the open grassland of the Garth mountain. A tumulus on the top causes the summit to just exceed 1000 ft, which in my childhood meant we were able to call it a mountain. It lies just within the boundary of Cardiff. Following the steep slopes down from the mountain into the village of Gwaelod-y-Garth I crossed the River Taff into Tongwynlais, then climbed up into woodland by Castell Coch (closed due to Covid). Following the ridge, by Three Bears Cave, for a short distance I was retracing the steps I had walked on the Cambrian Way a few months earlier. Coming down the ridge at Thornhill I then followed its lower slopes across farmland on footpaths and small roads, before climbing up again to gain extensive views across Cardiff to Penarth, although the visibility on the day I walked it was poor. Finding my way through the houses at Tai-mawr was a bit problematic (the unsignposted public footpath crosses someone's neatly mowed lawn). After crossing the grounds of another house and following various small roads I crossed another hillfort at Graig Llyn.
Reaching Cardiff Gate Service Station by the M4 marked the end of the rural section, beyond it I walked through newly built and older housing reaching the St Mellon's Golf Course, where my route turned south by one of the many business parks around Cardiff. Hendre Park and its lake was a place I had not visited before, it lies in the flatlands surrounding the River Severn estuary. Reed lined drainage channels called "reens" are a feature of the area dating back to Roman times. After some rough ground I crossed the main railway line into South Wales, recently electrified, and made my way to the coast. There I followed the flood defence embankment back west following the Wales Coast Path. Cows were grazing on the salt marsh on the seaward side the embankment, while there were initially fields on the landward side, followed by the remains of a rubbish tip, now being landscaped. I continued on the Wales Coast Path to Cardiff Bay, following a recent diversion, through the streets of Tremorfa, completing my walk around the boundary of Cardiff, city and county.

More details in my blog https://johnponcardiff.blogspot.com/2020/10/cardiff-in-covid-lockdown-following.html