Coastwalk

Port Talbot → Porthcawl

Distance: 12.2 miles
Ascent: 230 metres
Duration: 4 hours 9 minutes

Further transformations
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A passenger on the bus this morning told me that the Port Talbot was built on steel and coal. As I walked past the Corus plant I remembered his tale that the steelworks now puts out more and better quality steel than ever before, yet employs fewer people.

The reward for the five mile industrial landscape is Kenfig Sands. I'd intended on following the rights of way through the dunes but missed the path and found myself instead on the shore just as the tide started to recede.

From here to Porthcawl almost the entire walk was along sandy beaches, interrupted only by a couple of rocky outcrops and a short splash across the Afon Cynfig. (It turns out my boots are still waterproof.)

Porthcawl itself is a lovely spot. The Coast book describes it as "a former coal port that has reinvented itself as a seaside resort". What I've seen suggests the transformation is successful and complete.

But in the B&B where I'm staying there's a poster that reads, "For every pit closed: another village dies". Perhaps this is the hint that below the surface the reconstruction continues to hurt.