A winding way to Cardiff Bay

Its probably less than a mile from the centre of Cardiff to Cardiff Bay, particularly if you count the centre as being the Cardiff Central train station or John Lewis. There are quite a few different routes you can take though walking on the wide pavement alongside Lloyd George Avenue is probably the most pleasant.  I took in a bit of that route today but also deviated off to see some other interesting sights.  Here's what I saw.

First up was a blue plaque to Tommy Letton. Who was he?

Tommy 'the fish' Letton turns out to be a fishmonger who used to pull his cart through the streets of Tiger Bay in former years.  He's even got a road named after him.  This blue plaque is on the underpass that leads from Bute Street to Letton Street.

Tommy Letton and his cart in the 1960s. 

On the other side of the underpass I came out on Lloyd George Avenue, a wide boulevard that's not too busy and with a wide pavement and cycle path.  It make a good way to walk down to the Bay.

I came across Looking Both Ways, a sculpture by English sculptor David Kemp based in Cornwall.  It seems to have stood the test of time.

Looking Both Ways, in place since 2001 and still looking good.

David Kemp alongside one of his other works in 2010

It is possible to continue walking down Lloyd George Avenue from here towards Cardiff Bay but instead I wanted to take a look at Bute East Dock so headed east along Letton Road, over the old canal feeder, and down onto Schooner Way. After a bit of a scramble I managed to get down onto the block paved path that runs around the dock.

The East Bute Dock looking back up towards the city

Bute East Dock opened in 1859 and marked when Cardiff turned from an iron exporting town to a giant coal exporting city.

The Yellow Bench

The Yellow Bench, designed and built by Andrew Rowe in 1999, is outside the Holiday Inn Express. Andrew is a South Wales blacksmith based around Carmarthen.

Andrew Rowe who sculpted the Yellow Bench, making poppies in 2016 to be part of the new Cenotaph in Ypres, Belgium. 

Looking across Bute East Dock you can see a preserved dockside crane. It is a lot younger than the dock itself and a plaque describes how this 15 tonne electric crane has been moved around various dockside locations in Cardiff including the Queen Alexander dock.

Built in 1933 and decommissioned in 1983

Cormorants enjoying the sun in Bute Dock

I arrived at the southern end of Bute Dock but found that from there its rather a tortuous route through to Cardiff Bay. The path takes you up into the car park of Cardiff Council buildings when suddenly all footpaths seem to dry up. I ended up crossing Hemingway Road and found myself in the car park of the Red Dragon Centre. Failing to find a way around that I entered the centre itself then out the side entrance and over the road to the Millennium Centre.

I was about to critisise the architect of the Red Dragon Centre but thinking about it I wonder if it ever had an architect. It looks like the builders turned up, couldn't find the plans so built an ugly box,  thinking that they would return later to add the outside once the plans had been found. It's main entrance faces an ugly car park, not the lovely Millennium Centre. And whilst I'm at it I may as well moan about the walk between the Red Dragon Centre and the Millennium Centre. The way is blocked by curvy bollard type things. What's all that about?

Torchwood HQ in Cardiff Bay outside the Millennium Centre

Mahatma Gandhi sculpture

From here I headed over to take a look at the new Mahatma Gandhi sculpture that is outside Craft in the Bay. It was unveiled in October this year on the International Day of Non-Violence. The sculpture appears to have been paid for by fundraising by the Hindu Council of Wales. I rather like it I must say. I think its a welcome addition to the sculptures of the Bay area.

The inscription reads "Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man"

The unveiling took place on what would have been Gandhi’s birthday and was attended by the iconic statesman’s great-grandson, Satishkumar Dhupelia, who traveled from South Africa.

Cardiff to Cardiff Bay walking route

A Winding Way to Cardiff Bay