Running in Cardiff

Cardiff is a capital city with a river running through the middle of it, and almost everything about running here follows from that. The Taff Trail traces the River Taff from the Bay in the south up through the city centre and out into the valleys to the north, giving you flat, mostly traffic-free mileage that starts at your door and ends, eventually, in the hills.

Bute Park and the Taff Trail

Bute Park and the string of green space along the river - Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields, Llandaff Fields - form the heart of the city's running. From here the Taff Trail runs south to the Bay and north through Llandaff, Radyr and beyond, entirely on path away from traffic. It is the run most people in Cardiff default to, for good reason.

Cardiff Bay

South of the castle, the trail reaches the Cardiff Bay barrage, and the loop around the Bay - out along the barrage to Penarth and back via the water's edge - gives you a flat, scenic four or five miles with the sea close by, even though the Bay itself is a freshwater lake now, sealed off from the tide.

Getting some vert

Cardiff is flat, so climbing means heading for the edges. Caerphilly Mountain and the Wenallt, both on the northern fringe above Rhiwbina and Thornhill, give you woodland climbs and, from the top, a clear view back down over the whole city to the Bristol Channel. Neither is large, but they are enough to break up a week of riverside flat running.