I have just added this to the map of places to fly your drone at Drone Scene:
Land owner permission obtained.
The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 31/12/2020. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.
Thanks for the add @GreyCat !
Thanks, can you tell me how you contact the owner to get permission?
I’m here.
Sorry, been really busy with work then was away in Glasgow all of last week on a DGSA course… (no internet access but then again with course homework each day didn’t have time for homework!).
Swanbridge Bay: if you go to the correct place it’s Crown Foreshore so presumed permission to fly. Just make sure you’re a bit east of the causeway, as the causeway is privately owned- NOT Crown Foreshore. Also if you’re too close to the Captain’s Wife you might get some signal interference.
Best access is to park at the Captain’s Wife (choose a quiet time) and walk through from there; or if you’re a bit more energetic, park at the Sully playing fields and walk from there.
If you’re discrete and have a Mini/Mini2 the Wales Coastal Path runs at the far side of the playing fields and it’s a public footpath and easy to access.
Also- check the tides before you go, try go on a Spring tide, if you arrive about 2 hrs before schedules low tide you’ll get 2 or 3 hours to play before the water comes back.
GC
I want to fly here @GreyCat, but there are no parking or take off and landing markers. Would you be able to add some to the map please?
Hi Jon, as per the original email, there’s a car park for the Captain’s Wife pub/bar/grill nearby and that’s where I always parked (it’s also where people who go over the causeway to Sully Island tend to park). No take off/landing markers as I usually did that on the part of the beach uncovered at low tide, technically they are in the sea 
I haven’t been there for a while so I don’t know the deal with the parking, typically I would go on a day when the pub was shut, out of holidays (so the nearby caravan park was quiet) and about 2 hours before low tide on a Spring tide phase.
If you feel adventurous, there’s a causeway to Sully Island uncovered at low tide but do heed the signage about tides, there’s people rescued by the RNLI regularly because they misjudge the tide, it comes in VERY quickly around there.
GC
Flew this yesterday evening; good spot with the interest of the rising tide breaking over the causeway. Flew from the Captain’s Wife car park sea wall; attracted friendly interest but no problems. Intend to go back and fly the island, but would prefer to do this on a falling tide…
The causeway is a known killer. As the tide rises, it pushes water into the bay on the west side, at the same time sucking water from the east side, so that on a big eqinoxial tide like yesterday’s, there is about a 2’ difference in the water levels, and a 2’ waterfall over the causeway when the sea level is high enough to breach it. 2’, I can stand up in that, you say, and these are sometimes your last words, because while 2’ isn’t much past your knees, the rocks are slippery and that 2’ is fast, and it’s got the entire Atlantic Ocean pushing it…
You are knocked into the eastern bay, where there is now a 12-knot current taking you out into open water. They find what is left of you 6 weeks later 10 miles down the coast at Llantwit Major.
The history of the spot is intersting. I must now introduce you to a 9th century Viking character call Sweyn (Sven, if you like). Not Sweyn Forkbeard, this is another Sweyn. He pops up a lot in South Wales; he is the root of the names of Swansea (Sweyn’s Eyots, The Mumbles) and is said to be the occupant of Sweyn’s Howe, a burial mound at the summit of Rhossili Down, on Gower.
Swanbridge, the village here, is named for him as well, Sweyn’s Brigga, the causeway to the island!
He comes across as probably a robust sort of chap, you didn’t get to lead Viking raidng parties if you were a 7-stone weakling, but perhaps not the sharpest knife in the tray. He based himself in the Bristol Channel for raiding and piracy, but seems mostly to have been successfully fought off by the locals. This might have been the reason he set up a base on Sully Island, with a sheltered harbour on the eastern side of an easily-defended causeway.
But there is no fresh water on the island. He also attempted to set up a base on Steep Holm island, further out in mid-channel, and put a party of his men ashore there with boats to raid Somerset and South Wales, but there is no fresh water there, either, and when the weather cut up rough, he could not supply them and they could not get off. When Saint Baruc (he founded Barry) went over there for a retreat a century later, he found their skeletons and gave them a christian burial, which they would have regarded as a terrible insult, and which is probably exactly what Baruc intended!
Then he tried his luck in Ireland, where he sacked the town of Kilkenny. The populace hid in a nearby cave in hope of a) surviving and b) not being sold as slaves, and he thought he’d smoke them out. They were suffocated, along with most of his men…
If you’re driving, there’s plenty of parking if you approach from Swnbridge village, but none if you approach from St.Mary’s Well Bay. Don’t be fooled by the map, the road does not go theough from the SMWB side to the Captain’s Wife car park, though there is pedestrian access. Public transport is no.94 Cardiff Bus from Cardiff to Barry via Penarth & Swanbridge and a short walk, about half-mile, down to the Wife.
Don’t cross to the island unless the tide is falling; if in doubt, ask a local.
