Tondu to Port Talbot

I returned to the Tondu railway station, travelling up the Maesteg line. Passenger services were closed on this line in 1970 as a result of the Beeching report which slashed railway lines across the UK, fortunately the line continued to be used for coal transport, which meant that Tondu and other stations could be re-opened in 1992. Re-opening of such lines is of great benefit to walkers allowing more interesting A to B walks in South Wales.

Today I followed Cycleway No 4 all the way from the station up to Blackmill, then climbed out of the valley eastwards along the Glamorgan ridgeway with a pleasant walk through bracken and trees along the side of the Ogmore valley, with more distant views of Bridgend. Farmland followed where I made some diversions to avoid disturbing sheep with newborn lambs. On crossing a road the waymarked path deviated from that marked on my map, diverting through fields to the south a little around Cefnmachen uchaf farm as the path dropped into the valley of Afon (i.e. river) Garw. A cycle path goes down the valley (again using the track bed of an old railway) which is an alternate route to Tondu station (e.g. if walking from Llantrisant).

Climbing again, this time out of the Garw valley, the path heads to the left rather than going through the village of Bettws. There are plenty of waymarks on the Glamorgan valley path with a mountain view logo, but sometimes, at crucial junctions like this one, they are absent. After crossing a road the path heads downhill again past a derelict building. For the second time today I met some unusual sheep, unusual in that instead of running away, they followed me like cows sometimes do. Do not know what they wanted. Some cows then joined the sheep in trailing behind me, I seemed to be popular!

The third climb of the day (out of the valley of the Llynfi River) went through trees, then fields, then an overgrown path through a few more trees before climbing across open fields leading to a brilliant view that became better the higher I climbed. I could see back to where I walked the previous day past the Taff-Ely wind farm, across the Vale of Glamorgan to the Aberthaw power station and across the Bristol Channel to Somerset and Devon.

The path continued a little behind the ridge, along a small road and then the wayleave of a gas pipeline. Although the map indicated lots of trees, many of these had been cut down. Eventually the route turns south. A quite different view of the coast now opens out as you reach the end of a ridge, the most obvious sight is the Port Talbot steelworks. I passed a family who commented that it spoiled the view, but for me it was the pride of Welsh industry, I like it especially at night when the lights and flames make it seem an exciting place. When I was young we had to drive through Port Talbot to reach the beaches of the Gower peninsula, visible in the distance to the west. It used to smell of vile sulphurous compounds, while we sat at railway crossings. Such odours are now no more, although the occasional wiff of something does reach you on the ridge, no doubt from some high chimney. Margam castle, a romantic, gothic, 19th century extravaganza is visible in the foreground.

I descended into Margam country park which marks the formal end of the Glamorgan ridgeway, and also two other long distance paths, St Illtyd's walk and Coed Morgannwg, the former is also the path taken by the Glamorgan ridgeway as it enters Margam Country Park. It is a fine park with a castle, a ruined abbey, an orangery, numerous children's activities, two lakes, a coffee shop (where I took some refreshment) and deer. My only difficulty was finding the way out! To avoid walking down the A48 main road, I had to return to the gate through which I entered and head around the hill behind the castle (Mynedd y Castel). I could then climb up to the ruined chapel and join the Wales Coast path (the "Red route", there is an alternative route for the coast path through housing). I followed this along the ridge down to Brombil, where I took a side path up the ridge for a final view across the Bristol Channel. To the east you could see the M4 motorway skirting the base of the ridge, and to the west, the Gower peninsula sticks out into the sea, while the ridge turns inland as the edge of the Carboniferous basin is reached. At this point the ridge is close to the sea and may have once been sea cliffs, with Port Talbot and its steel works on a beach revealed as sea level fell at the end of the ice age.

Sadly it was time to head for home. I walked down a slippery, grassy path to the base of the ridge, followed the Wales coast path by the noisy motorway and eventually went under it and through Port Talbot to reach the Parkway station. A kind lady in the ticket office saved me £5 by selling me two tickets rather than one, which made a happy end to a good day's walking.

Today I walked 34.6 km, with an accumulated ascent of 958 metres. By joining the Glamorgan ridgeway at later points, the route between stations can be reduced a lot. The gps trail can be obtained at wikiloc.com, using a gpx file on a gps is a lot easier than using maps as the route unhelpfully falls between Ordnance Survey Explorer maps 151, 165 and 166 (although you can buy custom made maps from the Ordnance survey at reasonable cost centred on a suitable part of the trail which would save a lot of messing around with maps flapping in the wind). You can also obtain the route for your smart phone from ViewRanger.

Caerphilly to Tondu

The morning started with white frost coating the grass when I caught the train to Caerphilly. Later it would turn into a sunny day with blue skies, warm for March, passing walkers would comment on the fine weather. First there was a stiff climb up Caerphilly mountain (actually a hill but we always called it a mountain when I was young). I walked around the north side as it gives great views back to Caerphilly and its massive Castle (see photo) and the Rhymney valley heading north.

The path then continues to a ridge called Craig-yr-Allt, be careful not to follow the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway rather than the less well marked Glamorgan Ridgeway. "No public right of access" signs are posted on the road up to Craig-yr-Allt which annoys me as it is a public footpath, although public access by cars may not be permitted, the signs do not make clear that this does not extend to those on foot. Distinctly unwelcoming, which is a shame as the road leads to a bracken lined path across the south side of Craig-yr-Allt with wonderful views towards the Taff valley. You have to be careful coming down from Craig-yr-Allt as there are multiple paths and it is easy to miss the correct one which zig-zags down passing close to the aerial (more than once I have ended up lost in tall ferns and brambles). At the bottom you reach a cycle track (the Taff trail) along an old railway line. My ordnance survey map and waymarks disagree on which direction to head along the cycle path. Today I went left (south) with the old waymarks, if you do this be careful not to miss the small path heading down the slope 340 m further on, which takes you to a second cycle path on an old railway.
The path meanders across the urban landscape of the River Taff valley, before climbing steeply up the other side, past the Gwaelod y Garth Inn, a pleasant place for a lunchtime snack, shortly above it is the Violet cottage brewery, the "brew with a view", although I have yet to taste its produce.
I continued climbing up the Garth mountain, first up the road, checking out an adit or tunnel into the side of the hill, blocked off with iron gates and, from peering inside, a collapsed roof. A path then turns off to the right, which a sign says is maybe unsafe, but it is much the same as when I was a child and we drank water from the spring halfway up (now rather overgrown). As you reach the ridge you can look back and see the gorge created by the Taff cutting through the limestone ridge, which now parallels the hard sandstone ridge that forms the Garth. The actual summit is a little way to the west, it is on a burial mound which helps make the Garth into a mountain at 1007 ft. On coming down the mountain thinking of other things I missed the turning where the Ridgeway is routed around a small farm and had to retrace my steps.
The next section goes through the Tyn-y-Coed woods, where there is again evidence of former industry in the shape of an abandoned railway line, aqueduct etc., there is more recent evidence of the area being popular with mountain bikers. I then crossed fields beside the Cesar Inn, eventually reaching the large Caerau Hillfort. The path goes around the north of the hillfort, and it has taken me a while to determine exactly where it goes, but it eventually comes out in a wood and from there you cross the bridge across the A473 and follow the cycle path heading south (again contradicting my map, although it is definitely a better route). Just under a bridge of yet another old railway line I climbed up the next ridge and walked with views to the south, along a path, then a road into the ancient Borough of Llantrisant.
Being lunchtime I stopped at the excellent Polkadot Teapot tearooms, which still serves tea in pots and china cups and has an excellent array of cakes, I went for a thick slice of the Salted Caramel cake (but was tempted by the Bounty cake). After visiting the castle (or the one wall that remains of it) I continued along the ridge and then went downhill once more, this time into the valley of the River Ely, past a hospital with nurses outside waiting for their lift home (or having a quick smoke).
The next stretch was through woodland, back uphill and then along a lengthy section of ridge. After the woods there were fields with sheep and young lambs (the Welsh are proud of Welsh lamb, at least hereabouts), before the 20 turbines of the Taff Ely windfarm, installed way back in 1993. Many people dislike the windfarms that have been sprouting up on hills right across Europe, however the same people probably think windmills look pretty, but they are just an earlier generation of devices designed to capture the power of the wind. Nearby are the remains of St Peters church, an ancient building with a great view across the Vale of Glamorgan, tombstones from the 18th century are still readable.

After the windfarm, the route of the Ridgeway path gets a little hazy, but it eventually winds its way across lonely and somewhat marshy moorland to the village of Blackmill. Having hiked quite far enough I then had an easy 4 km walk down a cycle path (yes another abandoned railway) to the Railway station at Tondu (my mother told me off for pronouncing it Tondu like an English person, it should be pronounced Tondee).

My walk today was covered by Ordnance Survey Explorer maps 151 and 166. The gpx trail of the route can be obtained from Wikiloc by clicking on the link, using it with a gps saves a lot of peering at maps which the wind tries to blow out of your hand (and which I always open at the wrong place, or else they get soggy with rain). You can also download the route onto your smart phone from ViewRanger. I walked 40.5 km today, with a total ascent of 1261 m (although the highest point was only 307m, all those valleys that you have to go down and up certainly add up). Normally I do this section in two days, stopping at Llantrisant (or thereabouts) and heading down the hill to Talbot Green to catch a bus from the bus station, or walking a somewhat greater distance to Pont-y-Clun, from where fast trains travel to Cardiff.

Newport to Caerphilly

On arriving at Newport Railway station I was somewhat confused as to how I should get to Newport Castle where I was planning to start the walk.  Following the busy road after the pavement disappeared did not seem a safe option, and it was necessary to take a more circuitous route (see gpx trail for details). In fact there is not much to see of the 14th century castle, just a few walls; it is one of the many castles in Wales that reflect the wars between the Welsh and the Normans or English.

From the castle I followed Cycle route 47 (and here it is also the Usk Valley walk) up the river. The local authorities in Newport have done much to make the place more attractive but it is let down by empty shops, litter (smashed glass, beer tins) and in this case, also concrete blocks trying to stop people following the waymarked route. However on reaching the Monmouth and Brecon canal things improved.

This section of the canal has been abandoned and is now enjoyed by Moorhens and Mallards and a variety of vegetation. It is still navigable from Cwmbran to Brecon and it would be nice to see this section in use again with families on holiday travelling in barges up the canal; however at present it serves well at supporting the local flora and fauna, it is a habitat that it would also be sad to lose. I continued along the canal, parallel to the motorway, from which section if you look to the North you can see the ridge that the trail will join rising above the still hilly lower ground. After a while the canal turns under the motorway and climbs through a flight of fourteen locks. At the top you are rewarded by a cafe at the Fourteen locks canal centre, where I stopped for a latte and an excellent slice of chocolate cake with cherries etc....

I left the canal to join the Sirhowy Valley Walk, and cross the broad valley of the Ebbw river. There was some new housing being built on the floodplain, worrying given the risk of flooding but it appeared protected by thick concrete walls and some efforts seem to have been made to increase the ground level under the houses. The path then climbed up the other side of the valley before heading north through pleasant woodland and ultimately reaching the peak of Mynydd Machen at 362m, the point at which the ridge at the edge of the carboniferous basin changes direction from East - West to a more northerly path. It is a great spot to look back at Newport and the housing climbing the sides of the hill opposite. Looking North from this point up the ridge separating the Sirhowy and Rhymney valleys, you can see one of the slag heaps left from the now defunct coal mining in the Rhymney valley below (i.e. the useless rock that had to be mined to get at the coal itself). It is now just about covered with grass although forms an unnatural shape. In the autumn and winter the hills appear a rusty and then brown colour, but come the spring grass and bracken will turn them into a vivid green.

I retraced my steps downhill a short way to join the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway walk which took me into the village of Machen. The waymarked path (if you can find the waymarks, otherwise use the map) takes you across the river and around the back of some housing, again on a flood plain. The path to the south of the housing can get flooded forcing you through the housing, however beside this path is what looks like an abandoned coal mine shaft. Red coloured water, characteristic of old mines, is flowing out of a hole that is just about visible.

After crossing a field of horses and following a road, the route took me through a path overgrown with brambles into trees before reaching Draethen and the Hollybush Inn (fortunately it was closed when I passed so I was not tempted to buy a pint, now that weekly recommended alcohol limits have been lowered in the UK under pain of getting some terrible cancer). I then climbed up through the Rupera nature reserve, diverting off the Rhymney Valley path briefly to climb Craig Ruperra, which is not only a great viewpoint but also has the remains of a hill fort, a motte (as in motte and bailey castle) and a summer house (the arbour is a little along the path). Returning to the Rhymney Valley path you pass Ruperra castle itself. Built in the 17 century it is now a ruin and was for sale at £1.5 million not so long ago.

The path continues along one ridge then crosses a valley onto the parallel ridge (missing the nearby Maenllywd Inn). In the woods that follow there is a hidden bunker from the second world war where saboteurs would hide in the event of a German invasion, launching attacks on the enemy. As the woods to the North changed to farmland the path went through some muddy sections, the mud extending to left and right as people made ever wider diversions to avoid the quagmire. For some reason there is also a long length of steel cable along this section. Leaving the woods the path crosses farmland, a farm (eggs for sale) and a small road, and I eventually passed an interesting limestone quarry on the left, where you can see the layers of rock dipping steeply to the North, at this southern edge of the Carboniferous basin.

This picture was from a later walk on the Ridgeway in May with the wild garlic in full bloom and the leaves a fresh green

Eventually I crossed the main A469 road leaving left the Rhymney ridgeway path after the golf course and headed North recrossing the A469 to the Mountain Snack bar (another temptation, as eating a bacon butty is now also meant to give you some type of cancer). It was then an easy walk down into Caerphilly. On the way you can see some pits, when we were young we used to say they were craters left by bombs in World War II, however were actually dug to mine shallow coal and iron ore. Caerphilly has an exceptional Norman Castle, the second largest castle in Britain. Caerphilly is also home to the mild and crumbly Caerphilly cheese and a railway station that took me back to Cardiff.

The whole trip was 31.6 km long (a shade under 20 miles). Although the ridge is not that high (362 m at the highest point) there is a total ascent of 1048m as a result of going down into valleys and then up again. The gpx trail is available from Wikiloc by clicking on the link or you can follow it on the Ordnance Survey Explorer series Sheets 152 and 151 with a small bit on Sheet 166. It is also possible to obtain the route from ViewRanger in a form suitable for downloading to a phone. You can make the trip shorter by starting from Rogerstone railway station (on the Ebbw Valley line) and/or leaving the Rhymney Ridgeway 2 kilometres before you reach the A469. In the latter case you can head South to Cefn Onn park and Thornhill & Lisvane railway station which is opposite its entrance.

Update: In the snow the trail turns into a picture from a Christmas card as you can see from the photo below:

The Glamorgan Ridgeway and extensions East and West

The carboniferous rocks of South Wales are folded in the shape of a basin. Along the southern edge this results in a harder limestone and sandstone standing out as a long ridge behind the the city of Cardiff, extending to the east and west, cut by valleys through which rivers, roads, railway lines and the remains of canals pass. The Glamorgan Ridgeway is a footpath that follows this ridge, however it starts not at its beginning of the ridge but some way along at the town of Caerphilly and heading west. The Rhymney Valley Ridgeway walk continues east along the ridge and joins the Sirhowy Valley walk, which starts in the town of Newport. Consequently, to walk the length of the ridge I started in Newport.

South Wales is blessed with good transport links, although the Welsh Coal mining industry is now part of history, it helped protect the rail network when passenger services were being cut in the 1960's, and is now actively growing in extent (although there are plenty of abandoned industrial lines that now make good walking and cycling routes). These railways mean I can base myself in Cardiff and access the sections of the Glamorgan ridgeway using train and bus connections.

Being a ridgeway the path offers some fine views to the south across the Vale of Glamorgan and Bristol Channel, it also passes a number of historic castles in various states of preservation. There are several pubs and tea shops on route.

For this blog I covered the route in three days covered by the posts below. Four days is a lot more realistic and I normally add an additional stop at Llantrisant. The route can be shortened further by changing where you join and leave the path. Each blog describes the maps needed and a link to the Wikiloc site where a gpx file can be downloaded for a gps.

Newport to Caerphilly

Caerphilly to Tondu

Tondu to Port Talbot