Category: Community Groups

 Glamorgan Coast

We parked near the Plough and Harrow Inn and walked straight across a sodden field towards Broughton. We wended our way to Monkton and across farmland towards the coast. Some of the fields were muddy and we soon had great clarts of mud on our boots making our feet heavy. Foot stamping and dragging feet through long grass cleaned boots as there were no puddles!

There was no wind, the air unusually still, and it was eerily quiet. Far off to the west we spotted a Murmuration. Joining the coast at St Donats, we turned towards Nash Point. We sat on rocks outside Atlantic College and stared out to sea eating our lunch. Someone spotted two heads in the water coming towards us and then carrying on across the bay. They stayed together and we could not identify them. People at the coast watch centre said, ‘great black backed gulls.’

At Nash Point we descended into the valley and a couple of peregrines took off as we arrived. It was high tide, so we kept to the cliff tops. There was not a ripple on the sea. The path inland at Monknash was slippery from heavy rain during the week. At the old mill the stream was full and the tufa quite spectacular.

The volume of water in a stream made some of us reticent to cross the top of a small waterfall but we did. The trees beside the stream were old and gnarled from the wind and their roots a foot or more above the earth A large horse followed us across a field, and we passed the remains of a mill, whose roof was replaced by a wacky hairdo of ivy.

Back at the Plough and Harrow, the Barry Male Voice choir, having a social lunch, burst into song as we waited to be served. With the roaring fire and Real ale to drink, what a great atmosphere to end a lovely walk.

Walk 6.6m 400ft Map OS151

 Abercarn

Abercarn is in the Ebbw valley and driving towards a parking area, we passed a huge church, St Luke’s iron church. According to a foundation stone, it was built in 1923. It became redundant due to a dwindling congregation in the 1980s and although it is grade II listed it is now derelict (but in the care of Cadw?). Looking at photographs on the internet you can see that it was once a truly impressive church. Its architect was J. Coates Carter who was born in Norwich and is notable for his design and restoration of churches in S. Wales (including Llandaff cathedral and the Paget Rooms in Penarth). It is not clear who commissioned it, but it could be a Crawshay as they owned an estate in Abercarn. It is early gothic style with slim cast iron columns.

( See More Photos of Church https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/st-lukes-church-abercarn-south-wales-12-08-08.35494/ )

We set off downhill through leaf strewn woodland to running water, Nant Gwyddon, crossed a bridge and reaching the other side started climbing. We walked through mixed woodland accompanied by almost incessant bird song, it was mild, so Spring was in the air!

As we climbed the trees seemed to be older and the path was edged by beeches towering above us. Along an old hedge-line tree branches intertwined as they reached skyward. Roots penetrated old boundary walls and trees and stones were clothed in green moss with the roots clinging to the hillside.

Coming out onto open access land with open moorland, we could see the Pen y Fan area wreathed in cloud with Corn Ddu clearly visible in the distance. We kept looking at the scudding clouds in the hope that we would see the whole range and just before we arrived at woodland they cleared, and Pen y Fan peeped out of the cloud.

All the paths were good and flat underfoot but there was a fair amount of climbing so we waited until we were at the top of our climb before, we stopped for lunch on the wild moors. As soon as we stopped three scrambler bikes came past us and another two passed as we ate.

Resuming we started to descend, climbing over a fence and then a few trees blocking the path (felled to deter motor bikes). This wood was a fir plantation and as we emerged from the trees we could see vast swathes of land stripped of its tree cover by the forestry workers and evidence of erosion.. We spotted frog spawn in a pool, long catkins and tiny red flowers on a hazel, and fungi growing on a dark tree trunk and several sheep’s skulls.

The paths throughout the walk were in good condition, so we were able to stride out on the descent and we didn’t need to climb a single stile. Wonderful.

Walk 7.75m 1400ft Map OS152

 Garth Hill 

There was a downpour at 8.30 and again at 9.00, with rain cascading over the chutes. Still, we met as usual and agreed to ‘give it a go’, the rain stopped and ‘dry until 12.00 with 40mph winds’ was forecast. From the Radyr to Pentyrch road, we crossed Heol Goth and climbed to enter Garth Wood. We were greeted by bird song and the paths through this lovely wood were good.

Pentyrch’s the King’s Arms is a grade II listed building, originally a 17th century copyhold farm (Cae Golman). It has a fireplace with a beam dated 1711. We passed Acapela Studio near the Lewis Arms, a venue with a strong reputation.

The sun came out and there was no wind until we reached the top of the Garth, and were we glad we had persisted. Visibility was amazing with 3600 clear views encompassing the Severn bridge, Newport transporter bridge, Glastonbury Tor, the Channel, the islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm, Cardiff, Wenvoe, and the airport as well as the Valleys.

We descended rapidly and settled next to an old stone wall for lunch. The wind was cold, but it was pleasant in the weak sunshine. As we ate, dark clouds gathered and seemed to sweep around us up to the Valleys. Then we hurriedly finished our lunch and resumed walking as the first drops of rain began to fall.

There was a very wet area between Garth Hill and the river Taff. Here we needed to cross a stream onto a very wet ‘island’ before climbing a wobbly stile. Two gallant men (one of them with one foot in a stream) held the stile steady as we each climbed over it and jumped across a second stream. Someone offered me a hand to help me, and they fell back into the mud as I came forward and I got a boot full of cold muddy water helping her up. Then we trudged up the hill across the field which was potholed with deep puddles between tiny patches of grass. We were very glad to reach the stile at the top of the field and a lane. Another person had taken a tumble in the field but none of us was hurt and even my feet were warm and cosy by the time we exited the field.

The final descent to the Taff trail was steep with zigzags, it was obviously used by mountain bikers. The river Taff was very full and fast flowing, and we talked about how dangerous water can be.

Tea at Pugh’s Garden Centre refreshed us.

Walk 6.6m 1200ft Map OS151

 Ystradowen 

Another week of torrential rain, hail, and wind with many floods, had us thinking it might not be practical to walk in the Vale, but we agreed to go and see how the land lay and come home if necessary.

We parked in Ystradowen and headed west and then north towards the fisheries as we thought this would be the wettest area underfoot. It was squelchy underfoot but nowhere was impassable, so we kept going. The fields did have a lot of lying water with ponds visible in places, but the footpaths were all firm underfoot with occasional streams to navigate at the bottom of slopes.

We made our way to Hensol Forest where we used the main tracks which were excellent underfoot. At the car park we stopped for lunch at the BBQ area and the sun shone briefly and we could see the Channel.

Resuming we walked towards Prisk, a stream was in full flood with a tree creating a dam, so we detoured and walked along the road, where we spotted our first daffodil and red campion of the year. Back on a footpath we saw a kite take to the air and admired its majestic flight which must have been an effort as a brisk wind had blown up. A meandering stream spread across a wide area, but we negotiated it without a problem, climbed a slope, admired some pretty sheep with black markings and were back in Ystradowen.

Did you know that Tom Jones had a home in the village until 1998?

The café at Bonvilston provided us with piping hot mugs of tea. And when two bikers’ meals arrived with plates piled high with omelette and chips, we were asked ‘Do you have chip envy?’ (We must have been salivating). The next minute a bowl of chips appeared – they said they had cooked too many and we were welcome to them. All that for £1.50 a head!

Walk 6.4m 800ft Map OS151

 Colwinston 

At the beginning of our walk, we took a slight diversion to visit the Old Ford Project, an environmental enhancement scheme involving the village’s Ancient Well, Clapper Footbridge, Watercress beds, woodland hedges, Colwinston Brook and Springs. Unusually for the Vale of Glamorgan Colwinston village has steep slopes at its centre. The watercourse is now underground but rises to the surface in prolonged wet weather.

The Michaelmas Well is one of three wells which provided the village with water until 1935 when the main water supply was brought to the village. There are 24 steps to the bottom of the well, with recent rain only the top step could be seen but a local resident told us that there were sixteen steps visible after the hot dry summer of this year.

There was a ford across the stream a short distance from the well. Until the early 1900’s when the old ford was covered for traffic the clapper bridge was the only dry path across the stream for pedestrians. It is an 18th century structure, one of several in the Vale. A pond fed by springs has been excavated to provide more habitats for wildlife and it is hoped watercress.

We returned to the centre of the village to begin our walk and soon passed the village War Memorial which was erected at the village green in 2014. Colwinston is a ‘Thankful Village’ – one of only three in Wales which suffered no fatalities in World War I. However, four men were lost in World War II, one of them Agatha Christie’s son-in-law, Colonel Hubert Prichard.

One house had an exuberant Christmas garland around the whole of their double porch entrance, with door wreaths, small reindeer, and lanterns; it all looked splendid. We spotted several Victorian wall-mounted post boxes still in use on the walk, one on a house called ‘Ramblers’ which we thought appropriate but realised it probably referred to roses rather than walking!

There are ten Grade II listed buildings in the village, all dating from the medieval or post-medieval period. They include a thatched house, ‘the Old Parsonage dating from the 16th century which has a Gothic or Tudor arch and is one of only two in the Vale with a latrine in the form of a small closet next to the fireplace.

Now we walked through fields and crossed the A48 at the old Colwinston village milestone – Cowbridge 3 miles, Bridgend 4 miles, London 173 miles – only to find the next stile blocked, a nearby gate was an easy substitute.

It was a cloudy but reasonably clear day, and we could see the long line of wind turbines on the hills, quite a few rotating. A red kite appeared overhead and seemed to ‘stay with us’ for the rest of the walk soaring high and occasionally swooping quite close to us. Would you ever get tired of seeing this marvellous bird?

A tall chimney north of Gelliaraul farmhouse, Llangan, dominates the landscape. It is Grade II listed and has three distinct levels and an arched opening a couple of feet above the ground; possibly some sort of oven associated with the nearby quarry. Arriving at Llangan we found their public phone box was a book exchange and contained a defibrillator, good idea we thought until we saw a sign ‘Sorry this defibrillator is out of order’. We passed the church, walking through the graveyard, where there is an old cross and noted that the church looked as if it had been doubled in size at some point in its past.

Now we were walking on grass again and spotted a buttercup flowering, not bad for December. We passed a huge solar panel installation and found a pile of logs so stopped to eat lunch; glimmers of sunshine appeared. Some of the logs had a very pretty, thin, pure white, fungus growing on them. As we set off, we met a flock of sheep with square shaped heads, even the ewes looked masculine, and the ram was solid muscle.

Now we walked through Troes and turned south to return. At times it was quite dark but then the sun would come out for a while and brighten everything. Nearing Colwinston we came to ‘Charlie’s Shop’, – open 9-5 so after checking he was open, we finished the walk and drove back up the road for a few minutes to enjoy a piping hot cup of tea next to a wood burning stove, very cosy and he had lots of local eggs for sale.

Walk 6.9m 400ft Map OS151