Category: Community Groups

Brecon Nature Reserve and Hidden Valley

Brecon Nature Reserve and Hidden Valley

We parked in the lay-by, on A470, at Brecon Nature reserve about a mile north of Storey Arms. A notice stated ‘In just a few hundred metres you will find yourself enclosed within a shady, atmospheric amphitheatre created by the soaring craggy cliffs of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad. The lofty exposed moorland of Fan Frynach separates this area from a second, equally spectacular curtain of cliffs at Craig Cwm Du. The steep rocky slopes, sharp escarpments and crags are home to rare arctic-alpine plants at their southernmost location in the UK and not found again until the Alps. A history of lower levels of grazing has resulted in a richer variety of wildflowers in the reserve compared with surrounding areas of the National Park.’

‘A glacier carved out this valley during the last ice age. As it melted about 18,000 years ago it exposed the steep rock walls of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad. Sometime later a catastrophic landslide cascaded millions of tonnes of rock from these crags down the slopes. You can still see the tension cracks in the bedrock. The extent of this landslide is visible as the steep bank you can see from the A470. Up until 11,500 years ago a smaller glacier occupied the back of the hollow, leaving a series of ridges of small rocks and debris called moraines.’

We took the right hand path, climbing immediately and were soon in the ‘amphitheatre’. We were wrapped in a silence broken only by birdsong. The place felt so peaceful and the whole area was covered in swathes of bluebells. Larks soared as we passed and the harsh call of members of the crow family echoed from the heights.

Gazing at the awesome hills around us their height seemed daunting but we gradually moved through the Nature reserve and found ourselves at Carnedd Cairn, 1 mile into the walk with a climb of 1,000ft under our belts – the hardest climb of the walk.

It was a fairly flat walk to the trig point at Fan Frynach(629m), where we took in the spectacular views: to the east Pen y Fan and to the west, in the distance, Carmarthen Fan with rolling farmland to the north and below us in the next valley.

We started to descend and after about 200 metres picked up a good path heading north to connect with Sarn Helen (a Roman metalled road which continues to Ystradfellte and its waterfalls). The path was well defined with a ditch at the side, a farm track perhaps or an old drover’s road? But looking at the land rising away from us we could see paths across it at regular intervals – so most probably old forestry commission land which has been returned to its

‘original’ state. We watched a pair of red kites soaring above us until they were driven away by crows.

On Sarn Helen we met a farmer sitting side-saddle on an off-roader with her 2 dogs. Soon a motor cyclist kicking up loads of dust approached us, closely followed by 4 more that slowed down and exchanged smiles.

Now we arrived at the Cwm Du valley, time for lunch; we walked a short way and sat beside the stream, Nant Cwm-du. The land was dotted with distinctive craggy trees sculpted by the harsh climate. We were enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, listening to the babble of the stream and watching a tiny caterpillar which wafted in front of us on an invisible thread. The silence was destroyed by the sound of a car engine, as a number of 4x4s drove along Sarn Helen. They were soon gone and peace reigned.

Walking up the valley, beside the stream, was easy to start, then and as we climbed became more difficult, making us crisscross the stream, until eventually we came to a waterfall, a vertical edge with excellent footholds enabling a climb out of the valley. We rested near the top on a large flat rock to admire the valley and absorb the atmosphere of the place. Then up to the Beacons Way – so nice to be on a footpath again and Pen y Fan came back into view.

Soon we were facing a steep descent back to the A470, taking a zigzag path on the steepest sections we eventually got to the bottom. Looking back at it was scary!

Throughout the walk we had heard the call of the cuckoo, we had seen lots of wildflowers, including tormentil, welsh poppies (not in flower), violets, speedwell and saxifrage. There were very few sheep and quite a few horses grazing the area. The weather was perfect, hardly any wind, cloudy with occasional weak sunshine, excellent visibility, cool temperature and most importantly – no rain. We had seen only 6 other walkers all day – a brilliant day. Walk 6½ miles, ascent 2000ft. MapOL12.

 

 

May Walk Report

 

Why does a walking report have a picture of smiling people sitting in a cafe, sipping coffee and eating cake, to accompany it?

The answer is straightforward: the chat and the coffee (other beverages are available!), are an important and integral part of any Cosmeston stroll. On this spring walk, Betty and Helen found themselves leading the walk. When Lynne caught them up and asked them to guide the group back to the cafe, they replied that they were too busy talking to know how to get back!

The good news is that we did get back. Two Canadian visitors joined the walk and thought Cosmeston Lake was as impressive as any lakes they have seen in Canada. I think they were being generous in their praise, but Cosmeston certainly is an attractive place at this time of the year.

If you would like to share in the beauty of a short stroll around Cosmeston and enjoy a chat during the walk and afterwards in the cafe, then we will meet you at 10:30 on the first Thursday of every month outside the information centre

 

 

Coed Morgannwg Way Above Hirwaun

Coed Morgannwg Way above Hirwaun

It was a lovely morning but as we got out of the cars, at the Mynydd Beili-glas viewpoint, we did a group shiver – the wind chill factor really hit us and we quickly set out so that we could warm up.

It had been a week of wintry showers and the ground around us still had snow lying in patches. We were close to Graig a Llyn, the highest point in Glamorgan at 1969ft and below us we could see the road snaking up the hill, with a white car roaring up round the bends, as if it was in a Grand Prix.

We could also see Llyn Fawr, a lake which was made into a reservoir in 1911. When this was done a number of ancient objects were found in the peat at the water’s edge. These became known as the Llyn Fawr hoard and include 2 large bronze cauldrons, bronze axes, sickles and a sword. Probably dating from around 600BC they are among the most important Iron Age objects found in Wales; they are now in the National Museum, Cardiff.

Initially we walked on natural footpaths which soon became roadways for the vehicles which installed the Pen Y Cymoedd wind farm. One advantage of the wider tracks was that we had good views all day.

 

We decided to take a slight detour from our route to visit a memorial stone at the spot where the body of Willy Llewellyn, aged 5 years, was found. He was lost in Aberaman on 11th April 1902 and his remains found on 26th April, after a search by the whole community. Offerings of coins and small toys were on the stone.

We passed through areas where the trees had been decimated by fire and maybe the road building but new saplings were springing up. For lunch we found a protected area, sitting on tree stumps and fallen trunks, enjoying the sunshine. Tiny red flowers of moss covered one of the stumps. Bright yellow flowers of coltsfoot decorated the ground as we continued.

Now the 500ft wind turbines were towering around us. A series of notice boards provided information on the wind farm – 76 wind turbines produce an estimated output of 256MW. Natural Resources Wales state that there are 211 wind turbines planned for the Welsh woodland estate. The estimated output is 663MW (enough to power over 416,000 homes). The turbine footprint will be 450 hectares of land not replanted (20% of the estate). [Aberthaw Power Station generating capacity 1,560MW]

We met no walkers all day but a few cyclists, one of whom stopped us and asked for directions – he’d bought a map online and it was ‘being delivered tomorrow’.

Soon we arrived at the wind farm electricity sub-station where a large electrical installation loomed over us like a huge robot. From here we walked along a road through a forest of wind turbines and returned to the cars via our original footpath. The peaks of Pen y Fan and Corn Ddu in the distance were both covered in snow.

Hirwaun (long meadow) Common below us was gifted to the people for free grazing of their animals. Also in sight was the Tower colliery, closed as uneconomic in 1994 but run as a co-operative by the miners for a further 13 years until the coal finally ran out in 2008. Walk 8miles ascent 800ft. Map 166.

 

 

Dyffryn

 

Dyffryn

The midweek walkers parked near the quarry man’s tribute and kept south of the St Lythan Road. Walking past one of the Wenvoe Wildlife Group orchards, people commented on the progress that had been made here and then walked north and west towards Dyffryn.

The sky which had been getting darker by the minute opened up and a deluge of hail descended on our heads. A few had umbrellas which were soon covered in ice with slush dripping off their edges. After cooling us down the shower passed on and the sky brightened a little only to be followed by another shower. Passing through a wood a flash of lightning was discounted momentarily but a rumble of thunder followed – at least the storm wasn’t near us.

At Dyffryn the warmth and hot drinks available were very welcome and we stayed quite a while. Then we walked up to the A48 and through The Downs, across open land and back to the cars. A lovely walk enlivened by the weather. Distance about 5.5mile

 

 

Unsightly Litter Surrounding Wenvoe

 

I am sure that the amount of unsightly litter surrounding Wenvoe’s roadsides has not gone unnoticed.

Whilst on a recent walk along Station Rd East on route to the Salmon Leaps, I was appalled at the amount of litter in the trenches alongside the road, so much so that I took it upon myself to return and collect it.

Armed with a pair of plastic gloves and one black bag, I set to work & in twenty minutes the bag was full with rubbish from one side of the road only!

I contacted the Vale Council’s Refuse & Re-cycling department & informed them of my collection and that the rubbish contained much which could be re-cycled. They were very accommodating, arranging to collect the bag from outside of my house the following day – which they duly did.

However, whilst grateful for this efficient service, I was mindful of one driver and one van coming to collect one bag!

I don’t know the answer to the problem of individuals dropping litter or throwing litter from their cars, but I wonder if any village residents who, like myself, have a spare hour in which they could collect litter from a designated area and collectively have it collected by the Vale. Thus attempting to keep the village devoid of unsightly litter.

Any responses to What’s On or the Wenvoe Community Council (see page 2 for contacts)

 

 

It Is Called The Wenvoe Wheelers

 

I expect the keen eyed residents of Wenvoe have spotted a growing number of cyclists in the village these last few summers. That is not such a surprise when we have a cycle route passing through the village but we also have our own cycling club, right here in Wenvoe. It was quite a surprise to me to find that somehow, a cycling club had appeared, quite literally on my doorstep. What might be a surprise to most Wenvoe residents though, is that the club has members from all over Cardiff, Barry, Penarth and the Vale of Glamorgan. We also have a few actual Wenvoe residents in our membership too.

I think you probably want to know why it is called the Wenvoe Wheelers, why and how did it start here. Well obviously it started after a few pints in the pub! What was needed was a social cycling club, open to all comers, those with plenty of cycling experience and those with none at all. Wenvoe seemed like a great place to base such a club with easy access to the Vale for lots of rides and accessible from Cardiff, Barry and Penarth.

Well, that was three years ago, and by the time you read this we will have had our third anniversary, with coffee and cake at our Sponsor’s HQ (Pedalcover) on our social ride on 6th April. We have come quite a long way in three years, it seems to me. We started off as a group simply co-ordinating our rides on Facebook and we still run our activities on Facebook. However, membership is managed through British Cycling and we encourage everyone to become members as you will then have insurance as well as access to a lot of helpful information, courses and events. I and 9 others have just done our Level 1 Ride Leader Qualification with British Cycling which allows us to lead rides of around 30 miles or so for anyone who joins one of our intro rides or Saturday Social rides. Need I add that all rides include a cake and coffee stop? No, I didn’t think so.

We have just come through a winter of Watt bike sessions on a Monday night at Ufit gym and turbo sessions in Wenvoe Village Hall on Thursdays. Who knew that turbo with a group could be such fun or that it was possible to sweat that much on a Watt bike? By the time you read this our members will have had a club trip to Mallorca, and ridden in several cycling events called ‘sportives’. We have a cycle trip to Gloucester over two days planned for the summer – including the Gospel pass, which to be frank, I am a little worried about as it is ridiculously steep.

We have our very own cycling event organised for Sunday 30th June which we are very excited about and want to make sure it goes off without a hitch as far as possible. We hope to have around 200 riders setting off from Station Road West from 7 am and returning from 12 noon, ish – depending on how quick the racing snakes are. We will have registration in the Community Centre and bag drops there, together with use of the toilets in the Village Hall before the riders set off. We will also have a bike repair tent from a local charity (Spokes in

Penarth) and a coffee wagon (we hope).

The 80 mile route will take the riders up through the valleys and up over the Bwlch mountain then down towards Cowbridge for refuelling before coming back to Wenvoe. There is also a 40 mile route which is perfectly do-able for anyone even if you don’t have a road bike. We have got masses of Welsh cakes at our feed stops and bananas and water as well.

We would love to see Wenvoe village support this event, which, in the absence of the Velothon this year we have rather cheekily called, the Valeothon! Fingers crossed it will go off alright on the day as it is quite a big event for us.

We are also in with a shout of being Welsh Cycling club of the year, though we won’t find out until later this year whether we have won, so we will keep you posted about that.

Many of our rides start from Wenvoe, usually at the Wenvoe Arms with Jen and Digby kindly allowing us to use their car park to set off from and of course you will often find us enjoying a post-ride beer especially on a sunny day.

Everyone is welcome to join us. Please come along for one of our intro rides on the first Saturday of each month, see if you like it. You will need a road bike or at least a bike that is comfortable on a road, not a mountain bike which are really hard work on the road. It’s a great way to keep fit and get out and about to see the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan. I really had no idea there were so many pretty lanes and villages right on my doorstep. I also had no idea how lovely it is to be cycling along and chatting with people as you do. It really is a great way to de-stress and see the countryside. If you are interested, you can find us on Facebook by searching for Wenvoe Wheelers or alternatively searching the internet for Wenvoe Wheelers which will take you to our club on British Cycling.

 

 

Travels in Africa and Blood Bikes

Our two meetings in March were in complete contrast but equally enjoyable.

Natalie from ‘Hearts and Flowers’ located in Heathwood Road demonstrated her skills by producing two lovely arrangements with a touch of Spring. Using a trough shaped container she placed two small pots of daffodil bulbs into the front corners of the container. The arrangement was then developed from this using daffodils, tulips and anemones. The result was beautiful and Diane was lucky enough to win it in the raffle. Natalie then created an Easter wreath which it seems are gaining popularity. She used moss and a cotton plant as well as pastel coloured artificial eggs to create the wreath and the result was most charming. The cotton plant was new to most of us as was the idea of an Easter wreath.

Our second meeting in March had to be rearranged at the last minute as the speaker was ill. Fortunately, Irene’s friend ‘Gareth from the cricket club’ stepped in and gave us a fascinating talk about his travels in Africa.

Gareth is a well-travelled gentleman and talked about how he traced the footsteps of David Livingstone when he first ventured to Africa. Gareth’s journey began in Victoria Falls where the hotel he stayed in had a resident herd of Zebra in its grounds as well as Burma monkeys and baboons. Like David Livingstone, Gareth was overwhelmed by the beauty of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

He stayed in luxurious lodges that had no fences and consequently animals roamed in freely. He described one evening when a herd of elephants wandered in whilst they were dining out in the open. They stayed perfectly still and the elephants drank from the pool and wandered off.

One part of the journey in Botswana involved travelling by boat through wetlands. It took four and a half hours to navigate through a network of channels surrounded by long grass. On arrival at their destination they found the tented accommodation was in stark contrast to the previous lodge. Showering involved the use of a canvas bucket and after going to the toilet over a deep hole he had to add a scoop of ash from a container alongside! Apparently, the food was excellent.

The next lodge, which was on the edge of the Zambezi falls, involved a journey on the ‘elephant express’ which was actually a motorised tram car.

The animals he encountered on this incredible journey included spotted hyenas, African buffalo as well as crocodiles. He even witnessed the disturbing but extraordinary sight of a leopardess killing an impala and pulling it up a tree away from other predators.

His talk was accompanied by some lovely photographs on the big screen and we were so grateful to Gareth for stepping in at the last minute and sharing his experience of Africa with us. We

can’t wait for a further instalment of his amazing travels.

Our indoor meetings continued in April with a talk on Blood Bikes Wales. We were delighted to welcome Dave and Jason as representatives of this charity which covers the whole of Wales.

This registered charity is run entirely by volunteers and relies on donations by supporters in order to function. Blood Bikes Wales provides a courier service transporting hospital specimens which include blood, baby milk, patient notes, surgical instruments and pathological specimens, between hospitals. This service is carried out at weekends and Bank Holidays and is available nationwide.

The first meeting was held in February 2011 in Llanelli and now there are 8 centres spread across Wales which hold regular monthly meetings. The Charity welcomes anyone who can be of help as not only are bike riders needed but a whole spectrum of back-up support staff such as co-ordinators, fundraisers and committee members.

The bikes themselves, currently Yamaha, are fitted with special racks for securing the transport boxes and the cost of just keeping them on the road is considerable. For instance the tyres are replaced monthly and they alone cost £280/pair. All the riders have advanced qualifications and they are tested every three years to check on their riding standard.

The benefits of this service are considerable as they are faster than taxis and they also free up emergency services for other duties. This represents a much needed financial saving for Health Authorities. An example quoted was one Authority spending £250,000 on taxis which was cut drastically when Blood Bikes took over some of the trips.

One very special service that is undertaken is the collection of donor breast milk from Birmingham to be distributed to wherever premature babies in Wales need milk.

We were all in admiration of the work these volunteers carry out so next time you see anyone collecting for Blood Bikes Wales please give generously – you never know when they might help you or your family.

Our last talk of the session was given by Gwerfyl Gardner and it was about her adventures in Quizland. From school days Gwerfyl was interested in quizzes and as a member of Bangor Grammar School she was the youngest in a team which won Top of the Form. This was back in 1953 and the prize was a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was presented to the school, and a trip to London accompanied by the Headmistress.

Gwerfyl waited until she had retired from teaching to pursue her life in quizland more seriously. One of the first programmes she auditioned for was 15 to 1. Gwerfyl travelled to Bristol to audition taking with her the 3 outfits that she had been instructed to bring. It was soon apparent to Gwerfyl that the questions were only easy if you knew the answers and that luck played an important role in any success.

The Weakest Link was the next target – this was filmed at Pinewood studios. Again a list of instructions was provided on what to wear ie no suits, no dresses and nothing black. It was fascinating to hear what went on behind the scenes and how long programmes actually took to record. Gwerfyl was successful and despite Ann Robinson’s thundery looks went on to win £3,010.00.

Other quiz programmes that Gwerfyl has taken part in include Eggheads, as a team representing the Glamorgan Federation of Women’s Institute, when they defeated the experts and won £11,000 and The Chase, again a successful outcome winning £7,000.

We learned that she had just applied to be on Tipping Point, so any viewers of that show keep a lookout for her appearance.

Our next few meetings are all out of the village – they will be a theatre trip, a visit to the Police Museum and a successful year will be rounded off with our summer dinner.

 

 

Jane Powell – A Passion For Reflexology

 

President Madeleine welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially our visitor Pat Weaver. We hope she will visit again and join our Institute. We were delighted to hear that Pam Cockerill is now one of our members.

Our speaker on this occasion was Jane Powell. After working for 28 years as a Medical Secretary for the NHS, Jane trained as a reflexologist. Her passion for reflexology was clearly evident as she gave us a wonderful talk about various aspects of reflexology and its advantages, particularly where stress is present. Sue Webley volunteered for Jane to demonstrate the ability of a reflexologist to see indications of poor health by feeling and examining feet. We were very grateful to Sue for being a willing volunteer and to Jane for giving us such an interesting evening with her knowledge of reflexology – an evening we all thoroughly enjoyed.

WI business commenced with final plans for the coffee morning at Dinas Powis on 6th April. An invitation has been received for the Charity Afternoon hosted by Barry Highlights WI on Tuesday, 21st May. The Glamorgan Federation has organised several events in the near future including a picnic at Margam Park on 11th June and a Treasure Trail at Barry Island. Members were reminded that donations for the Tombola Stall at the Table Top Sale will be gratefully received at the May meeting.

Nominations for Committee Members were collected ready for the Annual Meeting next month. Our meeting in May will be on Thursday, 2nd May at Wenvoe Church Hall at 7pm. We will be voting regarding the two resolutions which achieved the highest votes in the January meeting and also the Committee for 2019/2020 will be formed.

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