{"id":14364,"date":"2024-06-07T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T09:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14364"},"modified":"2024-06-07T10:12:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T09:12:26","slug":"blackmill-treorchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14364","title":{"rendered":"Blackmill & Treorchy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Blackmill & Treorchy\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Blackmill – <\/strong>This walk took us to some beautiful countryside, although wet underfoot there were stones in most places, so it was not too muddy! We began in Blackmill and walked up the Ogwr Fawr towards the Ogmore forest and back via Cwm Dimbach. Blackmill is at the confluence of two Ogwr rivers, three railway lines and two main roads \u2013 the gateway to the Ogmore valleys.<\/p>\n

We walked in sunshine with big fluffy clouds in the sky. The climb was gradual, and we looked over the valley observing that buildings were appearing much higher up the hills. The views were extensive and the hills lush and green. At our high point of the day, we could see the channel in the far distance.<\/p>\n

We stopped for lunch at the side of a stream, where water tumbled down the hillside. It was the first time this year we could feel the heat of the sun as we sat.<\/p>\n

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The ground was saturated, but we walked down a stream which was stony making it comfortable walking downhill. A river separated us from a woodland of bare trees with a carpet of moss across the whole space. Apart from occasional birdsong and the noise of flowing water the place was peaceful with a deep silence. In one area rocks at the side were covered in ferns and mosses, dripping with water, just as you would imagine a fairy glen.<\/p>\n

We came to an isolated house where a ford crossed the river. Two of us were a bit behind everyone else and pretended that we thought we had to cross the ford, and everyone egged us on, only for us to turn at the last moment and use the pedestrian bridge. Moments later a car drove across the ford creating a small bow wave.<\/p>\n

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The end of the walk was along the Great Glamorgan Way. We finished at a caf\u00e9 in Blackmill which supplied us with piping hot cups of tea – a wonderful day. [Walk 7.25m, 1100ft. Map OS166]<\/p>\n

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Treorchy – <\/strong>As the weather has improved, we have enjoyed some wonderful walks in the sunshine. This was one of them. Thirteen of us and three dogs parked on a steep street in Cwmparc. It was not long before we had left the houses behind and were climbing a forest track. The valley of houses sat in a bowl, formed by the hills.<\/p>\n

The day warmed, something we had not experienced in a while. Leaves were starting to uncurl on shrubs, and we spotted the yellow flowers of coltsfoot which emerge before the leaves.<\/p>\n

As we got higher an expanse of wind turbines appeared, as did the shell of a burnt-out car. Towards the top of the walk, we arrived at a crossroads and chose it as a lunch stop. Soon everyone started spreading out, a few in a depression, some on a bank with their backs to the sun, some facing the sun on the opposite bank and a couple even went into the woods to lean on a tree. It was all reminiscent of lockdown with none of us closer than 6 ft to one another. Some traffic passed, a few cyclists (one without a helmet, crazy!), several walkers and inevitably, disturbing the peace, a few offroad motorbikes.<\/p>\n

The views on the walk were excellent; there were continuous rolling hills, but we also caught glimpses of Pen y Fan and Sugar Loaf. Surprisingly, from this distance (we were at the top of the Valleys) we could see the Bristol Channel and England. In the sky we had spotted a buzzard and kite and, on the ground, a tiny eggshell.<\/p>\n

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We came off the stony track onto a boggy footpath, then a short distance along a road. All too soon we reached \u2018the descent\u2019. We had been warned that walking poles were advisable. The hill rose steeply to our right where a rickety old fence stopped us heading inland and to our left was a rocky gorge. A couple of ewes with their lambs were scrambling on the craggy hillside. The footpath was a mix of loose stones and grass and we descended at varying rates depending on our fitness and head for heights. A small herd of cattle, with young calves, grazed in the valley which opened out below us.<\/p>\n

The end of the walk was open moorland and after crossing this we followed a fast-flowing stream. Painted stones bordered the path as we neared housing, and a sign told us it was \u2018Cwmparc Pathway of Hope created in 2020\u2019 another reminder of lockdown.<\/p>\n

We chatted to a few of the locals as we passed them outside their houses which looked out onto the hill. A great day in the hills with wall-to-wall sunshine dotted with a few wispy clouds and rounded off with drinks outside a pub in Porth. [Walk 7.5m, 1500ft. Map OS166]<\/p>\n

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Blackmill & Treorchy\u00a0 Blackmill – This walk took us to some beautiful countryside, although wet underfoot there were stones in most places, so it was not too muddy! We began in Blackmill and walked up the Ogwr Fawr towards the Ogmore forest and back via Cwm Dimbach. Blackmill is at the confluence of two Ogwr rivers, three railway lines and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3JG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9019,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9019","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":0},"title":"Ogmore by Sea Walk","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ogmore We walked in the Ogmore area several times last year, using the Vale Trails leaflet no.1 \u2018Ogmore by Sea Walk\u2019 as a basis for our routes and starting from St Brides Major. From here we walked past St Bridget\u2019s Church and were soon on footpaths leading onto Ogmore Down.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Picture2a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13006,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13006","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":1},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – ABER, BRYN, CWM, PONT","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES We\u2019ll now look at some common elements in Welsh Place-names. ABER I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen this element in many placenames. The word \u2018aber\u2019 means \u2018the confluence of two waters\u2019 and because so many places containing this word are situated on the coast, it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16789,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16789","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":2},"title":"Margam Park and Merthyr Mawr","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Margam Park We parked at the small fishing lake near Margam Abbey, the drive over had been misty and as we started out it was raining. Heading north we passed the lake with ducks and swans. Margam park is one of 22 sentinel sites across Wales acting as an early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Footsteps-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14961,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14961","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":3},"title":"Organ Factory in Treorchy","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th December 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WOMEN\u2019S INSTITUTE October Meeting of Wenvoe W.I. On 31st Oct Wenvoe WI travelled to the Organ Factory in Treorchy for a day out. We had a grand time, and were thoroughly entertained by a fabulous display of organs, demonstrations, as well as sampling an excellent cream tea. The visit was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Womens Institute"","block_context":{"text":"Womens Institute","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=37"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13000,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13000","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":4},"title":"Walk Round Ogmore","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THURSDAY WALKERS Next Walk \u00a0 Thursday March 23rd. A walk round Ogmore to include Pant Marie Flanders and along the coast; about 5 miles. Meet 1 pm at Wenvoe village hall, transport can be shared. Bert Meet at Village Hall at 1.00pm. Transport can be shared. The walk will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Valeways Walkers"","block_context":{"text":"Valeways Walkers","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=336"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6814,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6814","url_meta":{"origin":14364,"position":5},"title":"Ogmore to Monknash","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Ogmore to Monknash We parked at Monknash and caught the No. 303 bus to Ogmore. We were to begin our walk just above the estuary of the river Ogmore and travel back along the Heritage coast to Monknash. Walking down to the car park we looked towards Porthcawl, heavy clouds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Picture15.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14365,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions\/14365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}