![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/group.jpg?resize=500%2C386\")
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\n\tBlorenge – <\/strong>To start we drove to Keepers pool, (currently named after the nearby gamekeeper’s house though it was original Forge pond). It is also known as Llyn Pen-ffordd-goch, the pool <\/span>at the head of the red road, after the sandstone grit of which the road was constructed. A grey day deteriorated into a foggy one as we climbed and we had difficulty seeing the car park. Standing on the edge of Keepers pool we couldn’t see the road let alone the countryside we would be exploring. We had intended to walk our circular route in an anti-clockwise direction heading straight up the mountain but decided to reverse it in the hope that the weather cleared before we gained the summit.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe walked north close to the road peering ahead for the footpath which would take us across the road and slightly downhill to follow Hill’s tramroad. Horse drawn trams containing pig-iron travelled the route from Blaenavon ironworks to Llanfoist and here the tramway contours around the Blorenge mountain, our destination.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe water from Keeper’s pool supplied Garnddyrys forge and rolling mill which, in its heyday, produced 300 tons of wrought iron a week as iron bars, rails and plates. It operated for almost<\/span> <\/span>50 years until production was transferred to the new site at Blaenavon and Garnddyrys closed in 1860. We passed the remains of the forge master’s house and a large mound of dark material. This is a heap of slag which has been shaped by a century of wind and rain. Sadly its ‘head’ has fallen off in recent years so it no longer resembles a ‘ prehistoric Monster’.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tContinuing we followed a section called Rhiw Ifor towards Govilon we still had little visibility but now and again the clouds parted and we glimpsed the scenery around us and at times extensive views across the open plains to the north and east. Alongside the tramway we spotted a low tunnel; this was probably constructed to protect the tramroad from slippage due to large quantities of slag produced by the forge.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tOur route continued south a short way before we turned north once again to start our ascent of the Blorenge. As we climbed the mist cleared at last and we walked along an edge for a while to enjoy extensive views of the countryside and Abergavenny, the Skirrid towering over it. At the summit the sun shone at last and we could see for miles. Taking a rest amongst the rocks we ate the rest of our lunch appreciating the panorama.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tNow we headed southwest towards Blorenge aerials and Cefn y Galchen. There is a memorial to Foxhunter, a horse which appeared at the Royal International horseshow jumping in the King George V cup 1948, and winning gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Lt Col Harry Llewellyn chose Blorenge mountain as a final resting place for his horse. A car park nearby allows easy access to the summit of Blorenge mountain and Keepers pool, suitable for anyone unable to undertake a long hike.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tFrom here it was a gentle walk west back to Keepers pool. The ground we covered marks the end of the South Wales coalfield as it is formed from Millstone grit, a hard rock that signified to colliers that they had reached the end of the coal measures. Millstones were manufactured in this area from this stone. The rock was affectionately known as ’farewell rock’<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tArriving back at Keepers pool we had superb views of the surrounding hills in total contrast to the thick fog which had greeted us only a few hours earlier. We had walked 7.25miles with a<\/span> \n\tAlexander Cordell’s 1959 novel ‘Rape of the Fair Country’ brought people’s attention to the historic importance of Blaenavon. The publicity surrounding the book and sale of the film rights encouraged Blaenavon council to retain the ‘crumbling ruins’ as a possible future film set (unfortunately the film was never made). In the 1990s consideration was given to making Blaenavon a world heritage site. Alexander Cordell commented ’If this could be achieved it would be a fitting epitaph to the people who died making this small town an industrial giant. All that the people of the past have to commend them for the sacrifices they made are the dirt monuments that they left behind.’ Blaenavon Industrial Landscape was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000. It covers 3290 hectares and about 45% of it is within the Brecon Beacons National park. (Map OL13)<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blorenge – To start we drove to Keepers pool, (currently named after the nearby gamekeeper’s house though it was original Forge pond). It is also known as Llyn Pen-ffordd-goch, the pool at the head of the red road, after the sandstone grit of which the road was constructed. A grey day deteriorated into a foggy one as we climbed […]<\/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-11g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8291,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8291","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":0},"title":"Footsteps on Blorenge","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Footsteps on Blorenge Blorenge - We began at Keepers Pond (officially Pen-ffordd-goch Pond) in the south-eastern corner of the Black Mountains which is nestled in the hills of the area. Keepers was the final of three reservoirs built to supply water for the forges and works of Garn Ddyrys foundry.\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\/2020\/09\/Picture1-e1599259609377.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Picture1-e1599259609377.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Picture1-e1599259609377.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Picture1-e1599259609377.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3660,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3660","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":1},"title":"September Walks Programme","author":"Alan Williams","date":"25th August 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Saturday 2nd September Penperlleni, Goytre. A 7.5 mile walk. Mike (OL13) \uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076 Saturday 9th September Walk to be advised V\u2019Iain \uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076 Saturday 16th September Black Mountains. A 8\u00bd mile walk Ian (OL13) \uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076 Saturday 23rd September Alvington, nr Lydney. 7\u00bc mile walk. Mike (OL14) \uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076\uf020\uf076 Thursday 28th September Cardiff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Walking Group"","block_context":{"text":"Walking Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4553,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4553","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":2},"title":"Trelewis and Govilon","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th April 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Trelewis Heavy rain overnight, which continued as we drove up the A470, suggested that we were to get a thorough soaking and trudge through mud for much of the walk. How wrong we were, the rain was light as we left the cars in the Taff Bargoed Park and soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4439,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4439","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":3},"title":"Clytha","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th March 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Clytha - It was the middle of March and snow flurries persisted as we drove east, the hills to the north of the M4 soon had a dusting of white. We started at the National Trust car park at Clytha Park. Clytha is an18thC landscaped estate consisting of the park,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11262,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11262","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":4},"title":"Clytha","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th March 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0Clytha On a March Day in 2018 we visited Clytha and I opened my write-up of the walk with \u2018snow flurries and hills dusted with white\u2019. It was bitterly cold with icy winds which made us pull hats down to our eyebrows and on that day, we trudged through\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\/2022\/03\/footsteps-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13655,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13655","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":5},"title":"Beauty And The Beast","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th October 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Beauty And The Beast Whether you\u2019re enjoying a ramble along this stretch of the Wales Coastal Path, enjoying a coffee or hot Welsh cakes from the caf\u00e9, or just stopped by to take in the views, Nash Point continues to wow visitors every day. With a large bedrock beach full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Picture11.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3922"}],"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=3922"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3925,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3922\/revisions\/3925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/walk01.jpg?resize=500%2C376\" "\\"\\"")
We continued northeast around the Blorenge towards Pen-y-graig farm. The drifting fog allowed brief glimpses of Sugar Loaf and it wasn’t until we had passed the farm that we could see the Skirrid with its hidden summit. Travelling south we continued to contour around Blorenge until we arrived at Punchbowl. This was an eerie place in the mist, woodland rose over a steep sided hollow and a pond was surrounded by lots of moss. We sat down to eat part of our lunch and were treated to the sounds of sheep bleats echoing around us. It sounded like people at times and it’s easy to see how disorienting this would be if visibility was any worse. Lucky for us the cloud was lifting all the time and we could view the whole area by the time we moved off.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/aerial.jpg?resize=500%2C336\")
1200ft climb.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
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