\n\tWe were lucky, there had been snow overnight; in Cardiff and the Vale the snow was light but further north there were heavy falls. Starting at the drive to Cefn Mably, near the farm, we walked towards the house and passed in front of it.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe turned west walking across farmland which was rather wet underfoot. Entering a large field, a herd of cows and a bull moved towards us. They split us into 2 groups most of us remaining in the open, but a couple apparently pinned at the edge of the field. Soon we could hear a tractor engine and the farmer arrived with feed – the cattle had heard the engine before we did and had no interest in us.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tApproaching a river, we turned northwest towards Cefn Mably woods, keeping them on our left and then heading across open land. A house had an apple tree which had dropped its fruit and was now festooned with Christmas baubles. Surrounded by a light sprinkling of snow it looked very festive.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs we climbed higher more of the fields were snow covered and dark trees were edged in white. A branch of a tree, with a large chunk of wood as its base, was an attractive garden bird table.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe arrived at Coed Craig Ruperra, managed by Ruperra Conservation Trust, a notice offered logs for sale. Skirting the edge of the wood we arrived at Ruperra castle:<\/span> \n\tRuperra Castle was built in 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan, who was knighted by King James 1st. It was a typical Jacobean courtier’s house. King Charles 1st stayed here in 1645, visiting in an attempt to raise support for the royalist cause in the civil wars. However following defeat by the parliamentarians at the battle of Naseby, the Glamorgan gentry, realising the Royalists were about to lose the war, refused to help out. During the 19th Century the eldest son of the Tredegar family lived at Ruperra, which saw its heyday as a great Victorian country estate. Destroyed by fire in 1941 and still in a state of disrepair, it is now a Grade11 listed building supported by the Ruperra Conservation Trust.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tClose to Ruperra Castle are banks and ditches formerly part of an Iron Age Hill fort and a large motte, probably constructed by the Normans around 1100. With its superb and commanding views over the surrounding countryside, it would certainly have provided a strong defensive lookout point.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs the weather was clear we took a diversion to the motte. The views from the motte were excellent, improved by the dusting of snow. We sat down leaning against its walls to gain shelter from the cold and eat our lunch.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tDescending we saw a few fellow walkers – the first of the day. We came across a long stretch of laid hedging, the craftsmanship that had created it was clear in the skeletal ribs evident in the winter.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tLeaving the Coed Craig Ruperra area we walked through a farm with a barn full of old crates and huge logs. Going under a power line we spotted a heron stood in the middle of a field, it didn’t appear to move a muscle as we passed.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tNow we could see a road-bridge over the river Rhymney and within a few minutes we stepped onto the road, walking a short distance to the cars.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe walk was 7miles and 700ft climb. Map 151.Thanks to Ross Thomas for the historical information.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tYstradowen <\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tParking in Ystradowen we crossed the main road to a footpath. Setting off across farmland, towards Mynydd y Fforest, it was typically wet underfoot – so wet a pond had formed.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tSome pigs wallowed in a particularly mucky area and later we saw more in an open field attended by a farmer.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tOn reaching Mynydd y Fforest we made our way through the small but pretty wood and generally southwest towards Llansannor. Emerging onto the road and looking north, the village ‘City’ stood above the area. Turning south we came to Llansannor church and spotted our 1st snowdrops of the year with white buds showing. We continued past Llansannor Court and farm.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tCrossing a few more fields we stopped to eat our lunch. We could hear dogs yapping and as we made our way to the road for Trebettyn, we found the source of the noise, a number of small dogs penned in a garden. Unusually the house had gargoyles on its low perimeter wall.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tNow we headed east towards Maendy and Prisk, mostly by road, and passed the entrance to Caeau farm. At Prisk we turned north passing Castell Tal y Fan farm and the remains of the castle wall. The track passed a field containing cows and a bull.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs we made our way back to Ystradowen the ground was muddy. Some of the stiles had been overgrown, some with missing or unsteady treads and others a bit high for some of us. Despite the mud in places it had been surprisingly firm underfoot for the Vale of Glamorgan and we had enjoyed the walk unspoiled by rain which had threatened throughout the day. The walk was 7 miles and 700ft. Map 151.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tA map of any of the walks featured in this column is available as a pdf file from Ian .at ianmoody029@gmail.com<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cefn Mably and Ruperra Castle We were lucky, there had been snow overnight; in Cardiff and the Vale the snow was light but further north there were heavy falls. Starting at the drive to Cefn Mably, near the farm, we walked towards the house and passed in front of it. We turned west walking across farmland which was rather […]<\/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":[295,294],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-162","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5694,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5694","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":0},"title":"Parc Cefn Onn","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Parc Cefn Onn. The park was closed as they are installing ramps and a diversion skirts the eastern edge of the park. In February, Camellias were in full flower and the red trunks of Acers stood out. Entering open countryside we climbed onto the ridge and walked parallel to the\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":5448,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5448","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":1},"title":"Clyne Valley","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Clyne Valley We parked in lower Sketty, Swansea near the recycling centre and headed generally northwest through Clyne Valley Country Park. The land near the path was once a rubbish tip and before that a spoil heap from the Clyne Valley Colliery (closed 1921). Coal mining was the first industry\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\/01\/walk-5-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5534,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5534","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":2},"title":"Cwm Clydach and The Swansea Canal","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On a sunny morning in late October, we parked in Clydach and we walked east along the Swansea canal, with reflections of trees in its still waters. The canal was built to serve collieries, iron works and copper works in the Tawe valley. The first section opened in 1796; its\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\/01\/IMG_9072.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4335,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4335","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":3},"title":"Quakers Yard and Hendryd Falls","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Quakers Yard - Starting at Quakers Yard, until the 18th Century, known as Rhyd y Grug, \u2018the ford of the rustling waters\u2019, where the Bargoed Taff and Taff rivers meet. Its name changed when land was bequeathed to the Quaker movement for use as a burial ground or yard.\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":164,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=164","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":4},"title":"Footsteps","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th July 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"THE SKIRRID \u00a0 Llanvihangel Crucorney is a small village five miles to the north of Abergavenny. We parked there and set off south-east and soon came to Llanvihangel Court. According to the guide books this is one of the most impressive and richly decorated houses dating from around 1600 in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3539,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3539","url_meta":{"origin":4218,"position":5},"title":"July Walks","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Circumnavigation of Partrishow Hill We started in Llanbedr on a sunny and humid morning, parking near the church and walking a short stretch of road to turn right onto a river side footpath . We climbed in a south easterly direction and followed a path across the road at\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218"}],"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=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4228,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions\/4228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Feb-2018-2-of-4.jpg?resize=300%2C196\")
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