Category: Community Groups
Valeways Walks October 2026
Talgarth, Mynydd Troed
Talgarth, Mynydd Troed
We have had some great walks this summer with the weather being so reliable we have roamed far and wide and had no rain whatsoever.
Talgarth, Mynydd Troed
Another beautiful day with the temperature ideal for walking. As we arrived at the car park in Talgarth we could not miss the kites swirling in the sky above us, up to 6 at a time and their call had a double whistle. What a way to start the day
Early in the walk we saw running water, still a rarity after the hot summer, (we had noted that 2 of the 3 reservoirs on the A470 were almost empty on our drive up). We walked past the barn of college farm where the huge wooden beams were so low the farmer can hit his head on them.
College farm is in Trefecca, where Howell Harris (Hywel Harris) one of the leaders of the Welsh Methodist Revival was born in 1752. He lived in the family home which was in a neo-Gothic Architectural style. A Christian community was established (the Trefecca family). Trefecca College, a theological seminary was established by the Countess of Huntington in 1768. It coincided with six students being excluded from an Oxford college because of their Methodism and formed the first student body. John Wesley preached here in 1769.
We walked along lanes into more open countryside through brown fields and dry looking trees. At a reservoir on farmland the spaniel with us could not resist jumping into the murky water and swimming for a while before trying to find a way out.
The surrounding hills started to come into view and Pen y Fan was one of the first we spotted. We were all a bit surprised when, as we approached Mynydd Troed, we were suddenly faced by a long line of familiar hills: The Dragon’s Back, Lord Hereford’s Knob and Hay Bluff to name a few. It was quite disorientating to realise that Crickhowell was just over those hills. We could see Llangorse lake and chose to relax and look towards it during a lunch break, even though we could not really see the activities there.
Now we headed directly towards Mynydd Troed and skirted along its lower levels on good paths. The hills we had spotted earlier now loomed large. We returned to lanes and passed through a hamlet called Trewalkin – which seemed quite apt.
As we got closer to Talgarth the Pen y Fan range came back into view and crossing a large field we stopped to gaze at a large mound with a big oak tree.
The mound at Penyrwrlodd is a stone-built Neolithic chambered long cairn which dates to 3-4000 years BC, one of the earliest tombs in the region. It was discovered by a local farmer in 1972 when he accidentally uncovered human remains when quarrying for stone. Cadw manages the site which is stabilised by earth-filled geotextile sacks. It would be easy to pass it by, as it is situated in pastures above Talgarth but luckily for us one of us had done their research and pointed it out. Further human remains were found when it was excavated as well as a sheep’s femur with 3 holes in it, possibly the oldest (6,000 years old) surviving musical instrument found in Great Britain.
Returning via Trefecca we found a small chapel which we all entered, it was carpeted throughout with cushioned seats on three sides. A small lectern and prayer books were on the stone wall at the end. Just down the road was a row of small, terraced houses, all identical conjuring memories of similar buildings associated with schools, religious institutions or even the Tower of London. There was even a Victorian post box still in use.
On the final stretch to Talgarth we spotted hops growing in a hedge, a horse with her foal in an orchard and some large fungi.
Entering Talgarth there is plenty of evidence of a strong community, even the visitor centre is still open and run by volunteers. As we walked through the town a group of horse riders were passing. Talgarth mill is the only working watermill in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and one of only 4 remaining in Wales. Drinks were supped in the garden alongside the river Ennig where a couple of us were lucky enough to see a kingfisher flash past.
Walk 8 miles 1042ft Map OL13
“Johnson at 10: The Inside Story” by by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell
“Johnson at 10: The Inside Story” by by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell
The authors of this book are both historians who also collaborated on the book May at 10. However, Sir Anthony Seldon has written many other political biographies of British Prime Ministers.
This book is well researched and written and gives a scathing and full account of the decisions, character flaws and personnel that dictated the course of Boris Johnson’s chaotic Premiership, based on over 200 interviews with his allies, aides and co-workers. It is an in-depth report of the 3 years of his Premiership from July 2019 until September 2022, which covered a series of crises including the upheaval of Brexit, Covid 19, Afghanistan and supporting Ukraine following the Russian invasion. The ultimate revelation of the Partygate Scandal as a result of social gatherings at 10 Downing Street which took place during the Covid Lockdown, led to the final demise of his government.
The majority of the group did not enjoy the book and many only skip read in part. In fact, only a few actually read the whole book but one of the group described it as “brilliant”. It was suggested that the book would be welcomed and appreciated by anyone with strong political interests. However, it generated a lively discussion about Boris Johnson, igniting very passionate views from the Page Turners. Most agreed that Boris Johnson was egotistical and driven purely by his own agenda for wealth, power and personal gain.
The scores ranged from 2 to 8 out of 10 with a final score of 5.
History of Walston Castle and The Grange
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE
History of Walston Castle and The Grange
For our September meeting we welcomed Steve Jones who gave us an informative talk on the “History of Wenvoe”. We learned about the history of Walston Castle and The Grange and about women who had played a prominent part in Wenvoe’s past, including Gertrude Jenner, who was a prominent supporter of Women’s Rights in the latter half of the 19th century, and one of the first suffragists in Wales.
Our October 1st meeting is a change to our published programme. We will be having our “Bring a Bottle” (empty wine type!) workshop. This will be preceded by a short presentation from Charlotte from Vale DAS, our chosen charity for the year, which had to be postponed in February.
The Harvest Supper will now be a Sparkling Supper on November 5th.
Visitors are always welcome to our meetings, which are held in the Church Hall at 7.00pm on the first Thursday of the month. We will also be at the Community Engagement Day, so come along to meet us and find out more about the WI. Please ring 07881853032 for further details.
Carol Charlson (President)
A Lovely Place to Enjoy
LIVING WITH CANCER STROLLERS
A Lovely Place to Enjoy
An Autumnal feel to the air as we strolled around Cosmeston this month. Plenty of sloe berries and blackberries to pick in the hedgerows; and numerous ducks enjoying the cooler weather on the lakes. A lovely place to enjoy the start of a new season.
Wenvoe Hops Group
WENVOE FORUM
Considering Tomorrow Today
Wenvoe Hops Group
We the Wenvoe Hops Group now have 17 members in the village. It wasn’t a great year for Hops, with the weather being so hot this year.
However, 7 of the members contributed to the Harvest on 12th September and the total was 8kg 600g.
Eirwen and Phil had the most with 3kg.550g and Sue Hoddell came second with nearly 3kg.
We had a get together and the group hope next year will be a better year for the hops.
Pipes has started the brew which should be ready on or around 3rd October. Our hops will become Taff Temptress Beer.
Thank you to all our members and we look forward to seeing you in Pipes soon! If you would like to learn more about Hops, please email me: sianjo@btinternet.com
Sian Jones
Ice Creams Were the Preferred Refreshments
Tour Of the BBC Cymru Studios
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE
Tour Of the BBC Cymru Studios
Instead of an official meeting in August, we had lunch in Cardiff followed by a tour of the BBC Cymru Studios.
The tour lasted 90 minutes and seemed to fly by. It started off in the general purpose studio, where we were able to inspect the cameras and the use of green screens was explained. We then went onto the Dylan Thomas spoken word recording studios and witnessed the effects of different surfaces on the quality of the sound. Our next stop was the radio studios followed by the news studio, which is next to the newsroom. We were able to sit at the news desk and stand in front of the weather screen. We also saw how augmented reality is used to put apparently solid objects onto the screen images. Our final stop was the Betty Campbell Studio where we had the opportunity to present the news and weather using autocue in front of a green screen. Our tour guides were excellent, and we were certainly informed, educated and entertained.
On September 3rd we are looking forward to our local historian Steve Jones telling us about History of Wenvoe.
Visitors are always welcome to our meetings. Please ring 07881853032 for further details.
Carol Charlson (President)
Fan Llia & Afan Forest
Fan Llia & Afan Forest
Fan Llia
A beautiful walk on an ideal summer’s day, we were exploring Fforest Fawr and Fan Llia. Sarn Helen, the Roman road which runs from the South Wales coast to the north, followed the river Llia up the valley on an almost level track. The Afon Llia joins the Dringarth to form the Afon Mellte which passes through the Dan yr Ogof caves before plunging down the famous waterfalls around Ystradfellte.
Even at the beginning of the day, we were surrounded by amazing views of the hills. We spotted Maen Llia in the distance, a massive Bronze Age standing stone 12ft high. As we progressed, we could see the flatter lands to the north ahead.
Two people stayed on the lower track while most of us headed up the hillside. The ground was very dry considering it was a peat area and made for easy walking. We saw very little water and at higher levels even the bogs and ponds were dry with the footprints of various animals in the bottom of dried-up ponds. We wondered how the sheep and other animals were managing to survive.
We had lunch near the top of the ridge, glorying in the amazing views surrounding us. The Carmarthen fans were visible to the west and once we reached the ridge, an unusual face of the Pen y Fan range came into view. The forecast had promised a temperature under 20OC and winds of 14mph on the hilltop, a relief after the heat this summer. A breeze blew and some people put on fleeces, but it was not cold.
Birds abounded and we saw a pair of kites, ravens, larks, and other small brown birds. As we left our lunch spot a pair of corvids swooped down to see if we had left any crumbs.
We descended quickly through long grasses and dried bog to meet our friends at a bridge over the river. We walked together back to the car park next to the river. As we were in the middle of nowhere and it was someone’s birthday, a surprise picnic was produced: beer, soft drinks and even cups of tea with delicious bara brith. All nicely finished off with a paddle in the river. Delightful!
Walk 7 miles 1140ft Map OL12
Afan Forest
This is north of Pontrhydyfen. The early part of the walk saw us climbing quite steeply under a sun which beat down on our backs. This was unexpected as the temperature was supposed to be lower than recent weeks!
At the car park are three large stones which are worth inspection as they are carved with symbols of the local area – the viaduct, industry and even a mug.
At lower levels the forest is mixed woodland which can come together over trails to provide shade but higher up it is mainly fir trees and there is little shelter. We were happy whenever we had one of these tunnels of shade as a delicious cooling breeze blew through them.
We came across the single wall, ruin of Gyfylchi chapel (gyfylchi means coming together of mountain passes) – not a parish church but an important place of rest and prayer for travellers on the Cistercian Way, an ancient long-distance path. It linked the great Cistercian Abbeys and hill churches of Wales, including Tintern and Margam.
Near the top of the walk is the remains of Nant y Bar farm whose cows once supplied milk to the whole valley. It was a longhouse where people and animals shared accommodation but at opposite ends of the building. A stream through the cobbled yard flushed the ty-bach (loo).
We mostly trekked on very good tracks, with large stones or sunbaked paths – quite hard going. In open sunny areas there were buddleia bushes and lots of butterflies; tortoiseshell, red admiral and gatekeeper were identified. As lunchtime approached, we had hoped to descend to the river, but the footpath shown on the map had disappeared. We managed to find a satisfactory patch of grass in the shade and enjoyed the rest.
Someone with eagle eyes spotted a slowworm. Soon after we found several benches and picnic tables, but they were all in the sun. Nearing the river, we took a short diversion to let the dogs enjoy the water and to appreciate the cool. Then a short walk took us back to the cars where we changed our boots and went to the hospitable Bethel chapel café for refreshments.
Walk 8.75miles 1700ft Map OS165