Friday 10 February 2012

Day 7 (Clydach Gorge)

Welsh weather! Little point in wandering uphill today and our venue was going to be the Clydach Gorge and the industrial history it supported some time ago.

Plan A was to park in Llanfoist, catch a bus to Brynmawr and walk back.  Unfortunately the local bus service did not understand our plan.  In the absence of any up valley buses we changed to plan B.  Walk up the valley and hope that there were  buses back from Brynmawr.

We took the converted old railway line and eventually looked down on a frozen Mon and Breck Canal.



The canal footpath was joined and we stayed on this until Gilwern.  Here we left the canal and followed a path up the Afon Clydach (my third Afon Clydach since starting this blog in January 2012).



We crossed the old Smarts Bridge and came across the old furnaces.  This must have been a hive of industry way back when but all was quiet today.





Our route led us back onto the old railway bed for lunch. After food we kept on this path which led us close to the Clydach Nature Reserve and all the way into Brynmawr.


Thankfully Plan B was achieved as we caught a bus back although it did take a very roundabout route.  Not much income for them today as we were the only two passengers and both claiming free travel!

Although the forecast for tomorrow, our last day, was looking good it was decided we would head home.  A good week of walking in a variety of weather and venues.  Must now start thinking about our October trip.

1 comment:

  1. looks like you had a varied week of walking all in all. Its a fabulous area. Llanthony Priory, Crug Hywel and Black Hill are the jewels in the Black Mountains crown

    come back soon :)

    ReplyDelete