GERAINT from Penarth and District Ramblers opted for a trip up to the beautiful Aber Valley for his latest ramble and was joined by a group of 12 walkers on a nine-mile walk.
They visited the Welsh National Memorial Garden in Senghenydd that commemorates the 152 mining disasters in the whole of Wales, to hear about the two that hit the local Universal Colliery. In May 1901, an explosion killed 81 miners, but the worse was to come at 8am on Tuesday, 14th October 1913, when 440 men and boys lost their lives after an explosion, making this the worst disaster in Britain.
After viewing the Wall of Remembrance where individual tiles represent all those who died, they moved on to the village of Abertridwr and the site of the former Windsor Colliery where six men drowned in 25 feet of water in 1902 after working on deepening the mine.
Then, a long steady climb beside the Nant Cwmceffyl stream led them into a field with some amazing views of the mist-covered valley below them, whilst they bathed in glorious autumnal sunshine. They joined the Senghenydd Dyke, which originally held a huge deer park, probably relating to the building of Caerphilly Castle, before they crossed open moorland to reach Mynydd Eglwysilan and a final climb to the trig point and a stop for lunch.
Then, they passed boggy areas and joined the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk for the steep descent back into the valley and over the Glan Nant stream back to their start.
Trellech and the Wye
Nick travelled up to the Wye Valley and was joined by a group of four on a cool and bright autumnal morning in the peaceful village of Trellech and they set off through Court Farm at the start of their 11 mile-walk. They passed the 40-foot mound known as the Tump Terret and passed the tall-spired Church of St Nicholas for a short road walk into the Wet Meadow, a local nature reserve and past clumps of pink waxcap fungi.
Lovely paths in Manor Wood led to Parson’s Allotment, then into the stunning Cuckoo Wood and a stop for lunch before they moved on past moss-covered trees and boulders on crisp carpets of autumnal leaves. After gazing over the River Wye making its way through the valley below, they arrived at Cleddon Shoots where a waterfall crashes down into the valley and the village of Llandogo below where, during the 19th Century, the famous flat-bottomed trows were bult to trade on the River Wye.
Bargain Wood came next, then Botany Bay and Wyes Wood Common, before a journey along the road led them through Catbrook and along narrow paths in Ninewells Wood to exit back onto the road for the tramp back to their start.
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Joy Strangward
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