Sunday 18th May 2025
After I abandoned the route of the Cambrian Way when I attempted it last year, I was eager to try again and so on the day before this walk I started my second attempt. Setting off from Cardiff beside the River Taff I climbed onto the ridge between Caerphilly and Cardiff to eventually reach Machen in the Rhymney Valley where the first stage officially ends, but since it was still early I decided to keep going passing over the hill of Mynydd Machen and down into the Ebbw Valley where I caught a train from Crosskeys back to my accommodation in Newport. At the start of this day I caught a bus back to Crosskeys and immediately set off along the Cambrian Way, across the railway line and up to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. This was a beautiful stretch of canal with loud birdsong filling the air, but all too soon I turned left to climb steeply up the hillside. This was an agonising climb, relieved by being first thing in the morning whereas last year when I did this climb it had much later in the afternoon, but that advantage was hardly felt as it was already warm and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. The unrelenting climb didn’t end of the pass, Pegwn-y-bwlch, as I turned right and continued the ascent all the way up to the top of Twmbarlwm. Behind me I had extensive views stretching all the way to the Brecon Beacons where I could clearly see the distinctive summit of Pen-y-Fan, which I would be walking over in a couple of days, so it felt odd to be walking in the other direction.
The summit of Twmbarlwm was hidden from view for most of the climb until I finally passed through the earthworks of the Iron Age hillfort where the gradient mercifully eased and the views south were revealed to me, though they were rather misty and not as clear as they had been last year. The best views were north towards the Brecon Beacons and rest of Bannau Brycheiniog, so that was where I concentrated my camera before setting off onto the long broad ridge of Mynydd Henllys, with little variation in height, even when the ridge broadens to rise onto the vast top of Mynydd Maen as I maintained the contour along the eastern edge. I appreciated this relaxing walk after the climb up to Twmbarlwm and so I strode along the path quickly devouring the miles, eventually descending to the Blaen Bran Community Woodland, which I entered by squeezing through a narrow kissing gate. Fortunately my rucksack was light for this walk, so I had no problem, but my Cicerone guidebook suggests bypassing the woodland if you are unable to get through the kissing gate, which I was tempted to do anyway since I had gone through the woodland last year. However, I had hoped for a spectacular display of woodland flowers but it wasn’t to be and the best that I saw were actually on the approach, on the moorland edge, where bluebells decorated the bank. Eventually I climbed out of the woodland and was soon walking beside a narrow mountain road before turning right to descend into the Llwyd Valley and the town of Pontypool.
At the gates of Pontypool Park, where the second stage of the Cambrian Way ends, I stopped to have my lunch just inside the park and to have a rest as it had been a pretty strenuous morning and I wasn’t done as the third stage of the Cambrian Way lay before me. After a steep climb through the park alongside bluebells I eventually reached the Shell Grotto where I had extensive views across the valley and in all directions. Turning north I headed up the ridge passing the Folly Tower and alongside the boundary for the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, which I would follow for the rest of the day. After going around Little Mountain, I crossed a stream that was no more than a trickle and then climbed open moorland to reach the trig point on Mynydd Garn-wen. When I did this stage of the Cambrian Way last year the weather had been poor with low cloud that threatened rain while now there was hardly a cloud in the sky though the distant views were often so hazy they were little better. It was fantastic to be walking in such great weather with just a cold crosswind to contend with as I strode along the faint path making my way over the flat top of Mynydd Garnclochdy while disengaging my brain, relaxing and eating up the miles.
The end of the third stage of the Cambrian Way is in Abergavenny, which was still a long way away, but it wouldn’t have been too late by the time I eventually reached the end, so I did consider it, but I didn’t need to get that far ahead of myself. My plan was to drop into the historic mining town of Blaenavon, which I could have done branching off at the first road I reached, but I kept going over Mynydd y Garn-fawr where the terrain was now predominantly heather with a rocky path that prevented me from maintaining the brisk pace that I had previously been able to achieve. By the time I reached a second road, beside two transmitters and a car park, I was exhausted so more than happy to come off the trail and descend the hillside into Blaenavon where I caught a bus back to Newport. This was a rather tedious walk with little to see on two broad ridges, especially with the misty weather, but I enjoyed being able to blindly follow the trail with little thought to navigation and so I found it very relaxing. I was struck by how picturesque the Welsh Valleys looked, which had been heavily industrialised in the past but were now being reclaimed by nature with trees lining the steep sides and impressive hills between. The thought occurred to me that some great walking can be done in the area, along the ridges and through the less populated valleys. That is a possibility for the future, but at this point I was excitedly looking forward to almost three weeks of tremendous walking along the rest of the Cambrian Way.
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