Cambrian Way rerun: Crosskeys to Blaenavon

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. After 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 at 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 tiring climb up to Twmbarlwm and so I strode along the path quickly devouring the miles, until I eventually descended into 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 to find 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 now 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 by branching off at the first road I reached, but instead 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 on grass. 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 previously been heavily industrialised, 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.

Cambrian Way rerun: Cardiff Bay to Crosskeys

Saturday 17th May 2025

Almost immediately after coming back from my ill-fated walk along the Cambrian Way last year I started to plan a return visit to the sections that I had failed to do previously because of bad weather, but then, a couple of months later, I had a crazy idea of doing the whole trail again. The Cambrian Way is about three hundred miles long starting in Cardiff, by the south coast of Wales, and follows a course across the nation over the mountains all the way until it eventually ends in Conwy on the north coast, three weeks later. Despite the many difficulties I had last year, the idea of doing it again and learning from my previous mistakes was exciting and proved irresistible. After months of meticulous planning over the winter and eager anticipation I eventually arrived at the railway station in Cardiff and immediately set off in the wrong direction. The Cambrian Way starts at the gates of Cardiff Castle, which is north of Cardiff Central station, and yet I headed south towards Cardiff Bay. Since I’ve already done a lot of the Cambrian Way before I felt I was under no obligation to stick rigidly to the trail this time, so while I would follow the sections of the trail that were new for me, I had no qualms about cutting corners on sections that I had done before. Last year, I started my trail by walking around Cardiff Bay as I felt that was the more fitting place to start a coast to coast trail across Wales and this time was no different, so I headed south to Roald Dahl Plass, outside the Millennium Centre, where I had views across Cardiff Bay.

From the Water Tower I set off along the Taff Trail and soon joined the river, heading north. Since the Cambrian Way also follows the River Taff out of Cardiff, I thought this be a good route for me to take from the bay, along the west bank of the river passing the Millennium Stadium and bypassing Cardiff Castle, while the exciting thought filled my mind that an epic, three week journey had just begun. The weather was warm and sunny, but I knew that in Wales this was not going to last for three weeks, though I hoped that this time I would be more prepared for anything. My path coincided with that of many cyclists and runners, and while the Cambrian Way passed through Bute Park on the eastern side of the river I kept to the western shore passing through the pleasant landscape of Sophia Gardens and into Pontcanna Fields. The river was lined with trees while cow parsley and buttercups lined my path, which I had not seen when I left Cardiff last year since that had been in August, so I was looking forward to the change in vegetation that I would see this time on the trail. At Black Weir I crossed the bridge and finally joined the Cambrian Way on the east bank of the Taff where wild garlic decorated the woodland floor. At Gabalfa the Cambrian Way crosses the river for a needless diversion to Llandaff Cathedral, so I stayed on the east bank following the Taff Trail and when the trail turned right around the edge of Hailey Park I stayed beside the river. This wasn’t actually deliberate, but it was better and soon I reached a railway bridge where I rejoined the Cambrian Way and where a short stretch of road walking led me to one of the highlights of the whole trail.

I had entered a disused length of the Glamorganshire Canal which is now a nature reserve and was a fabulous place for me to walk, totally overgrown and given over to nature. It was gorgeous with the shallow waters of the canal filled with water lilies, looking beautiful even though they were not in flower, while yellow iris filled the bank to my left. Eventually I came to the end of this surviving section of canal where I was confronted with my first climb of the trail up to the complex network of paths that took me through the junction of the M4 motorway with the A470 trunk road that soon led me into the village of Tongwynlais where my first proper climb took me up the road to Castell Coch. I was not bothered about the red castle, but the steep climb that took me through woodland soon had me sweating in the warm weather, so I was thankful when the gradient eventually eased. Last year, I turned left at this point to head back down into the Taff valley with my first day on the trail already finished, but this time I kept going along the popular, wide path. The yellow flowers of broom decorated the thick green vegetation that lined the path until at the Three Bears Caves, a disused mine, I stopped for lunch. My onward course took me past a golf course on my left while to my right the woodland floor was carpeted with wild garlic, though not at its best as it was already going to seed. After passing a car park, I crossed a road and followed a narrower path that weaved around the contours before widening and becoming easier underfoot, so I strode on, enjoying the walk with the trees shining a bright green in the sunlight.

When I reached a junction I checked my location and realised that I had missed a turning, so I had to retrace my steps back through the brightly lit trees until I eventually returned to the point that I should not have missed. I had thought that having done a lot of the Cambrian Way before the navigation would be easy for me this time so I could relax and just enjoy the trail, but much as I would have loved to have disengaged my brain, this incident showed that I couldn’t afford to since I had not missed that turning last year. I should at least have been able to learn from my missed turnings last year, but at Thornhill I made the same mistake I’d made before. The undulating trail continued along a broad ridge with little or no view through the tree so I just ploughed on and appreciated having the shelter from the sun. My interest was only awakened by the frequent appearance of wild garlic and particularly in one place where it covered the woodland floor and had not gone to seed. When views did finally appear, on the edge of an old quarry, they were rather hazy, so despite the clear blue skies, they were not as appealing as they had been last year at this point. My route took me over Cefn Onn and continued for many miles until I finally turned north again on a wide forestry track through Coed Cefn-pwll-du and descended into the Rhymney Valley to reach Machen where the first stage of the Cambrian Way ends. I had originally planned on stopping at this point, but since it was still early and I was feeling strong, I decided to keep going, climbing up the hill towards Mynydd Machen. 

This was a tiring climb in the hot weather with the young woodland not providing me with any shelter, though as I climbed the views opened out towards Newport, where I was staying for the weekend, and beyond to the Bristol Channel. Eventually I turned north again to climb an eroded path that brought me to the radio transmitter and trig point that sits at the summit of Mynydd Machen, but I was just glad that the climbing was now over with a long descent ahead of me into the Ebbw valley. Previously I had made a number of mistakes on this descent, so I now made sure to take the correct route into woodland decorated with bluebells and down a complicated sequence of paths that had previously been overgrown but it was now not too difficult to find my way, especially with the benefit of hindsight. Soon, I reached the Ebbw River and the road between Crosskeys and Risca where I turned left to reach the railway station at Crosskeys. This was a great start to the Cambrian Way and after spending all year doing exercises to strengthen my legs I felt better prepared for this walk than many others that I have done. I was eager for what the next three weeks lay in store for me.