Tag: St Illtud's Walk
St Illtud’s Walk, day 7: Resolfen to Afan Argoed
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 7: Resolfen to Afan Argoed St Illtud’s Walk, day 7: Resolfen to Afan Argoed](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_3825.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
Another nine-mile walk over hills between valleys, this time Cwm Nedd and Cwm Afan. It’s too complex and time-consuming today to take buses, our favoured means of transport, so C and I are reduced to the two-car trick, leaving one at our destination, the Afan Argoed Visitor Centre, and taking the other, via Pontrhydyfen and […]
St Illtud’s Walk: day 6: Y Creunant to Resolfen
![St Illtud’s Walk: day 6: Y Creunant to Resolfen St Illtud’s Walk: day 6: Y Creunant to Resolfen](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5499-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
We’ve now erased the dark memory of Day 5, back in November, and today the daylight hours are reassuringly long. So C and I feel up to tackling another inter-valley stage of the Walk, from Y Creunant to Resolfen. We should have done this as the coda to the last stage, but exhaustion and fading […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 5: Pontardawe to Creunant
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 5: Pontardawe to Creunant St Illtud’s Walk, day 5: Pontardawe to Creunant](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/segadellis.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
Forestry isn’t my favourite walking environment, and today has done nothing to shift that prejudice. It all began so well. Well, fairly well. Today C. and I start out by bus. But since our last encounter with St Illtud, First Cymru has done its best to destroy our local bus timetable. It now takes nearly […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 4: Penlle’r Castell to Pontardawe
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 4: Penlle’r Castell to Pontardawe St Illtud’s Walk, day 4: Penlle’r Castell to Pontardawe](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Illtud-3.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
No buses go anywhere near Penlle’r Castell, so C and I are lucky this morning to catch a lift by car. It’s a bright autumn day, with good visibility and little threat of rain. We’re back on the high moor in the middle of windmill land, and the path takes us through another turbine colony, […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 3: Pontarddulais to Penlle’r Castell
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 3: Pontarddulais to Penlle’r Castell St Illtud’s Walk, day 3: Pontarddulais to Penlle’r Castell](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_5115.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
The excellent X13 bus runs all the way from Swansea to Llandeilo, but today C. and I take it just as far as Pontarddulais. We aim to climb Graig Fawr and explore the hills beyond, as far as Penlle’r Castell, and maybe beyond. The Met Office promises a cloudy but rainless day; it’s warm enough, […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 2: Furnace to Pontarddulais
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 2: Furnace to Pontarddulais St Illtud’s Walk, day 2: Furnace to Pontarddulais](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/illtud-2-1-rotated.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
A week later, and I’m back at Furnace, this time with a companion, C. It promises to be sunny all day, with a slight breeze to offset the heat. We’ve walked up from the bus station, past the small villas of Llanelli’s Victorian middle classes and the spawling Stradey Park Hotel, where, according to the […]
St Illtud’s Walk, day 1: Pen-bre to Furnace
![St Illtud’s Walk, day 1: Pen-bre to Furnace St Illtud’s Walk, day 1: Pen-bre to Furnace](http://i0.wp.com/gwallter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/illtud-9-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1)
It’s a local enough path, but I’ve never walked it before. St Illtud’s Walk, invented by Colin Davies of Llanelli Ramblers in 1994, joins two country parks, Pen-bre and Margam, passing through three counties and some very varied terrain. As practice for tackling Glyndŵr’s Way next month, it’s my ideal preparation, offering good distances and […]