Welsh Valleys
The stretch of South Wales known as the Valleys is a great tract of upland, cut through by deep, high-sided valleys.
| Terrain | Long Distance Footpaths | OS Map |
|---|
| Deep-sided wooded valleys and exposed hilltops | Coed Morgannwg Way, Taff Ely Way, Ogwr Ridgeway Walk | Landranger 170, 171 |
Where to go
It is about 35 miles from Pontypool in the east to Neath, as the crow flies. Between the two more than a dozen valleys are intertwined, filling the country from the Brecon Beacons to the sea. Roads and railways stick to the valley bottoms, while the many, very good, longer trails make the best of the upland ridges.
At one time this corner of Wales was thick with mines. For a time in the first quarter of the last century it produced a third of the world's coal. But today, just a single mine, the workers' co-op Tower Colliery, is still in business. Now the Valleys are reinventing themselves, with walking trails that take you through gritty industrial landscapes and way up to wild hilltops.
Highlights
Rhondda Valley
What we know as the Rhondda is actually two linked valleys, Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach. Richard Llewellyn made the Rhondda famous with his novel How Green Was My Valley, although in fact he came from the nearby village of Gilfach Goch.
Coal mining was the business of valley communities, including Tonypandy, Treorchy and Treherbert. The last of the pits was closed in 1990, but the pride in the communities' tough industrial heritage lives on. Lewis Merthyr pit closed in the early 1980s but is a thriving museum, the Rhondda Heritage Park.
Lwyd Valley
The eastern limit of the Valleys, the town of Pontypool on the River Lwyd was a tinplate-making centre. Further up the valley is Blaenafon, once an iron and coal town and now a World Heritage Site.
The works opened in the 1780s and ceased production in 1900. The ironworks centre, which is run by the heritage organisation Cadw, and is open to the public, tells the story not only of iron smelting but also of the lives of the workers.
The nearby Big Pit museum is unique in that it gives those of us who visit a real chance to get close to the real experience by going 300ft below ground.
Rhymney and Sirhowy Valley
Caerphilly is the largest town in the Rhymney. It is best known for its cheese and its castle; one of the largest medieval fortresses in Britain.
To the north of the town the valley is more industrial. At Butetown there is what remains of a model community built for ironworkers by the Marquess of Bute in the early 1800s. There's a small museum that tells the story of Victorian life in the village.
The Sirhowy Valley is steep-sided and well-wooded, and once had coal mines of its own. Sirhowy Valley Country Park has 1,000 acres of meadows and woods with walking and cycling paths.
Taff Valley
The River Taff is joined by the Rhondda at Pontypridd. At the head of the valley is Merthyr Tydfil, once the world's number one iron-producing town. Merthyr's iron foundries were in decline a century ago and the last one was closed in the 1930s. In 1939 there was a plan to level the town and move its people away, a scheme that was shelved permanently on the outbreak of World War Two.
Cyfartha Castle is a Gothic mansion at Merthyr which was the home of one of the leading ironmasters. Today it is a museum charting the history of the wealthy owners and the workers.
Cynon Valley
The River Cynon runs through Aberdare to flow into the Taff at Abercynon, a typical Valleys town with streets as steep as a ski ramp. The valley once produced high-quality coal and was a very go-ahead place – during the first couple of decades of the last century it even had its own tram system to get miners to the pit on time. The trams are now long gone, as are the pits. The site of one of the former collieries has been reclaimed and is now Dare Valley Country Park.
The park's information centre tells the story of the area with obvious pride.
Ogwr and Garw Valley
Two coal valleys that run parallel to one another, divided by a ridge of hills that reach up to 530m. The road through the Ogwr Valley passes through some spectacular upland scenery and at the head of the valley there are panoramic viewpoints.
Coity Castle is a stronghold of the Ogwr, built by one of the first Norman knights to settle in the area, while in the quiet Garw, Bryngarw Country Park has lakes, formal gardens and woods. Bridgend is a busy town with medieval origins that grew up around a river crossing point where the Ogwr and Gawr join. Close to the coast and the M4 it is a gateway to the Valleys.
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