llywela | a weekend in the Rhondda

I spent last weekend having a very fandomy few days with Pros friends up in the village of Blaencwm, right up at the top corner of the Rhondda Valley. We had a lovely time - eating, talking and watching the most random, cultish DVDs we could find to bring. We also took in a massive car boot sale in Resolven, and in between bursts of heavy rain we found time for a couple of lovely (albeit slightly muddy) walks up the mountain, since it was right there outside the front door. Seriously - Marnie has this right on her front doorstep:

Say hello to Pen Pych!

Being an unambitious lot - and since it was pretty wet underfoot - we were not aiming for the top, no sirree. We were aiming for this:

Pretty, right? The walk up to it is pretty, as well.

We didn't get all the way up close to the waterfall because it started to rain and got too slippery underfoot to carry on, but we made it a fair way!

Look at these views across the valley from the lower slopes - 50 years ago, this landscape would have been bristling with pit-heads, black with coal dust and slag heaps. It is really amazing how fast nature reclaims her own.

Some views along the river

Another walk along the mountain trail, this time back down the valley rather than up toward Pen Pych

The black horse was delightfully friendly and came running over to see if we had any treats to offer it; the grey barely even noticed we were passing.

As well as all this, we found time to call in at a huge indoor car boot sale in Resolven and along the way stopped off at a viewing point along the road that winds around the top of the Rhigos Mountain to admire the view across the valley and into the Brecon Beacons. From here you can see distant wind farms; Craig y Llyn, which is the highest point in Glamorgan; Llyn Fawr, which is a lake that was turned into a reservoir where a significant Iron Age hoard was found; Tower Colliery, which was the last deep mine in South Wales, run as a workers' cooperative for 13 years but finally closed in 2008; and far away in the distance are Pen y Fan and Corn Du, the highest mountains in South Wales. I've attempted to stitch a few pictures together to create a panorama - I hope the joins aren't too obvious!

Phew! Picspams are much more labour-intensive now that LJ has brought in the new Scrapbook! Thanks to

galathea_snb for help with the technical jiggery-pokery!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That looks beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous, despite the grim weather we've been having lately! I'm glad you had a nice trip.

We timed our runs very carefully, to avoid the rain. I'm pretty sure that we (ie the UK) are the victims of a vast conspiracy to make us believe it is July, when really it is March! Maybe April. It certainly isn't July. But they say there is a glimmer of summer on the horizon, so fingers crossed!

Thanks, Ros. How are you feeling now, back in Ireland? Are things any easier?

Heh, a conspiracy makes more sense than the idea that this actually is July! Nearly August, even. It feels like April at the latest. I'm still going around in two jumpers!

I'm OK, thank you. Things are a bit easier, and I feel a bit less drained.

Oooh, looky-looky! Nice pics, Jo. I've pinched a copy of the panoramic one - couldn't see the joins so very well done.
It was a fabulous weekend, very relaxing and marvellous company. We must do it again sometime :)

Sue

Aye, we must do it again! All those shows still waiting to be watched!

It was an excellent weekend - great that we could get together and Marnie has the best views! :)

Carol

She does. I am very jealous of that location. *G*

Very gorgeous! ♥ Looks like you had a lovely walk up there. The view is definitely worth the exertion. *g*

Hehe, there wasn't that much exertion really - a much more gentle trail than the mountain I hauled you and Nikki up last summer! I mean, the fact that there is a trail, alone...*G*

But... but... what..? You were just up the road (literally!) and... you didn't tell me! You may even have driven right past my house! [Shock of disbelief]

Not that my house is fit for visitors, but maybe we could have met up for a cuppa and a natter..

Believe it or not I've yet to walk up Pen Pych. Is that waterfall the one that can be seen from halfway up the Rhigos road?

I was on the train, which probably did pass pretty close to you but didn't really allow for stopping off, and then I was with Marnie, Sue and Carol the rest of the time. Tell you what, I'll come up again sometime and stop in to see you (you'll have to tell me where to get off the train and come meet me there, though) and we'll pop up to Pen Pych and do the waterfall walk together! It is indeed the one that can be seen from the Rhigos road.

It's a deal :)
Though it might be a good idea to give me plenty of warning if you're coming to the house, because I'm not joking when I describe it as a tip :(

*G* I'm off work next week, but school hols probably not the best time for you. Maybe September? It'll be sunny again by then!

School hols isn't the problem. The problem is that 'tidying' here gets done whenever we seriously can't find something... and that generally means that everything from one heap of cr*p gets transferred to a different heap of cr*p. And then the various heaps fall over, and no one can be bothered to pick them up. The room I'm in at the moment has a floor almost entirely covered with collapsed heaps.
It's a whole 'nother meaning of the word 'tidying'.

It's not something I'm proud of, but if I didn't laugh I'd be in floods of tears the whole time. It does mean, however, that I'm very reluctant to invite people to the house.

That said, I've no objection to meeting you somewhere and going out. I'm busy and/or otherwhere from now until mid August, but after that...

Ah, mess doesn't bother me. My front room floor is at present covered in piles of papers, because I suddenly decided that now would be a good time to sort and file the years' worth of old bank statements and bills I've had stuffed away mouldering in corners, and it turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated, and I only started it because I needed to find my expired passport to get it renewed, which still hasn't happened...

Meeting somewhere and going out sounds good to me. Maybe we can fix on a date when we're both less busy and the weather has improved slightly. :)

They're lovely photos! Glad you managed to have a nice time despite the rain. :-)

Thanks. The rain just meant that we spent longer indoors watching DVDs than we might otherwise have done...*G*

hee, I might have to dispute that one :) I'm never one to over-do this exercise thingy when there are dvds to watch :)

Hee, well, then, the rain made absolutely no difference whatsoever other than the occasional cessation of it was the only reason we stirred out of the house at all! *G*

It looks very lovely!! :) And awesome people to share it with too!

Absolutely - awesome company, awesome scenery, awesome weekend!

Glad you had a great time with your friends, depsite the weather's attempts to dampen things! Whoa, that's right on her doorstep? Amazing. What a beautiful place ♥ Your countryside is so green! Not even in winter can we get that level of greenness. Thanks for sharing the pics :D

Edited 2012-07-19 23:13 (UTC)

Hee, yes, if there's one thing we tend not to lack in Wales, it is rain to make the green things greener!

Thank you for the beautiful picspam especially since they are more work now! I love that you encountered horses! So, they roam wild?

There are wild ponies roaming around in the mountains (mostly further north and west, though), but these two belong to a local farmer who has them tethered out in this field (if you can call it a field, since it is on the side of a mountain and not enclosed) - on very long tethers, so they can move about but not wander off and get lost on the mountain or fall down a crag.

a weekend in the Rhondda

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