Walking to Work, May 2015

On sunny days when I'm organised enough to leave the house early, I like nothing more than walking to work instead of travelling by bus.

I still catch the bus on those days, but only for the first part of the journey, jumping off at the gates of Thompson's Park in Canton.

This is one of the oldest parks in the city. It was opened to the public in 1891 by the landowner, Mr Charles Thompson, who gave it to the Cardiff Council in 1912 and continued to develop it as a public park at his own expense. Here we see the southern end with the pond, fountain and the bronze sculpture 'Joyance' by Goscombe John - or, rather, a replica thereof, as the original was removed to St Fagans a few years ago after being stolen multiple times.

I walk through the park, which takes me up the hill and across the top field, passing this Paulownia tree.

I exit the park onto the main road and cross to enter Llandaff Fields...

...cross the field, past the children's play area, and through into Pontcanna Fields

From here I can either pick up the Taff Trail on the western bank of the river and follow the path into town, or cross the Taff at Blackweir to pick up the trail on the eastern bank. I usually cross at Blackweir.

Here, there are about three or four different paths I can take into town - there's the towpath along the Mill Stream, the main paths around into Bute Park and Cooper's Field, or my personal favourite: the nature trail along the river bank. Early in the morning with only the occasional runner or dog walker to disturb the peace, I always love this quiet, beautiful walk - it's so soothing to the soul.

Along the way, I pass the Secret Garden Cafe and the Summerhouse Cafe, the other footbridge and various waterfowl

And further along I again have a choice: continue along the riverside, through the formal gardens of Bute Park, or drift across into the arboretum and Cooper's Field. This latter route takes me past the remains of the old Blackfriar's Abbey

Blackfriars Friary is the site of a former Dominican friary established in 1256 and occupied for 288 years until it was dissolved and handed over to the crown in 1538 during the rule of Henry the VIII.
In 1404 the site was sacked and burnt by Owain Glyndwr during his campaign against English rule, but damaged parts of the building were re-built. Following its closure as a friary, much of the building’s fabric was lost and the extent of the site was not revealed until it was excavated in 1887 on request of the third Marquess of Bute. The architect William Frame was then tasked with interpreting the site as an ornamental garden feature. At this time the site lay within the private grounds of Cardiff Castle - since donated by the Bute family to the city of Cardiff. The Victorian scheme was partially restored in 2013 using reclaimed bricks to match the originals.

From here I continue past the gorsedd stones and Cardiff Castle, on into town and to work. The entire journey takes around an hour, all told.

A winter's walk - Fourteen Locks

I went for another winter's walk on Saturday, a four-mile cross country hike in the Newport area this time, setting out from the Fourteen Locks Visitor Centre at Rogerstone and taking in the Allt-yr-Ynn nature reserve, Wern-ddu wood and Ynysyfro reservoir en route. It was a beautiful day, bright and crisp and clear - cold enough that I ended up with a headache, but still a lovely walk...if a little muddy in places. I think I might have to invest in slightly sturdier walking boots!

This is the 'pound' at Fourteen Locks.

 

The 'Fourteen Locks' Centre gets its name from a series of locks known as the Cefn Flight, which is an absolutely ingenious piece of canal engineering, dropping 169 feet in just half a mile - it's one of the steepest series of locks in the UK, completed in 1799.

 

This waterway was a branch of the Monmouthshire Canal, built to transport supplies upstream to the mines and coal and iron back down-river to the port in Newport. The canal was made redundant as a means of trade when the railways came along, and fell out of use entirely in the 1930s, after which the stretch of water between Locks 8-21 (the 'Fourteen Locks') fell into disrepair - as we can see, industrial decay at its finest!

 

There is a Millennium project between Newport city Council and the Canals Trust to reclaim the waterway, however, and restoration work is ongoing, so maybe some day the locks will be fully functional again.

This is the old lock-keeper's cottage, built in 1792 (and restored about 40 years ago after a fire)

 

I was very taken with this sign along the bridleway - such dramatic imagery!

The walk along the towpath and bridleway is just lovely

Next, we joined up with the Sirhowy Valley Walk, taking us up into the hills.

 

Some lovely views north toward Mynydd Machen and Twmbarlwm.

 Next, we picked our way along a muddy little footpath through the Allt-yr-Ynn nature reserve, which was once the grounds of Allt-yr-Yn House, a large country home now reduced to a ruin hidden in the trees that we didn't even find. We did, however, manage to find Allt-yr-Yn Lido, once an outdoor swimming pool built in the 1930s on the spot where the spring and ornamental pools of Allt-yr-Yn House once stood. The pool closed in the 1960s and was subsequently demolished - this pretty wildlife pond is now all that's left.

We took a very boggy footpath across farmland onto the grounds of Tredegar Park golf course, skirting around the edge of Wern-ddu Wood and heading on past Ynysyfro reservoir.

 

And then we made it back to Fourteen Locks just in time for a nice hot cuppa before the Visitor Centre closed!