Afon Llwyd River in Winter, South Wales

Pontnewynydd bridge

The Afon Llwyd translates from Welsh as the silver or pewter river.  It eams with fish and is one of the fastest flowing rivers in South Wales.   Small weirs shimmer in the sunlight, attracting a quantity of dog walkers who park and walk along the riverside paths. 

Silver river, a very apt description for the way it looks today, but in the 1950s I remember it differently.   It was deep brown in colour, and to a child, almost like melted chocolate, but as you approached it was very smelly, not like chocolate at all.    Industrial pollution and sewage were poured into the river along its length without a thought for the damage to wildlife or people's health.

New Inn, near to the river, was the site of the Gas Works with its huge gasometer.   This was also smelly, and as you walked along the footpath there was a wall.   It was the most wonderful wall, full of texture and delicate colours and shapes.   Some pieces were smooth and shiny as glass, others rough and full of burst bubbles.   It was made from clinker, a waste product from the Works, but to me it was beautiful.   My Mother regularly lost patience as her child gazed and groped this wonderful object.

Strange the things we remember !

The Gas Works and smells are long gone, hopefully never to return, but the Silver river survived and still flows to the sea.

Gorged with all the recent rain, it was pewter more than silver in our recent photographs, but still beautiful.

A by-now well-worn clinker wall

 

Much of the sharpness and colour have been worn away

Brecon & Monmouthshire Canal South Wales in Winter

Ice just forming amid the reflections

No fishermen today, but the temperature is freezing or below.   No scraps of bread littering the footpath or floating on the water.  Too cold for the casual walkers who regularly come to feed the wildlife, so the ducks look expectantly as we walk past.   Guilt always grips me on these icy days, that I have nothing for them.

A few years ago I returned from the shop with a loaf of bread bought especially.

I love the bare trees and the reflections they make in the water.  You can almost turn the image upside down and have the same result.







But last year was more picturesque !

Snow in winter 2011

When I was a child the canal iced over so thickly that we could walk on it.  Most years it is only strong enough to hold the balls thrown by dogwalkers with a poor aim, and bottles and cans from the usual litter louts.

 

After years of fighting by local people to preserve this area, progress seemed to be made a few months ago when Torfaen Council removed it from their Development Plan.   Unfortunately a few weeks later Torfaen Council over-turned their decision and this beautiful green belt separating Cwmbran from Sebastopol, is once again at risk.   To think in a few years we could possibly lose all this beauty under housing and tarmac roads, is upsetting.  

 

 



 

The Guardian in Winter (South Wales)

If you feel the South Wales Valleys are best viewed during summer weather, perhaps I can try to change your mind.

I recently took a friend to view the Guardian at Six Bells near Abertillery.  The temperature was somewhere around freezing or below.   We wrapped up warmly and turned the heater up in the car on our journey from Ponthir, through Pontypool, Hafodyrynys and Crumlin.


The countryside turned white between Crumlin and Six Bells, not with snow, but with frost.  The freezing fog promised was nowhere to be seen.







Following the brown signs to the Guardian, we turned right down a steep hill to have our first glimpse.   Quickly he disappears and we have to wait until we walk along the path towards him before we have another viewing.

The closer we get, the more impressed my friend becomes.  We brush a thin frost layer from the first information board to read of the colliery disaster at Six Bells.   Further along the pathway, we brush off frost an inch thick to read of the design and structure of the memorial.

This bare-chested miner stands, I am told, as high as the Angel of the North, gazing steadily over the village of Six Bells.   The steel construction weighs 7 tonnes and is surrounded now by parkland, a dipping pond, a fast flowing stream, and a fantastic river walk.

Well worth facing the cold, especially when the Community Cafe awaits with a warm welcoming cup of coffee.

Waterworks Lane, Cwmavon, South wales

 

Waterworks Lane is an unobtrusive turning off the main road at Cwmavon in Torfaen, between Pontypool and Blaenavon.    A reservoir, now derelict, gave rise to the name of the lane, and is situated a short walk along this single track, decorated with fallen leaves and moss.

Water from the reservoir would have been piped for use by the residents of Abersychan and Pontypool. 




A gate at the top of the hill leads to open ground labelled Common Ground by wooden signposts.  Bracken, whimberry bushes and clumps of rushes fight a battle with erosion to cover the barren mountain top.  Where they fail, grey boulders appear, the bones of the earth beneath.



Devil's Heap of Stones

At this time of year Lasgarn Wood looks particularly colourful.  Below the woodland to our left vehicles make their way to and from Blaenavon, unaware of being observed.   We follow the mountain track to a farm gate, then vere right across open ground to encounter the "Devil's Heap of Stones."   The earth's bare bones piled high.

As we turn, the sun lies low in the sky.   It reflects silver on the water trickling along the tracks.






Passing fields of  luscious rain-sodden grass, we continue down the lane.  Sheep graze quietly, but unwittingly we disturb the neighbourhood dogs.  The valley echoes to the barking of hounds ready to tear us limb from limb, or great us with wagging tails and slathering tongues.

A small car park helps relieve this single track of traffic congestion.  Its damp in this little valley so moss grows freely.   A narrow stone bridge leads back to the main road and shopping.