Views of hidden valley misted
LAST Sunday, November 29, Peter Loughran led the Carmarthen Ramblers on a 12-mile walk with a shorter seven-mile option in the Carmarthenshire countryside north east of Whitemill.
Both routes mainly covered quiet country roads and paths, but also took in the beautiful hidden valley but an autumn mist persisted most of the day spoiling the scenic views.
The walk started in Abergwili from the car park outside the museum grounds, but before the walk started, Peter explained the safety conditions imposed on the group and then gave a description of the work that is going on in the Bishops Park, the museum and the walled garden in the grounds behind them.
They walked a couple of hundred metres along the new cycle track to reach a pedestrian gate that gave access to a set of steps that led down into the Bishops’ Park. They walked through the grounds and Peter gave an update on redevelopment plans.
They left the grounds and crossed the A40 into Castell Pigyn Road then onto a woodland footpath that ran parallel to the main road a short distance before returning to the road that led to Bishops
Mill where they took a farm track past Pen-ybanc up towards Cwm
Farm.
At the top of the hill they left the track and followed the hedge line eastwards across the fields to reach a country road at Pen-ygadair. The group stayed on the road for just over a mile passing Allt y Fyrddin Farm (Merlin’s Hill), to reach a road junction that took them off in a north westerly direction. A quar
ter of a mile further on the road ended and split into two lanes. Taking the right-hand option, they soon arrived at Gilfach-yrhew and stayed on the track to pass behind the yard to the fields beyond.
Here they found an old lane that took them to woodland overlooking the Nant Penycnwc valley.
Their route led down through a couple of fields to a lane to reach a road where they turned left to cross the road bridge over the Nant Penycnwc into the hamlet of Pencnwc. Here they turned right onto a track into the beautiful Hidden Valley of Nant Penycnwc.
The path headed in a north easterly direction for about three quarters of a mile (past the shooting range) where they had views of herds of deer and stopped for a coffee break on a bank with a view over the man-made lakes in the valley.
At this point, those walking the shorter route retraced their footsteps back to Pencnwc then followed the road back to Whitemill. Just before the main road they stopped to admire some excellent wood carvings in a woodland work area just off the road.
Turning towards Carmarthen they crossed the A40 to a road junction near Fronuin farm and followed the quiet road parallel to the A40 - passing the Abergwili Concrete Products yard for just over a mile then onto the new section of the cycle track to return to the car park back in Abergwili.
Meanwhile, the main group continued in the same direction up the valley crossing some marshy ground before reaching a country road at Black Bush Farm.
Here they turned eastward and started a twomile section of road work as they followed the road uphill passed Briste to the next junction and turned southward for about half a mile to the junction at Bryn-hawddgar and turned southwards passed Haulfryn to Coed y Berllan where the road ended. From this point there should have been good views across the Towy Valley with the Black Mountain in the distance and Garn Goch in the foreground but all were hidden in the mist.
From this point the route became a rough track with slippery exposed bedrock that led downhill for about half a mile into the farmyard of Penbwlch Isaf then along a lane down to Carregllys.
Just beyond Carregllys they crossed a country road that leads to St
Michael’s and All Angels Church Llanfihangel Uwch Gwili just a quarter of a mile away, into a field on a hillside where they stopped for lunch overlooking the Annell valley.
In the afternoon they contoured around a hillside to emerge into the farmyard of Waun-yr-afr. Now heading in a generally westward direction they turned towards Carmarthen and headed down the road for about a mile passed Penbryn in the distance, then just beyond they crossed a field and the river Annell to reach a road again at Penybanc-bach.
This was the start of the a one-and-a-half-mile road walking leg of the ramble that took them downhill to Whitemill and just before the village they took a right turn into a bridleway that led back up hill to join the road near Allt y fyrddin farm (Merlin’s Hill) and followed the road downhill to the car park in Abergwili to complete the walk.
The Covid restrictions are continually changing and are making it very difficult to plan a programme too far ahead. However the details of the next walk can be obtained from the website - www. carmarthenramblers.org. uk