A Dare worth taking

After our Saturday stroll into Pontcanna to breakfast out of the house, with the prospect of favourable weather, we headed north on the A470 to find a place for a more vigorous walk. We were aiming for Ystradfellte, and went from the A470 up the Cynon Valley to Aberdare. Here we noticed tourist signs for the Dare Valley Country Park. Curiosity diverted us, and we soon discovered this beautiful side valley off to the north and west of Aberdare, whose river lends its name to the town.

This valley was one of the earliest to be exploited for coal mining, with four pits, the earliest dating back to 1850. All had closed by 1970, and a huge effort was put into reclaiming industrially ravaged land for community use. The result is an impressive landscaping project which has matured to the point where you must scan the hillsides carefully for the scars caused by old coal tips. The valley floor now has two lakes, an abundance of trees and wildlife.

The upper reaches of the valley were less damaged by industry as their steepness have made them much harder to exploit. The valley slopes rise 4-500 feet above its lakes and unite in a rugged rock face, excavated by glaciers in the last Ice Age.

It reminds me of Creux du Van in the Swiss Jura, and my winter expeditions there with my dear friend Pastor Valdo Richard.

Apart from scale - Creux du Van is three times the breadth, four times the height and made of Jurassic limestone - the modestly sized Tarren y Bwllfa outcrop is of Pennant sandstone.

The Dare Valley Park visitor centre boasts accommodation for outdoor educational activity groups, a restaurant, a gallery, a theatre and an intepretation centre which tells the story of local mining history and of the greening of the valley which has made it an exemplar of environmental work which has been done in all the mining valleys of South Wales over the past forty years. Significantly, the Pennant sandstone buildings are also re-cycled from the mining era, and were erected by the Parish for the welfare of miners, to judge by the inscription on a foundation stone.

We took the four mile round trip to the top of Tarren y Bwllfa, enjoying sun, and rain, plus rainbows that had one foot in cloudy moorland above and the other in Cwmdare village. More photos from the walk here.

We returned home in good time to dress up and go out to a preview of an exhibition of paintings by our friend Brian Gardiner, who asked if I could give a speech to open the show. We met when I was at St John's City Parish Church, where we staged an exhibition of his. I find Brian's work inspiring and was glad to enthuse about it publicly. Photos of a selection of his paintings can be seen here, although only a few of them are in this new exhibition. His output is prodigious. This is one of his more recent paintings, on view at the Inkspot Gallery Newport Road in Cardiff

He has a way of looking at everyday urban environment and revealing its character and beauty which is truly contemplative. I'd love to work with him on producing a book about his artistic work.