The anticipated Boxing Day Slog this year was replaced with a shorter
affair due to social arrangments. Spent a mostly pleasant although
often soggy and slippy ninety minutes on mixed terrain, roads/paths to
approach hills/trails near Cwmbran, and roads on return.
Following a short section of roads my route today joins a footpath we know locally as "The Incline".
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| Looking down "The Incline" |
The path follows the original line of the Incline Tramway from Henllys
Colliery to the Monmouth and Brecon canal at Dwy Loc, Hen Gwmbran. So it's an incline, as the name suggests, I
have 120m of climb over a distance of 1.5km on this path. The last paved
section ends at a short steep street, two rows of houses/cottages ...
on the one side called "New Row", and on the other side called "Old
Row".
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| New Row |
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| Old Row |
This photo does not convey the ferocious barking of the dog which stopped
me in my tracks. I fumbled with my camera to capture the scene in front of me, but this snap was taken at the moment where the owner had opened the
front door and hollered at the hound. So I leave the roads behind now, a few steps, and we are on the trails along the old incline tramway, as we approach a stile.
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| The incline changes from road to trail |
The ground is a bit soggy, a bit slippy, well no surprise after the rain
that's fallen down from the skies of late. I do not have my studs with
me on this trip, I am in my new Saucony road shoes, so here comes their
baptism! We pass classic symbols of South Wales ... slag heaps and sheep ...
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| Slag heaps and sheep |
... as the route today leads uphill and then bear left before the old quarry.
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| Approach to the old quarry |
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The steep soggy slippy ground underfoot here is a challenge for my road shoes, a faceplant right in front of the stile. Soon as I bear right the view of my target in the distance, the "Pimple" on top of Twmbarlwm, and then the approach. This mound atop the hill, dissapointingly, the
archaeologists have decided is a Norman "motte and bailey", as opposed
to the burial place of an ancient local Welsh Prince Bran (so, Cwmbran,
means "Valley of the Crows", sigh).
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| The "Pimple" in the distance |
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| Approach to the "Pimple" |
The pimple is conquered and a moment to savour the sights. From here the
views on a clear day are magnificent, for example looking over the
Bristol Channel. Today, this morning, visibility is only moderate.
The
view across and down to the trig point, which might well be the highest
natural point of this hill ...
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| Twmbarlwm trig point from the "Pimple" |
Then to the north, the view back over the ridge where I have just run, and along which I will return. You can see the patch of forestry in the distance to the right, I will descend at the far edge of these trees, the path there is fun to run.
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| The ridge between Twmbarlwm and Mynydd Maen |
Yes, these new road shoes have been well baptised today. Oh well, at
least my feet can't get any wetter now. Turning the camera a little to
the east we have a hazy view over Cwmbran below ...
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| Hazy view over Cwmbran |
... and toward the west, Cwmcarn forest, very popular with Sunday drive trippers, and off-road motorbikers. I saw only two other people on the hills this morning, both motorbikers. I exchanged a curteous wave with one of them, thinking to myself how their tyres lay ruin to the delicate hill paths I love to run (grrr!) ...
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| Cwmcarn forest |
... oh well, before long I reach the stoney muddy wet track (aka, stream) descending back to the roads above the old Henllys School ... some roughish running here.
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| Rough running here |
I had a good 1:24:27 on Boxing Day morning running over a distance of
11.4km, climbing 390m.
This was a bit of a special run for me.
I remember the
incline tramway path - if memory serves, less paved way back then - as part of the regular
school "cross country" run. I spent a lot of hours of my youth on the
hills here, hiking and camping, and that old quarry is where I first
learned to climb, as a teenager.
This year, 2012, in early January, here
(different route) was my very first, very tentative, exploration of
trail/hill running ...
I hope you enjoy!
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