Twmbarlwm meeting

Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society held a public meeting last night.
We held it in the largest room in Crosskeys Rugby Club and it was reasonably full.

Present were CTS society members, at least half a dozen Commoners, local police (including the officer who is now the direct link for matters on the Mountain) councillors from the main two councils in the area, the landowners' representative, Ancient Cwmbran Society members, Environment Agency....and most important, more local people.

Add to this a representative from the group that is making a difference to the area from Blaenafon across the Commons of the Heads of the Valleys, stopping offroad damage, dealing with flytipping and raising the awareness of their locals to the value of what is there.

So much talk about the problems we have AND what has begun to be done by all parties.

We need to find out exactly what is there too- Gwent is the only county without a proper archaeological survey. Yet as a border area for millenia it is stuffed full of evidence!! One excuse has been the industrial development of the area. Now that itself is archaeology.
Look at the remains of quarries and mines and farming on the mountain, all fast being lost.
We are at the point too of losing the people who can give eye-witness accounts of all this.

So, much to do and heartening to see action.

busy Monday

Monday was supposed to be up and at it, getting in the workshop asap....
housework intervened. Putting away the crockery from the dishwasher that The Carpenter filled and drying all the washing he did (YAY!!!). It was a chilly wind, but it dried well.

Moving the empty jars and bottles that await preserves and cordials onto a high shelf in the workshop.
Defrosting one freezerand organising the contents of both, now the smaller is just fruit/juice and the one in the kitchen has veggies and meals ready to be used. I portioned out nine helpings of the curry I made and froze that in shallow "take away" boxes-they fit well in the freezer and take less time to defrost. Thus removing a justification for getting a microwave oven!

A bit of cleaning then it was lunchtime already!!

I had a good workshop session in the afternoon, from two till gone half past six!
Small lidded boxes thrown, with some spare lids, and all eight storage jars finished and the lids turned and knobbed. The dozen salt pots are wrapped in clingfilm, ready to be turned and be-knobbed!

Then it was evening out!!
A small bag of hot fresh chips from the village chip shop cum cafe and I was off! I met The Carpenter on his way into the village and a few chips were welcome after a twenty mile bike commute. Another mile and the second village on, and I arrived at the Crosskeys Rugby Club for the Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society meeting.

The main focus of the society is the iron age fort of Twmbarlwm, but we are concerned for the state of the whole common and mountains that Col loved so much. I wish they had talked to him when they first started. They are finding many old farms, barns and buildings that he could have told them the names and uses and who lived where. There are still some people around that can help, thankfully. The society works with the landowners , the Commoners and other local societies too.

I was glad to have a lift home as it had turned cold, and happy to arrive as The Carpenter was dishing up supper!!

mountain walk.

Now is the ivy holding the tree up, or the tree the ivy???

After steadily tidying and de-cluttering, by 3pm I'd had ENOUGH!!
So by 3.30 I was on my way, with bag packed with food and drink, map and coat...and an old ice cream box just in case I did a spot of fruit picking!!

Up past Maes Derwen, the usual footpath underneath Rhyswg Fawr farmhouse and along beside Col's fields at Rhyswg Fawr Farm Excuse the power cable in this picture!
Twmbarlwm from halfway up- and plenty of people on the path to the top on a lovely afternoon
Out past Rhyswg Fawr stables and Rhyswg Ganol's top gate to the mountain gate and Comin Mynydd Maen Common.

From above Craig Furnace to Hafod Owen with the pylons in the background
Where sheep have scraped away for a scratching place and a shelter, the soil profile is revealed
Above Hafod Owen. Hafod, the summer farm. Possibly Owen, a name, or Ywen, a Yew- sounds similar.

I couldn't find a trace of the old buildings, despite them being marked on the map. It looked as if something had been here... which is where Col and two fellow workers had parked their landrover, when they were planting trees over forty years ago. It was a hot, sunny, still day, and they left the doors open as they sat and eat their lunch sitting out on the grass....and then the doors both slammed shut!! Col just laughed, but the others insisted on leaving....fast!!
Looking back towards Hafod Owen in the middle
Hello!!!
A tidy dam and foal
The grey yearling on the right.
Those were the only ponies I saw today. It would have been good to see some of the others, but I had to turn to return to the village.

Ah, memories-we nearly got stuck in this one three years ago!!
Estate boundary marker.....this side...
and that side
Looking down from near the source of the Nant Carn to the Western slopes of Mynydd Henllys
The old road down towards Rhyswg Fach and Pen Pant (now ruins, the former an old dairy empty since 1954, the latter since the early 60s, afaik, and both demolished although not in bad condition, as soon as they were empty, by the Forestry Commission)
Pant Gwyn (now ruins) in the middle of the fields on the left, and car park two on the Forest Drive above in the middle, with the top of the Mountain Biking trail above that
Once a beech hedge....
logs from The Lappy
The Lappy.....or Craig Go fapi on the maps!! a new road built up and around then clear felled
An old road up to Rhyswg Ganol

That little walk took until 7.45pm!!