walk, Twmbarlwm

Think of the ponies on the Mountain,
wind blowing in their manes,
moving free where they will,
gleaming in Summer, hairy in Winter.

They still need care and attention,
to see that all is well,
to move them from harm.

See their family groups of
several generations.
caring, nurturing, bickering
as families do.

Have them come to see you
and acknowledge you as friend.
That gladdens the heart
and fills the soul.

mountain walk

Today, thanks to The Carpenter, I started from the teashop by the canal on the Darran


and headed up to Pegwn y Bwlch, meeting a man who was born in Madryn street in Crosskeys (about 87 years ago), lived in New Zealand for most of his life, and now lives opposite where he was born! Then I accompanied three generations of one family up Twmbarlwm. (mother, daughters and granddaughter).

I'd come this way because I dowsed the map for the ponies...why hadn't I thought of that earlier! (probably wouldn't have been balanced enough to do it earlier ) They were here- relief! They are elusive, and do move about a lot...and there is a lot of ground- and trees- they can disappear into!!
Good to be welcomed
He is shaping up
No wonder pony feet are difficult to draw...they are always in the undergrowth!!
Twenty years or so ago this was not much more than six feet wide.
Looking back towards Cardiff
I met another walker and dog, had another nice talk, but this meant time was slipping by. I'd seen possibly another three ponies in the distance, ones that always kept together, but I wasn't going across that way now.
I cut down the path by the old quarry workings, you can see the different colour growth on them.
and down paths where I'd been shown the way before, where we'd smelt the reek of fox in the beechwoods. I came out on the Forest Drive by the first car park and barbecue site, where there is a chainsaw sculpture
Then tarmac and verge for a while
The stream which is fed from the North facing slope of the valley has just sunlight flowing. Some of the water does end up underground in the old pit workings, I was told and it will take two rainy days to get it flowing again.
That which is fed from the South facing slopes still runs, but is reduced due to low rainfall.
The old road from Nantcarn down towards Cwmcarn, with the undergrowth gradually encroaching across its path.
It was a fine day for walking, not too warm and with a light breeze.

mountain ponies

I had felt that things were not as they were last week.

Only about ten ponies are left on the mountain, and unfortunately they aren't the best of Col's stock either.

I knew that something had to be sorted about them. Unfortunately it has been assumed that I was "not interested" and possibly that as I had no part in owning them, it was none of my business.

How could that be, when they have been such a part of my life for three years? Animals that came to me unbidden, even without food in the offing!

What is wrong, is misleading me, telling me that "the more you walk up there, the more you'll see"... and being told not to worry, that they are being looked after.


What was so difficult about telling me what had been done, when they know full well I am concerned for them?

clay day and pony news

This morning I managed to get a whole large bin bag of bubblewrap...hooray for Freegle and Freecycle!! I did have to drive to Caerleon to get it...but that was still a lot less than paying for bubblewrap. Ready for more pot-wrapping now!

I came home via the Pontypool end of the Common, and over by the sheepfolds near Ysgubor Wen- I could see where there had been ponies at least, but with rain coming on and no one to walk withI came back to the house.

Then I set to...turning and decorating a smaller platter , making a 1.5 kg bowl into a colander, turning the foot on another, then turning and stamping two 2.5 kg bowls.

After tea I started throwing small bowls (400g), I think I have half a dozen that should be ok and four I'm not sure of. I started throwing some 700g bowls, but started making mistakes...enough for today.

Then supper, and I found that the ponies are being looked after...and the Shetland stallion has been there for a month- but not who owns him. It had been thought that with Col gone, I wasn't interested in the ponies. I've never lost interest in them or the mountain, I've just not been coping with Life until now. Now going up to the mountain is helping greatly. Explaining grief to people is not easy, especially as it takes every person differently.

Just a short walk with The Oily One after supper, as it was getting dark and trying to rain. This does not feel like Summer atall. We have had a day of short heavy showers...some interspersed by rain!! I need some good drying weather to get these pots dry enough to fire.

Pictures tomorrow, all being well!

talking and walking

Today I went for a natter with the vicar! She is very nice, we get on well-and talk about everything except religion!
This is the derelict church in Abercarn, as you begin to walk up through Llanfach to the mountain
You can see how the last heavy rain washed leafmould and gravel down the road
Looking down to a new estate- a big new village in itself but only houses and flats, on the site of a coal mine. Newbridge (Trecelyn) in the middle distance
still going up!
Good sturdy new posts, old gates...and new binder twine holding it all together!

Around the corner, and we have a working quarry. On the right at the top you see a good field of grass...at its lefthand corner, is Hafod Fach...and the quarry is nibbling its way nearer and nearer...



Needless to say no-one lives there now.
What I call "liquorice cows"....Allsorts!!
The cattle grid and boundary of the Common...Comin Mynydd Maen
I turned right at the end of the trees on the right hand side of the road and followed an old road. Near the far end of that forest block is Ysgubor Wen (White Barn)..or what is left of it



Here is our whinberry picking site, looking down the Gwyddon valley which meets the Ebbw valley at Abercarn. About a fifth in from the right on the skyline are Rhyswg Fawr Farm fields. Just to one side of the middle is Rhyswg Ganol Farm
In the picture above, in the centre of the skyline is Colin's Tree. Then the picture below shows Whinberry bushes...two hours for lunch and picking still only yielded almost a litre boxfull. It was heaven to sit in peace on "our" corner, out of the breeze as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and kept me warm.

The site of one of last year's fires, whinberry bushes only two inches high and bracken taking over- but at least it will consolidate the ground and save it from being washed away.
Ponies!!


You called?!!
Now here is one I don't recognise...looks more like a Shetland pony stallion to me...and no-one else of the Commoners has ponies on the Common...
Looking back over to "our" corner...now you see why I went round instead of straight down and up again!!
Col's Tree again....Twmbarlwm on the left in the distance and Mynydd Machen on the right in the far distance
back on the old road

Colin's Tree..at last, a close up!. His ashes were to be scattered here... I hope they've kept their word to him and brought him back up his mountain where he always wanted to be.
An old road between Rhyswg Ganol and Rhyswg Fawr
Everything is still there...Penhwnllys Max grazing peacefully...everything except Col.
The old road down to Cwmcarn
I walked back down with Col's spirit around me, keeping me safe.

picking

After the allotment committee meeting yesterday I picked the remainder of the gooseberries...I think!! Two large bushes have been overtaken by a huge sage bush...and these are a Japanese named variety with huge thorns!!...waxed jacket and gauntlets recommended!!

After lunch I decided, bravely, that the weather was going to stay dry after this morning's shower.
I put the washing back on the line!!

More clay kneading and replacing in the bag. I didn't find any more bits in that, or in the next bag, but I've noticed one in the outside of one of the larger bowls. That will need digging out and patching.

By 4.30 I realised that The Carpenter had only been out of the house to get bread from the local shop....so needed some real daylight to help him sleep at night.
A good excuse to go up on Mynydd Maen to check ponies and pick Whinberries!

We saw two mares and foals and one had last year's foal with her too, a lovely darker grey.
These are one of the pairs that came from the Bogey Ponies stud on Ffos y Fran near Merthyr Tydfil, so they are still keeping to themselves and not mixing with the main groups. They are looking after themselves well.

We went to the first slope that Col took me too on our first visit to the mountain three years ago. It is still a good place to pick, although it took us an hour to gather a litre box of fruit!!

My birthday present in 2009 was a large bag of Whinberries...it must have taken him a whole afternoon to pick them....true love!!

More pony moving...again!

Despite not being well, we had to go and move Buster and his group of mares from Pen yr heol above Cwmbran. He has been making a nuisance of himself and tried to add a mare to his harem...unfortunately she was twice his size and had a rider!!

The problem stems from people feeding them on the common where a public lane crosses it and there are houses around there too.
It may have been Winter and in the snow, but we were feeding them higher up and on the other side of the mountain to try and get them back. Plus there was plenty of forage under the snow that they were getting. They were all, even in the worst of the Winter, beautifully hairy and fit!! Who knows what these few were being fed as well!

The consequence is, that this bunch is returning there. The lead mare decides where they go, he follows and keeps an eye on them.....

We drove them back away from the road and I took them up the steep old road as the Man waited at the foot. The mares go first, then Buster and I follow at the rear.
We have a feeling that they'll be back there...but at least we've been seen moving them away and up!

checking ponies

Yesterday after firing the kiln I walked up Rhyswg Road which goes up the North face of Cefn Rhyswg, to take a little food and fresh drinking water to Mountain Man


We went out in his Landrover to check ponies, he stayed in and drove, I took photos with his camera and my phone.
Bogey Buster coming to greet me


We went to the Northern end, checked over Pen yr Heol from the police mast and above the old coal mine and quarries, went to the South where I walked up Twmbarlwm.
We saw about a third including a group we've been concerned about, not having seen them all Winter. They are all looking very well, having all been bred here or on higher mountains.

Then I walked down the old road that goes down from Rhyswg Fawr to Cwmcarn, on the South face of Cefn Rhyswg.






Through the last gate, onto "Lloydy's Fields" (called that since 1930)


Past the house where Mountain Man grew up.

The Winter has really taken it out of him. He is not well, and now I guess he has been hiding that from me for at least six months. He has strained his back again, too.