Beyond Hendrefoilan...

Sunday 15/02/2015

So another Valentine's weekend has come and gone. I hope everyone had a nice romantic time. For those of you who went to bed all on your lonesome...I feel your pain. Sob. On a more positive note, Wales beat the mighty Scotland in the Six Nations and my "urban" walk in the heart of Swansea was a resounding success, even if I do say so myself.

Starting at the Woodman Inn on Swansea Bay we headed North-East into Clyne Park and on into Clyne woods where we were met, after a steady climb, by a stunning view of Swansea bay and city centre, looking East towards Port-Talbot (aka Mordor). It was at this point that one of our newbies, Pete, suggested that Port-Toilet was used by Ridley Scott as the inspiration for the opening scene of Blade Runner. He seemed adamant of this fact and not wanting to discourage his future attendance with the group I chose to bite my tongue. How about it Trekkers! Is this a fact or an urban myth?

Onwards we travelled through more hills overlooking Swansea and its outskirts, through an old BMX track and back into the Clyne woods through an escalating amount of muddy track. The further we walked into the woods the scale of Clyne valley became obvious, even through the densely wooded area we found ourselves in. Soon we could hear the Clyne river flowing steadily on our right and this was our sign to take the track leading down to the valley floor to meet the river itself. At this point the previously clear path eroded into marsh and overgrown trees causing us to have to pick our way through this adventure course to the river-side. But wait! Where is the bridge? In a nutshell, there is none. Kudos to those who met the challenge of walking across the 'natural' bridge that had been placed there in the form of a collapsed tree. It wasn't half as bad as it looked but it is a test of balance if nothing else. I'm happy to say that the whole group managed to cross and from here we followed the Clyne river all the way to where it met the cycle track at the Railway Inn in Killay.

Next we headed roughly east along what is actually an old railway line. Originally developed to support a once flourishing quarry and brick industry, the Trekkers had already come across remains of this in the woods we had walked through. Soon though we met more as turning right off the cycle track we found ourselves in the isolated remains of Dunvant Brickworks, which now has a large lake and more woodlands to enjoy. I later discovered that a lot of orienteering courses take place here too. Perhaps this is something that the Tawe Trekkers can look at ourselves in the future.

After passing through these woods and out into further fields we were met by a new view of Swansea, this time looking west towards Gorseinon and Loughor estuary. The view wasn't as clear as you would like it to be, but still, it was rapidly becoming obvious how good a walk this was for getting a clear idea of the actual vastness of Swansea's scale. I think people are always surprised by this. It was at this point that I got the first rumblings of descent in the ranks. "When is lunch, Dylan" a certain un-named person (cough-Silvana-cough) asked in her best whiny voice. Knowing that we had a bit of climb ahead of us I suggested that we press on to this before stopping for lunch. I promised a great view in an effort to discourage further groaning.

As we pressed on we passed on our left an old tower which we suspect was an air vent for an old mine. Further on we emerged into a beautiful deserted valley situated between Waunarlwydd and Hendrefoilan. This is a rarely walked area and many of the comments that followed centred around how you drive past this everyday simply assuming that it is a developed housing estate like everything else. Sadly ruined a little by people who don't seem to know that Swansea City Council will collect your rubbish for you this valley is nevertheless a hidden wonder and I would highly recommend you take the opportunity to check it out next time. At this point we could have taken paths that either led to Gowerton or Waunarlwydd; instead we pressed on through the bed of the valley, eventually climbing into a local under-appreciated Local Nature Reserve, Cwmllwyd wood. It was by passing through this wood at a steady climb that we soon found ourselves at the top of the valley. To the north-east we could just about see the Brecon Beacons. Just a few weeks earlier I had been able to see many of the snow-capped peaks and it was a shame that we didn't have quite as clear a view today. Now everyone could taste their lunch though and on we pressed over the hill to the final view - Mumbles in all it's glory and on to north Gower and Cefn-Bryn, where I hear Wayne and Kyle had led an excellent walk just a week ago. 

We took in lunch at this beautiful spot but we cut this a little short as the temperature was dropping by this time. At this point we had to briefly pass through Hendrefoilan housing estate, skirt past the student village and cross the A4118 by the Toby Carvery. However it was just 10 minutes later that we had entered Olchfa lane and were back in some rarely walked woodlands. We could have been anywhere! Eventually we were able to join a bridle path back in Clyne woods and led us eventually in Clyne park and back onto the cycle path just 5 minutes from the finish. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate our other newbie, Antonella, who managed to keep up throughout. I'm pleased to hear that she plans on coming along in the future so lots of opportunities for anyone who is looking to learn Italian. 

After the walk a few of us took a brief drink in (of course!) at the Woodman Inn before parting ways, all happy that we had had a great day out walking. Next week Robert Hall leads us on an 8 mile route of Melincourt. Please contact Robert if you plan on meeting him either at the Civic Centre at 9:30am or if you would like details of the start point.

Diolch! Dylan