Pontneddfechan

Sunday the 26/04/2014

Helo pawb!

This Sunday past Mr Paul Bomber Harris led the first of his double header walks. We took in the views of the famous waterfalls of Pontneddfechan on a 12-mile route and even though the falls weren't at their greatest we all enjoyed a great day out, taking in drinks afterwards at the Angel Inn. The attached photos have been provided by Andrew, David and Dylan this week. You can also check out some videos of the day on our YouTube feed here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd_p4CZyiQeGIpYFRhwRZBQ

By Andrew Bevan

By Andrew Bevan

By Dylan Couch

By David Horton

Paul has kindly provided the following description of next Sunday's walk: "come and stretch your legs this coming Sunday and join me and my furry friends (Yogi/Rufus) for a strenuous 10 mile romp to the summit of The Black Mountain near Brynamman. Meet at the car park of The Harvester Restaurant (M4, junction 43) at 9.00 a.m. or the car park of Asda, Ystalyfera at 9.30 a.m. We will drive to the start point from Asda for a 10.00 a.m. kick off. Any questions please contact me on 07813141101.Cheers.Paul."

For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting our summer programme this will be kicking off with a vengeance this Friday evening as we take in a leisurely 2-3 mile jaunt up Kilvey Hill. If you want to join me please meet at the Ship Inn for a 6pm start. Please give me a text on 07540 746360 to let me know if you're coming.

Diolch! Dylan.

 MARGAM

Sunday 19/04/2015

By Peter Thomas

Helo pawb!

On Thursday the 16/04/2015 the Tawe Trekkers had our programme planning meeting. We have now filled our programme up until October so please keep an eye on our website over the coming weeks. Our Programme Coordinator will be providing details soon, including infomration of our summer Friday evening walks.

Thanks to Kyle Jones for leading us on a fantastic walk around Margam this Sunday the 19/04/2014. Now that his walk leading cherry has been stolen I look forward to many more in the future. He is clearly a natural. Check out some of the photos taken on the day below. I'm sure that you'll agree that they're all fantastic.

Homeward Bound by Kyle Jones

By Kyle Jones

By Peter Thomas

By Peter Thomas

This Sunday Mr Paul Bomber Harris will be leading a bloody marvellous walk around Pontneddfechan, taking in some of its great waterfalls. This is a strenuous, 12 mile walk taking in a number of waterfalls and several steep climbs. In Paul's opinion, this is one of the finest walks in South Wales and well worth the effort. Rain is forecast for Sunday so the route may be slippy in places. The start point will be at 10.00 a.m. in Pontneddfechan or at 9.00 a.m. at the Civic centre (Please note the earlier start).

Diolch!
Dylan.

Llanfrynach

Sunday the 12th April 2015

Helo pawb!

The weeks just seem to be throwing up great walks for the Tawe Trekkers at the moment. A big thank you from everyone to Janet for leading us up Fan Y Big from Llanfrynach this week. The weather did not really support the taking of too many photographs sadly but I have attached a copule from both Peter and Kyle below for you perusal. The font of all knowledge (aka Wikipedia) advises that Fan Y Big is a subsidiary summit of Waun Rydd in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in southern Powys, Wales. At 719m, Fan y Big lies at the western tip of the Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion plateau. Its name translates as 'peak of the bill' - perhaps in allusion to its striking pointed shape, as seen from some directions. The summit is bare and marked with a cairn, which stands on the edge of its precipitous western face. The view of this face from Cribyn is regarded as utterly striking.

It is often passed by walkers aiming for Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du and also forms part of the Fan dance. Check out this link. Anyone up for it? Jesus!

By Peter Thomas

By Kyle Jones

Next week Kyle will be leading us on an 8-mile strenuous walk around Margam. Kyle describes the route as follows on Facebook: " I have decided to shorten the walk to 8.5 miles due to all the climbs involved. It doesn't take anything away from the walk itself. Basically I've removed a 3 mile walk along a concrete path so that's done us all a favour. We will start at the Margam pond carpark, going up to the abbey ruins, up the hill to the WW2 radar shelters, down to brombil valley and up into brombil woods passing the blue lagoon. Past there we will venture further up the mountain for great views of Port Talbot and Swansea. Then through the invisible forest. Lunch will be had at the 5 mile mark where logs are provided for seating. Then it's all downhill from there passing through farmland with young lambs, then over a ladder style into the deer park, bring binoculars if you wish. Although they shouldn't be too far away. It is deer culling season so bullet proof vests are optional". the First meet point is Swansea Civic Centre at 9:30am as usual and the walk will start at 10am from the Margam pond Car Park. Please let me know if you planning on going to the Civic Centre on 07540 746360.

Don't forget Thursday night is our Programme planning meeting. Please come along to the Vivian Arms at 8pm and offer to lead a walk for the Tawe Trekkers this summer. We will looking to put on some shorter Friday evening walks again and would be grateful for all offers. If you can't make the night but would like to offer a walk please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at tawe@hotmail.co.uk to let us know the details.

Diolch! Dylan.

Momouthshire & Brecon Canal

Sunday 06/04/2015

By Sylvia Manuela

Helo pawb!

The Tawe Trekkers took a leisurely 8 mile jaunt around the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal yesterday. After having completed the South Wales 3 Peaks Trial the previous week (a taxing 21 mile circular walk from Abergavenny taking in the peaks of Blorenge, Sugar Loaf and Skirrid) this was exactly what the doctor ordered. The weather was beautiful and I'm advised that the 15 walkers and 2 dogs thorougly enjoyed. Thanks to Robert Hall for leading. I'm so glad to hear that the weather was better than on your last walk.

Thanks to Helen Thomas for the attached photo.

Don't forget that this Tuesday the Tawe Trekkers will be entering their weekly team into the Westbourne's pub quiz. If you're interested in joining us please contact Robert on 07981 963681.

Next Sunday Janet will be leading a strenuous 11-mile walk from Llanfrynach in the Brecon Beacons and we will eventually take in the peak of Fan Y Big. I will meet those who want to go to the Civic Centre at the usual time. If you are planning to go to the Civic Centre please let me know on 07540 746360. Please note that I tend to leave quite promptly at 9:30am so if you are not there I am unlikely to wait for you unless I am expecting you. The start point will be opposite the church in Llanfrynach at 10:45am. If you are planning to go straight to the start point please let Janet know on 07929 053593.

On another note there has been a recent change to how I am using Facebook to promote the group. Until recently we had had a semi-private 'group' on Facebook that anyone could join and view what we do. However, I have started to notice that similar groups to our use the 'page' option instead to promote their activities to those who are not formally members. This obvioucly helps to promote privacy but on a more practical level I have noticed that the 'page' option offers far more opportunities for promoting the group long-term. You can find our 'page here: https://www.facebook.com/tawetrekkers?ref=aymt_homepage_panel. I would be grateful if you could press the 'like' button as this will bump up our presence immediately on Facebook but when posts periodically appear it would also be good if you could 'like' and 'share' these posts. These will then get shared on your timeline and if your friend 'likes' it then it will appear on their timeline and so on and so on. You get the picture. This is the fundamental difference with using the group as any posts that are placed on there never get shared outside of the 'group'.

Diolch!

Dylan

P.S. Congratulations to Emyr Nickels who won the photo competition for his photograph of Nash Point. This will now be our Facebook 'page' and 'group' cover photo until the end of June 2015.

Nash Point by Emyr Nickels

Helo pawb!

So I'm a little behind on the newsletter. Please find details of the last two weeks below.

Nash Point

On Sunday the 22nd of March Mr Paul 'Bomber' Harris led us on one of his most popular walks around Nash Point, which everyone agreed made a lot of the Gower look like a scene from war torn Germany. The stunning views were actually beaten by the walk along the beach as we had to trudge across rock formations created by centuries of waves and a beautiful cave. The photo opportunities were extroadinary, so it was great to have one of our best photographers to hand for the walk, Mr Emyr Nickels. It was great to see Emyr back with us and I'm sure we all hope to see him again soon. I have put a few of his photographs below in order to show how beautiful a day that we had.

A natural frame by Emyr Nikels

Two dogs and an old man by Emyr Nikels

The South Wales 3-Peaks Challenge

A week later a group of the Tawe Trekkers embarked on one of the hardest challenges of the year. Starting in Abergavenny the South Wales 3-Peaks Challenge is a 21 mile walk taking in the challenging climbs of Blorenge, Sugarloaf and Skirrid. A further smaller group also took on the challenge of the 24 mile linear 'Platinum' route. We're pleased to announce that everyone finished the walk safely and we had a fantastic night out in Blaenavon the night after to celebrate. Given the way tha the weather turned out on the day we are very proud of everyone. We would like to once again extend our thanks to Mr David Horton for arranging such an amazing trip and I'm sure we are all looking foreward to what he has in store for us next. You can view a video of us on Sugar Loaf here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ndfydNuPo

Next Sunday Robert Hall will be leading us on an easy 8 mile walk around the Brecon Canal. This walk is specifically designed to give us some recovery after last weeks challenge. For details of this walk and contact details for Robert please look at the programme page on our website. 

Due to unforseen circumstances I will not be able to lead my planned walk of Kilvay Hill on the 26/04/2015. If you're interested in leading a walk on this date please contact Andrew Bevan on 07791 545342.

Photo Competition

Last year I conducted some monthly photo competitions and as they have proven to be quite opoular I have decided to now conduct them on a more manageable quarterly basis. Please find below three photographs that I consider to be the best taken over the period January - March 2015. If you would like to vote please send an email indicating your favourite to tawe@hotmail.co.uk. Alternatively I will be posting this competition on our Facebook group page so you will also be able to vote there too. One vote per person please. Final count will be taken at 10pm on Friday the 10/04/2015.

A) Pontsicill by Helen Thomas

B) Focus on the Worm by Kyle Jones

C) Nash Point by Emyr Nickels

We all hope to see you on our walks soon.

Diolch! Dylan.