Vale of Glamorgan

One of our club members is a very good local historian and on Sunday he led us on a ride around the Vale taking in places that he had selected.

This ride had already been postponed once because of bad weather and although Sunday wasn't the best of days we decided to brave the wind and rain.

Here's the route.

Llansannor Court.

Built in the 1500's and is a good example of an Elizabethan country house, and still occupied.

Llansannor church and Jackie standing alongside one of her ancestors.

Dr Salmons wells.

These are originally from the 13th Century and in the late 1800's Dr Salmon a local benefactor restored them as a clean water supply for the village.

Part of the restoration included a baptismal area, so presumably they were Baptists.

This is St Canna's church Llangan famous for its Celtic Crosses. 

Ewenny Priory

Turner liked it enough to paint it.

Spot the monk peering at you.

Nash Manor

Howell Carne was at Nash in the 1430s, and the family continued to inhabit the site for another 400 years. A deer park existed by the 1530s. John Carne carried out planting and erected some garden buildings in the mid- to late-18th century.

These pictures are of what was once the woollen mill.  The mill would have been water driven and the wool coming from the sheep farms in the Vale

So despite the weather it was a good day out.

Taffs Well to Porth

This is one of my favourite solo rides, and just right for when you want to go for a ride but cant be bothered to think of a new route.

There's a variety of scenery and places to stop off if you want to. 

The embanked river Taf flowing through Treforest with Taffs Well behind the trees in the distance.

The old Grammar School in Treforest.  I would guess that in 1875 in this industrial area not many children were able to attend this school.

But Treforest  did produce a world wide name....Tom Jones.... who was born here.

Pontypridd station. 

Because of the nature of the landscape and the need to accommodate both passenger and coal trains passing through, Pontypridd had the longest island platform in the world.  

On this ride not only do you get the Taf river but also the Rhonnda Fawr river which joins the Taf at Pontypridd. 

There are none of these working now and these are part of the Rhondda Heritage Museum. 

Finally a view from the trail looking down the valley towards the Tongwynlais gap.  

Here's the route.

Fourteen Locks, Newport

Our ride last Sunday was to Fourteen Locks, just outside Newport.  Even though it was Valentines Day the sunshine won and 11 cyclists turned out.  It was a glorious February day, sunny and cold. 

Fourteen Locks is part of the Monmouth and Brecon canal system,   It was started in 1792 and the locks were constructed to cope with the drop of 157 feet in just over 1/2 mile.  Quite an engineering feat and all dug and built by gangs of navvies.

The canal  was mainly used for transporting pig iron form the iron works outside Abergavenny down to the docks in Newport.  But canals had a relatively short life and the transporting of heavy goods was taken over by the railways.  So from about 1850 the canal went into decline. 

However in the 1970 volunteers started work on restoring the lock system and its still ongoing. 

The visitor centre has a cafe and is a venue for art exhibitions.

All the following pictures were taken from the web or the Fourteen Locks website.

Here's the route