Y Filltir Sgwâr/The Square Mile: The Top of the Line

In a year long series Tom Maloney, from Abersychan, shows how you can love a place so well it becomes a part of you.

It has been a real privilege over the year to be able to write about this lovely landscape, which has very much become a part of my every day experience now, so much so that I feel a little guilty going too far away from my surroundings.

This feature is very much inspired by a lovely reply from Alan Jones to the second of my articles about the old railway line between Abersychan and Varteg.

Alan wrote fondly about his childhood memories in his reply and I have to say I found myself smiling because my own recollections have a very similar feel about them:

‘… the railway & coal yard were side by side with the school so, to a boy who was fascinated & interested in all things railway, well, to say I spent most of my school day gazing out of the window from my classroom on the upper floor watching the activities in the yard instead of learning my times tables.’

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Blaenavon

What lovely memories these are. Alan also came up with an excellent suggestion to catch the X24 bus service to Blaenavon and then follow the old line down the valley, which I have taken up for this article, covering the section between Blaenafon and Varteg, but with a difference … I thought it was high time that my dogs were introduced to public transport.

Scout and Gryff ready to begin the walk down the old railway line. Photo Tom MaloneyI was very nervous about getting on the bus with the dogs and I think I transferred some of that nervousness to Scout and Gryff as we got on the X24, but I need not have worried at all.

Scout is my oldest and biggest dog and she took a little time to settle down, finding security in this new and strange experience by sitting between my legs. My youngest dog Gryff just settled on my lap for the short time that we were aboard until stepping off at Forgeside, Blaenafon.

The outing was so successful that we have hopped on the bus twice in the week and the images that you see in this article were taken on very contrasting days of weather!

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Smiles

Something that I had not expected on the first journey was the impact that the dogs had on the other passengers. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air and it seemed to me that the dogs lifted everyone’s spirits.

There were a lot of smiles as we got on board and I don’t think I can take the credit for that. Credit to the bus drivers too, they were excellent and gave me plenty of time to find my seat with the dogs.

And so, to the walk itself.

Blaenavon High Level has changed quite a lot over the years. Today this part of the line is something of a place of transition where the restored and unrestored sections meet. You will find a little station which is part of the Blaenafon’s Heritage Railway network and see that the track continues a short way as you follow the path down the valley.

In its day there was a grand station and signal box here. I don’t think money was spared in the original construction of this beautiful stretch of railway, which amazingly goes back in time about 150 years.

From what I understand passenger traffic stopped in the early 1940s, but the haulage of coal by giant diesel trains continued until 1980 when it stopped with the closure of Big Pit as working mine.

Autumn in the air

After all the rain, the earthy scent of autumn is much in the air just now and everything is looking amazing. The word picturesque comes to mind, but I really don’t think that is enough.

At times the line stretches as straight as a Roman road and then it gently winds its way to new delights, where rust brown bracken and golden leaves add natural textures now to an industrial design which has been transformed into the Cwmavon Local Nature Reserve.

Even in Autumn it has different moods. I won’t deny the absolute pleasure and joy of autumnal light flickering between outstretched branches. It really is rich food for the soul and gives you such a spring in your step, but when creeping mist takes hold of the valley the picture is altogether different and yet no less beautiful.

It is as if the landscape becomes a stage set, where the forms and shapes of the trees have movement, evoking actors in a Shakespearean play.

In places the silver-grey hues give an ethereal beauty to the landscape, appearing to ‘flatten’ the views reminding me so much of Japanese woodcut prints.

And what about the dogs all the time I was admiring the scenic beauty of the line. Well, they were having a great time, if there wagging tails were anything to go by.

I cannot take the dogs on all of my walks, but the line has to be one of their favorites.

You have to mindful of cyclists and other dog walkers from time to time, but they can spend much of their time off lead exploring the scenery and new smells along the way. Scout leads the way and really loves to run, while Gryff does his very best to keep up!

Travelling on the bus with them both was a lot of fun and has opened up new possibilities for extending local walks.

Many thanks again to Alan Jones for the suggestion. The X24 is an excellent service that connects Newport and Blaenavon and the timetable is such that if you miss one bus you won’t have to wait very long before the next one arrives.

My journey on the bus has given me so much food for thought. As I end this little article my thoughts turn again to the Nation Cymru inaugural lecture at the Senedd given by R. Gareth Wyn Jones, Emeritus Professor at Bangor University. The thrust of the lecture was that we all need to make changes about the way in which we use the Earth’s valuable resources, with ‘energy being the big driver’.

It made me think about car travel. I consciously try not to use my car too often these days and I know that I am fortunate that so many of the places that I enjoy walking do not require travel by car or any other transport at all. But … perhaps it’s time to consider using the bus more often than I do.

Find out about what’s going on at Blaenavon’s Heritage Railway here.