Tuesday 15 November 2016

Overview of Coed Morgannwg Way

This was not the first time that I had walked along this path. Back in the early 1990's my wife gave me a book called the Long Distance Trails Almanac. From this we decided to walk the Coed Morgannwg Way. At that time it went from Craig y Llyn to Margam Country park (the extension to Aberdare & Methyr Tydfil seems to have been added later). My parents dropped us off by Craig y Llyn and we spent two days completing the walk. Recalling the trip I mainly remember trees, lots and lots of trees (the clue is in the name Coed Morgannwg means Glamorgan woods). Also forest tracks, and eating lava bread for breakfast at a B&B. I do not recall any navigational problems (and this was before GPS devices were around for walkers); if anything the trail seemed a little boring, but in a nice way.

This time was different.

For a start there were fewer trees. Many of them have been felled; maybe they will be replanted but in many places they have been replaced by wind turbines and their infrastructure of extensive gravel roadways.

Secondly it was hard to find the trail in many places. Signs and waymarks have faded away or otherwise disappeared and parts of the trail have been overgrown by brambles, or otherwise blocked. Many new trails, especially bike trails, have been created, so there are posts with numerous signs, but none of them refer to the Coed Morgannwg Way.

But there were new cafes on route that I do not remember before, with coffee and cake, so not all the change is bad.

I had planned the trip based on it being 58 kms (36 miles), just about manageable in two days. In fact I walked 74.6 kms (46.6 miles) with an accumulated climb of 2158 m, mainly on the second day. Deducting the navigation errors and obstructions that caused me to retrace my steps, the route was 65.7 km (41 miles long). with 1886 m of ascent. Two days was a stretch and walking the route in three days, or a least in summer when there are more hours of daylight, would have been a better option. A gpx file of the route I walked can be downloaded from www.wikiloc.com; however the correct route with the various footpath diversions and corrections to my route can be found by this link. One or both of these files is recommended as it is more detailed and accurate than the one I used from gps routes and you can actually walk it on the ground. The route I walked is also available on Viewranger.com under short code johnpon0013.

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