Cwm Clydach, near Swansea

Event Details

  • Start Date Sunday, 19th of May 2019
  • End Date Sunday, 19th of May 2019
  • Start/End Time 10:30 - 16:30
  • Near Swansea, Swansea
  • Categories
  • Groups
  • Approx Distance 9 Miles
  • Terrainmoderate, strenuous in places

This is a rewarding and joyous nine mile circular walk, which is not for the unfit, but is manageable for the average walker.  The route initially travels alongside the lower Clydach river in Cwm Clydach Nature Reserve through peaceful woodland, and then climbs gradually onto unspoilt common land with sites of archaeological interest and spectacular panoramic views from the Brecon Beacons around to Swansea and beyond, before it drops back to Cwm Clydach over numerous fields, meadows, and tracks.  The route passes the Llechart Burial Mound, a ring cairn of 25 stones thought to be all that remains of a burial mound dating to about 1500 BC, and Gellionnen Chapel, built in 1692 and considered to be the oldest nonconformist chapel in the area.

The Reserve is a mixed broadleaf woodland with a wide variety of bird species and butterflies, and was established in 1987 after the RSPB found a large number of breeding birds that were not common in the area.  Until 1962 much of Cwm Clydach was a working coal mining valley and evidence of the mines can be seen as the route follows the old tramway up the valley.

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