Allt y grug, Ystalyfera north of Swansea

This was a case of lights, camera, and action when a filming crew, well two people actually, Ioan the producer/director and Aled the cameraman,  joined us from local tv station S4C.They had interviewed one of our members (amongst others) for a programme they were doing about gay men and how their lives have been impacted since the 1967 legislation.When they found out he was a member of GOC they thought some action footage--they'd obviously heard that the West Wales group was an action packed one!!--to accompany the programme.

People were told in advance and almost everyone was happy to be filmed.Indeed we had about 7 new people but this was a coincidence.Some of our members travelled slightly further than they would normally, to attend this event to show how well the group is supported.

That was very much appreciated. 

We started by walking onto a lovely bridge over the River Tawe with great scenery all around,  for some fine photo opportunities.

We then started the walk proper with cameras rolling, crossing the road and making our way steeply up through houses that have been troubled by landslides.

Very soon we had great views back down and all over the surrounding area.

We continued our upward route where we stopped for a snack and to take in the views.

By this time the camera crew had returned to our starting point but would join us again later in the walk.

After our stop, our path continued through lovely forestry, muddy in parts and with a lot of brambles close to the ground which seemed intent on tripping us up.

We eventually emerged and there was just a little bit more up, to the summit of Allt y Grug where we ate our lunches in very windy conditions.

None of wanted to stay very long as we were getting cold so we descended back down and through a few fields arriving near the main road which we needed to cross.Just before we did that, we could see the camera crew waiting for us again.

Someone suggested we do a conger for the camera but as there were steep steps we decided against this and instead we put our best foot forward and walked down the steps and towards the camera once more.

 

Safely across the road the tv crew disappeared again, to go and reassemble at the end of the walk for the last bit of filming.

We got to a memorial for some miners who had died in a colliery accident which had happened in 2011 and stopped for a few moments to acknowledge the awful disaster.

Then it was the last mile or so back on the cycle path.

At intervals there were some lovely waterfalls cascading down onto the path from the high cliffs.

Very soon the cameras were greeting us again as we got back to the bridge where we started.

This was a really lovely walk led expertly by Gail.

We had been blessed with a cold but very lovely sunny day which really showed off the great views on this walk.

A huge thanks to people who really made a big effort to attend this special filming event.

I wait to see what we look like on film and indeed after all our efforts I hope we don't all end up on the cutting room floor!!

 

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