Penrhys Pilgrimage Way: Day 2 Llantrisant to Penrhys

Today I completed my pilgrimage to "Our Lady of Penrhys" and admired the view down the Rhondda Valley from the statue.

Our lady of Penrhys.

The day did not start well, my train to Pontyclun was cancelled, a shortage of signallers apparently. My hour's wait for the next train gave me the excuse to buy a coffee and croissant for a second breakfast. From Pontyclun I followed a path by the River Ely, in a green corridor between housing, with trees bordering the water. After walking by the shops of Talbot Green I climbed steep cobbled alleyways, following a fairly random route to the ancient square in Llantrisant, there re-joining the Pilgrimage Way where I had left it previously. Having climbed up the ridge on which this village stands I then went down the other side between terraced housing to join a quiet road over a marshy common in the flat valley beyond. According to a helpful sign the common was a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" rich in plant species, unlike the somewhat muddy fields of grass that followed.

My next interesting section was a walk along an old abandoned railway line, in a valley of trees, bare of leaves in this month of March. A lone, fat pig rootled around in the undergrowth in the valley bottom, fortunately safely secured behind a wire fence. Beyond a certain point the path was closed but the Penrhys Pilgrimage Way website advised where to leave the old railway, detouring around the closed section on public footpaths. although I was somewhat impeded by high, temporary fencing erected across the route in violation of the "right of way". Presumably there to protect some shipping containers, a nearby public footpath sign made it clear they were breaking the law. A little later I again felt somewhat unwelcome. No Penrhys Pilgrimage waymarks had been installed around Tre-boath farm (or else they had been removed) and generic footpath signs were also missing. I relied on the OutdoorActive App on my mobile phone to make sure I was on the public footpath, which took me to the outskirts of Tonyrefail on a well used trail between fields of horses.

After the white houses of Tonyrefail the path climbed over rough ground revealing larger views over the ground I had just covered and beyond. The remainder of the walk was in the landscape of "The Valleys". Cutting deep, the valley bottoms and lower slopes were dressed with lines of terraced houses. Steep sides, with cliffs of rocks in some parts, trees in others, rose to high ground, farmed for sheep. Once famed for their coal mines and iron working, those industries are now long gone, ending with the bitter miners' strike of 1984. For a long time after an air of grey depression and unemployment permeated the valleys but today I thought the area looked brighter, the sun reflecting off white painted houses. I could spot a few slag heaps, huge piles of waste rock brought out of the mines, once a grey blot on the landscape, they have now turned a shade of green or brown, as they have either been landscaped or else nature has finally gained a grip on their inhospitable surface of loose shale.

Terraced housing typical of "The Valleys" by Dinas

I climbed out of the settlement of Trebanog on a track which slashed across the hillside, fortified by a Coke and Mars bar from a nearby shop, crossing a pass over the higher sheep pasture, before dropping down into Dinas in the Rhondda Valley. On my way down I chatted with a farmer. Unlike some Welsh farmers he was well disposed towards hikers. After checking I knew the way (I showed him the track on my GPS) he talked of the sheep about to lamb in his shed, the Shetland Ponies for his daughter and a donkey that brayed if anyone was coming up the road. He commented that there were alternative ways to Penrhys, but I was guided by the website which took me straight up the opposite side of the valley. A steep pull, initially up steps, then a road and path, 200 metres vertically climbed over not much more distance. Looking back down the valley, admiring the view was a good excuse to catch my breath and allow my heart rate to fall. I pondered that if pilgrimages were easy, requiring no effort, then we would not deserve to have our sins absolved at the end of it. This steep, sweaty ascent certainly required considerable effort and exertion. 

As is the nature of "The Valleys", at the top of the climb the land flattened out. There was a well groomed golf course, a place where you could enjoy the views while your partner lined up their shot. At the last green I could see the statue that was the focus of this trail, a small white finger, on the valley side, above the russet brown of last years bracken, in front of the scattered white houses of Penrhys village. Beyond on the next hillside was a conifer plantation and to the left of it a collection of wind turbines. Many people dislike them, I had seen signs protesting a new wind farm earlier in my walk today, however to me their thin, tall, white columns are elegant, and the regally, rotating arms, somehow majestic. It is not as if the landscape before me was in anyway natural. Its temperate forests were cleared millennia ago. Wind turbines and the solar panels I could see glinting on some of the housing below me seemed preferable to the dirt and grime of the coal industry that was once synonymous with the Welsh valleys. In my youth a thousand coal fires from the terraced houses would have cast a smoky grey smog across the valley. How much cleaner are the white windmills and the silver panels?

Golf course with old slag heap beyond.

I walked down to the statue of Our Lady. I looked at her holding the baby Jesus. Bunches of flowers had been placed at the base of the pedestal. A group of people walked by. I took a few photos, looked down the Rhondda valley, then headed downhill to the station. My train home had been cancelled, a signalling fault. I sighed and waited another half hour for the next one.

A gpx track of my walk can be found at https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/penrhys-pilgrimage-way-97646677. 

Rhondda Valley, not quite all green at this time of year, but no longer grey, smoky and dusty.

Penrhys Pilgrimage Way: Day 1 Cardiff to Llantrisant

On my walks by the River Taff in Cardiff I had noticed signs for the Penrhys Pilgrimage Way, but until now, had never investigated what it was. According to the trail's website travelling to a statue of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, at Penrhys in the Rhondda was a popular pilgrimage in the 15th century. So popular that Thomas Cromwell, who pursued the Reformation under Henry VIII, had the statue removed. A new one was installed in 1953. The pilgrimage starts at Llandaff Cathedral, another key religious site in South Wales.

Llandaff Cathedral, which dates from the 12th century, has suffered over its lifetime, including major damage caused by bombing in the Second World War. Following repair work a concrete arch was installed in the nave carrying a sculpture of "Christ in Majesty" by Jacob Epstein, giving the interior of the cathedral a strange mixture of ancient and modern. You can download a "passport" from the Pilgrimage's website, which you can get stamped at various places. Normally I do not bother with such things, however, for the sake of research I thought I would print out the passport and get it rubber stamped at Llandaff Cathedral's shop, as advised by the website. Unfortunately, the cathedral shop was closed when I visited, so I failed get my stamp, the lady welcoming people at the entrance to the cathedral (and informing them a funeral service was taking place in one of the chapels) was very apologetic. Having failed at the very beginning of my pilgrimage I gave up on the passport!

Inside Llandaff Cathedral.

From the cathedral the Pilgrimage Way follows the River Taff on its west bank. Nearby long distance walks, the Taff Trail and the Cambrian Way, are on the other side of the river, which I consider more scenic. Nevertheless, walking on the wooded bank, with housing to  my left, was pleasant enough, much of it on paths. Eventually the Way turns into the housing of Radyr, climbing uphill, with views of the Garth mountain appearing in the distance from the top (distinctive with its bronze age barrow forming a small bump at its summit). After crossing the busy M4 motorway on a bridge it was over fields and through woodland, but mainly over green fields, some with sheep cropping the already short cropped grass. This being March, the trees were bare of leaves, dark and skeletal, although in woodland sections the vivid green of harts tongue ferns and the darker green of the ivy added some colour. With recent rains some of the paths were rather muddy.

The route passed by or through a few villages: Pentyrch, Creigiau and Groes-faen. Although they have some facilities, pubs or a shop, I was not tempted to deviate from the route. Groes-faen had a war memorial which was unusual in that it was in a bus shelter. Llantrisant was the final village. Seen from a distance perched on the side of a hill, the Pilgrimage approaches it indirectly. After a quarry hidden by trees with ruined buildings and equipment, there was an especially muddy section in a wood before a minor road took me north east away from Llantrisant. This excursion was to reach a bridge over the busy A473 road. Once over the bridge the route turned 180 degrees, following a cycle path south west. There was then a right hand turn up a steep path to the top of a ridge (briefly joining the Glamorgan Ridgeway). I was thankful for the metal bench as the ground flattened out, which allowed me to rest and drink some water while admiring the view. A short walk along a road took me into the old centre of Llantrisant, although to reach the main square, known as the "bull ring" there was a short section of road with no pavement. 

Typical path over farmland.

One of the paths bordered by trees.

Around the bull ring there were a few shops, pubs, a war memorial, a place selling crafts (but not today), an old water pump behind railings and a statue of William Price, a rather colourful character. It was here I left the Penrhys Pilgrimage Way, having walked far enough for one day, but the fun was not over. First I visited the ruins of Llantrisant Castle, dating from Norman times, little now remains. Then I headed for the railway station at Pontyclun which first meant walking down the hillside to Talbot Green. The most attractive route was through little cobbled lanes, turning one way then another, so steep I wondered how the parked cars managed to drive up them, it must be impossible when the cobbles are slick with ice. Llantrisant now merges into Talbot Green (I could have caught a bus from here), which spreads into Pontyclun. An office building I passed had the colours of the Ukranian flag posted prominently, showing solidarity with the country being shelled and bombed by the Russians as I walked by. On arrival at the station I found my train was due in 30 minutes, leaving me time to visit Greggs for a takeaway coffee, chicken salad roll and jam doughnut. I ate the latter feeling guilty as I did not really need it and the beseiged people of Mariupol in Ukraine had nothing. I consoled myself that I had walked 17.5 kilometres along the Penrhys Pilgrimage Way, and a further 3 kilometres to reach the Train Station, so I deserved a treat, but I did not really believe it.

Waymarking was good with small signs pointing the way, although they were not entirely comprehensive and I periodically consulted the "track" I had downloaded onto my Garmin GPS. I obtained the file for the track from the pilgrimage website by expanding the map (square symbol) to give the Google base map, the clicking on the three dots to download the kml file which could then be read by Garmin's BaseCamp software.... or you could download my gpx track from https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/penrhys-pilgrimage-way-97646677. There were also notice boards at a few locations giving details of the Pilgrimage Way.

Waymark for Penrhys Pilgrimage Way.