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!
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| 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.
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| Typical path over farmland. |
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| 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.
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| Waymark for Penrhys Pilgrimage Way. |
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