Blaenafon Walk

"Hope is not broken"
Motto at the gateway to Blaenafon

As we slowly sink into the darkness of the winter months and the more obvious colours seem to drain from the landscape into the underworld I am inspired by briocarioca's blip today to "Open your eyes".

And so, after taking P & H to the railway station I decide it's a day to get out in the sunshine, but I don't know where.  The car tyres need replacing anyway and I overhear "Blaenafon" as I'm sitting waiting for them to be fitted. Destination decided.  The journey up the steep sided valley is full of variety as I pass through the tree clad slopes of Lasgarn woods to the post-industrial landscape of the British, where black cones of coal tips still sulk alongside the road and the ruins of the pit-head buildings slowly collapse back into the earth.

First stop is the Heritage Railway station, quiet as there are no steam trains today, so an ideal opportunity for a short meditation to start my visit - and there's a clear view across to Pwll Du and the distant scrubby hillsides which were once opencast and quite black.  

Nearby Garn Lakes, scooped out of the wasteland, now host wildfowl - well I thought they were until they started trooping out of the water to greet me.  Someone's obviously become accustomed to feeding by the visitors.  The lower lake is stocked with fish, although one of the locals - one of the several dog walkers - tells me it's not an easy place to catch them.  "Much better to try the Mon and Brec canal where there are some big Perch around Goytre Wharf".  First time I've met a Border Collie called Stan. 

The sun is dipping and it gets chilly around the water so I head off to the Heritage Centre for a [very] late lunch, but not before I catch my photo for today, the brilliant yellow leaves glowing against the mute bark [of the trees, not the dogs].

Not surprisingly only a few customers in the Heritage Centre at this time of day, so I browse the wall posters for ideas.  I am soon attracted to a small exhibition of work nearby, by artist Mary Challenger, which includes ideas for Christmas cards.  I later find out on the Internet she's a local artist who has written a book titled "The Long Road",  charting her progress through grief following the sudden death of her husband of 47 years, expressing her suffering and sense of loss through her art.  Inspiring stuff.

To round off my trip today I followed the signposts in search of the Cordell Museum - I enjoyed reading the books as a twenty-something. I hadn't checked opening times beforehand - yes, it was closed.  Ah well, something to follow up on another visit.

A day full of interest.