Wandering In Welsh Tuscany

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It started when I was in the bath. There was a phone call. After a few minutes my wife's voice was behind the bathroom door. The call was from her brother. He, his partner and others from her family side including some kids were going to Cosmeston and asked whether we wanted to come. She had said yes thinking of our daughter but then asked whether I wanted to go as well.

"What's in Cosmeston?" I asked.

"A lake" came the response

"Then no. But you two can go".

Now that might appear to have been a selfish response. And well it was. But in fairness to me I knew what was going to happen. I'd have just been the grumpy bored man by himself reading whilst everyone else had a nice time.

So what to do. It was a bank holiday in good weather and I was to be by myself. Everything I'd wanted to watch on TV was already set for record. There was no sports event I could have gone to.

Then I had an idea.

Since the weather was good the traffic was going to go the beaches. So what if I went the other way? To go further up the Rhondda Valley than I've been before and then to then turn round and stop off in some places along the way back. A sort of Valleys Pub Crawl without the alcohol, or indeed the pub.

As I think I've mentioned before there is a description of Wales as Italy with rain. Now if you believe that, and I do, then the South Wales Valleys are its Tuscany. That's the region where my Italian relatives live and so I'm conscious of their similarities. I am a fan of the Valleys for many reasons, not just the scenery that can take your breath away but its sense of community. The one and only thing that (all other things being equal) stops me from moving up there is the fear of being snowed in during the winter.

Probably an old fashioned romantic in my view of the Valleys (I'm definitely old) but there you are. That's just me,

It had been roughly an hour's drive from Bridgend and I'd driven through villages and towns towards Hirwaun in Cynon Valley. But having not reached Hirwaun after about ten minutes or so from Treherbert and with no clear sight of the village I'd decided to turn around. This was the view from the place I'd turned around in.

Had me in thrall for a long while

On the return route I'd stopped of in a car park called Hendre Mynydd which gave these sights to savour.

The World In Calm

Better than a beach

Here are a few more pictures of the journey before I reached Treherbert.

At Peace

This is not London...or Cardiff

Bear in mind before I go on that this was a spur of the moment thing. So because I'd gone on a Bank Holiday most of the shops (majority of which were credibly not of the big stores) in the villages I'd visited were closed. What was open were mainly the small convenience stores, the takeaways and the pubs. Next time I do this it'll be a day when you can go into the shops.

Treherbert had a library....not now.

Intellectual Vandalism

Which political party did this? Labour.... supporting the community.

Here is the view from Treherbert.

In weather like this I envy the people who live here

Imagine getting out of your house and seeing this every day.

Worthwhile going out and getting some milk everyday

At the village of Pen Yr Englyn there was a mural of Welsh and local life/history opposite the school on the wall. It was too big to show on one picture so I split it into three to show you.

One

Two

Three

In Treorchy I crossed off a Valleys bucket list by having a cappuccino in one of the legendary Italian cafes.

The place for "proper" coffee

I chatted to the proprietor. We spoke about how similar Wales and Italy are and his support for Parma football club (a club's decline truly in the "Fall Of The Roman Empire" mode).For the record he made the cup as it should be made not in the frothy mess of the coffee chains.

Wasn't looking for any places that had closed down especially given that as I said a lot of the shops were closed for the Bank Holiday. This however was striking.

Sad. Once upon a time it would have been a community focal point

Treorchy does however have the best name for a company that irons clothes.

Say I mentioned them online

Pentre is the name of a village. It's also the Welsh for Village. So the view of the village called village is,,,,

A view from the village

Do you want to know what's sad about the sign below? According to google the Primary school closed down last year. Again Labour...supporting the community.

So sad

I went to other places as well such as Tonypandy and Ton Pentre but the lack of things that were open meant that there wasn't anything to chat about today. Finally I went to Llwnypia to surprise our friends there by turning up and had a cup of tea and a few biscuits. Mind you I'd always promised them that I'd visit and I kept my word.

It was an enjoyable trip...but I will plan it better when trying this again. 

Until the next time.