Abercrave_walk_20pp_broadsheet 20/02/2014 10:19 Page 1

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GEOPARK WALK Water and ice have cut the upper Swansea Valley into a landscape formed of tilted layers of various Abercrave sits at the foot of Cribarth, a mountain 1 Walk up School Road ridge, where, 300 million years ago, the rocks past the new Ysgol y rocks from the Devonian and Carboniferous geological periods. The Coal Measures are the youngest were faulted and folded. Exposed by ice and Cribarth and, at the top, go rocks, and hence form the uppermost layer; nevertheless because the whole stack of rocks dips through a kissing gate up the southwards, these are found at the lowest elevation as the cross-section overleaf shows. water in the last few hundred thousand years, narrow path between the Ridge and River these limestones and gritstones have been houses ahead. extensively quarried in the last couple of Exploring Abercrave’s geological heritage: This is the main tramroad incline Lower Coal Measures (mudstone, sandstone, coal) Cribarth and the River Tawe centuries. That legacy of nature and man is built in 1798 down which came YOUNGEST explored in this 3 hour circular walk. thousands of tonnes of limestone when Cribarth’s quarries were busy during the nineteenth Farewell Rock (sandstone) century. The tramroad used to continue down School Road Carboniferous Start to the post office and then west to the former Swansea Bishopston Mudstone Abercrave Post Office at the junction of Heol (359-299 million years ago) Tawe and School Road (OS grid ref SN 816126, Canal wharf at the Rheolau. Halfway up the ascent, after a few minutes’ climb, notice the rock exposed in the sides Postcode: SA9 1XP). An alternative start can be made Twrch Sandstone (basal grit) from one of the two pubs at the east end of the village of the cutting where it is shared by a gravel access track (SN 824128) (section 4 of walk description) The X63 – these are the Bishopston Mudstones . Carboniferous Limestone bus service between Swansea and Brecon stops at this Climb the vehicle track section of the incline but don’t point and the walk can be done between services. follow it off left. Continue up the incline instead, over OLDEST Devonian Length 4 miles / 6.4km - allow around 3 hours several stiles and through the ruins of a winding house (419-359 m.y.a.) Old Red Sandstone (bedrock not seen locally) before emerging on the open hill near the ruins of the Ascent about 1000ft / 305m former Pen Cribarth farm. Character mostly on public footpaths and pavements The hollows are shakeholes formed as the limestone of both ancient and more recent industrial archaeological interest Head off immediately left on a path (often wet) but with two long ascents on old tramways. Numerous 2 beneath has dissolved over millennia to form cave are protected as scheduled monuments – please take care not to beside a fence/wall around the flanks of the open hill. gates and stiles. Can be wet in places, beware of systems which have collapsed in places. The banks and disturb them. A fine day rewards you with a panorama taking in slippery grass and rocks, steep drops. On either side of the path you’ll see a number of mounds are remnants of field boundaries and buildings; the wild moorland of the Black Mountain on the one hand and abandoned ‘silica rock’ workings. Quarrymen were after there was formerly a tavern at this lonely spot! the twisting upper Swansea Valley on the other. Hay-on-Wye Getting there the ‘basal grit’ (or Twrch Sandstone as it is now known). Over the stile, bear right and make for a long green Llandovery ENGLAND This material was crushed, shaped and fired to make incline which once took the tramroad straight up the A40 From Brecon Brecon refractory bricks to line furnaces . Sennybridge turn off the A40 at hillside, passing several small limestone quarries. Llandeilo Brecon Beacons National Park Sennybridge and View down the Swansea Valley whose Fforest Fawr Geopark Abergavenny The limestone along Cribarth’s ridge was cracked as A glacier-gouged U-shaped cross section 4 W Abercrave 7 take the A4067 0 M can be seen between the distant these rocks were folded nearly 300 million years ago, so H 7 6 A 0 5 Merthyr towards Swansea 4 46 C A A Glynneath summits of Mynydd Allt-y-grug nineteenth century quarry workers found it easier to

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M4 t to reach Abercrave (338m on the right) and Varteg Hill h extract than elsewhere. See diagram overleaf.

g Neath i W A L E S r after 22 miles/36 (352m on the left). y

p Swansea Enjoy views over the Black Mountain from the summit. o mins. From junc The long green incline (centre left) provides c

n Continue though a shallow M4 45, M4 nr Swansea access to Cribarth's upper reaches w Newport o r valley containing a number

C take the A4067 road Cardiff Continue beyond the top down the grassy slopes

© of humps and hollows – some Follow this to where it levels out up the Swansea 3 natural, some man-made - until and the tramroad weaves to the lower ground 100m further on. As an optional Valley to reach Abercrave after 12 miles/23mins. Please park you reach a stile in the wall at around to the right. However extra, you can explore Cribarth's complex broken ridge y

considerately in the village, e.g. on Heol Tawe west of the start. t r ahead - the two tops ahead of you are slightly higher than Pant-y-ffyrch (‘hollow of the forks’ referring to the meeting e continue straight on and veer h a

Information staff at the National Park Visitor Centre near l the one you've just left. Please be aware that Cribarth's steep

F slightly right via a fainter path

of tramways above it). r

Brecon (and at other seasonal centres at Pontneddfechan o slopes of rock or grass can be hazardous and the complex

n to the trig point at the SW end and Llandovery) can advise on purchasing detailed walking a

BEWARE loose blocks underfoot approaching the stile. e

l terrain can be confusing, especially in mist. Take care to

E of Cribarth’s summit ridge. maps of the area. Visit www.beacons-npa.gov.uk/shop The path onwards from here to the top is exposed to © return to this spot for the return route described below. Turn COVER PHOTO Tramroads, inclines and abandoned quarries decorate Cribarth’s ridge. the weather. A Bronze Age cairn crowns this right and, keeping the fence/wall on your left, follow the 423m high top whilst almost 11miles/18km of abandoned grassy path back down to near the base of the incline which tramroads wrap around its slopes. These and other features you climbed a few minutes earlier. More information on the route can be found at www.fforestfawrgeopark.org.uk Abercrave_walk_20pp_broadsheet 20/02/2014 10:20 Page 2

Make for the stile at Pant y Ffyrch again and once over it Left: iron-rich seepage follow the obvious onward path which climbs gently out of Look out for a rough tarmac the hollow on the slope above the route you followed earlier. 5 track doubling back down N/G 426m As you start to descend, pass a large boulder of basal grit the slope on the opposite (south) then turn right down the incline to Pen Cribarth; this time do side from the old Bryn Seion Key / Allwedd not cross the stile but take the obvious track off to the left chapel. Follow it down to the (signed ‘Ynyswen’) heading down through otherwise rough kiln / odyn 428m River Tawe. Walk upstream to view walk route / llwybr y daith gerdded cafe & post office / caffi a slopes adorned with broken gritstone pavements. the weir. Turn and follow the path swyddfa post trig point / Keeping a fenced spring on your right, make downhill for down-river through the gorge. other paths / llwybrau eraill piler triongli pub / tafarn a stile at a field corner with a wood beyond. Cross the 423m The walkway overlies the former canal feeder which was stile and head along the lower edge of the field with main road / priffordd > refurbished by British Waterways (now Glandwr Cymru) buildings / adeiladau Garreg Fawr > Abercrave Wood on your right. > in 2011. It once led a further quarter of a mile to the head > minor road / isffordd > Notice large boulders of Old Red Sandstone beside the of the Swansea Canal which was completed to the trees, woods / coed, coedydd > 400m > path in the field – these are ‘glacial erratics’ dumped here Rheolau basin in 1794. Admire the narrow gorge cut by farm track / lôn fferm > towards the end of the last ice age by the melting Tawe quarry, cliff / chwarel, clogwyn > the river into the steeply > Valley glacier which carried them from hills further north. dipping Coal Measures rocks. old tramroad / hen dramffordd > cairn, ruin / carnedd, adfail In places the naturally high iron g > Cross a further stile then immediately turn right through lio content of these rocks (which >>> incline / inclên ei a field gate into the wood. walls, fences (selected) C / in places contain ironstones), nt S,G stile, gate / sticill, giât muriau, ffensysNa (detholiad)

Natural oak and hazel woods like this thrive on the wet is betrayed by vivid rust red Pant y ffyrch

S acid soils common in the gritstone areas of the Geopark. seepages. (site of / safle) The stoney ridge of Cribarth rises above Abercrave Wood Watch out for dippers and and the upper Swansea Valley. kingfishers! >

> y

Kingfishers frequent the river t r

> 0m e summit, hollow / copa, pant 0 h

3 a l

> F

The river turns away to flow under the Abercrave bypass. r > o contours at 20m interval / cyfuchliniau fesul 20m . . . . . n Pass through a kissing gate here then keep to the path 0m > a 0 e 3 l E as it runs parallel to the main road. On reaching the > for colours used to show different rock types, see cross-section / > © verge of the A4067 road, double back to the right on a > am y lliwiau a ddefnyddir i ddangos gwahanol fathau o greigiau, gweler y croestoriad >Pen Cribarth narrow path back up to Heol Tawe and the post office S broken gritstone pavement / palmant grutfaen toredig > (ruin / adfail) where you can enjoy a well-earned rest and some 0 kilometre / cilomedr 1 > refreshment. > <

> < v > 0.5 > 0 mile / milltir f > > a Take the right-hand track down through the woods > u S 4 > G through several gates to Abercrave Farm. Turn right > l Maes y fron S t > through the farm gate along the lane to the Abercrave > spring/fynnon /

Inn (bus stop here). Pass the Copper Beech Inn and >

f S > f priv ate > a / pre S w ifa > t Garw-leisiau t G Abercrave Wood / > Please follow the Countryside Code, taking special m > > 00 care to leave gates as you find them and keeping 2 > Coed Aber-craf your dog on a short lead around sheep. > > Bishopston Mudstone > /Carreg Laid Bishopston S G e

w G

A new simple geology map of Fforest Fawr Geopark is available from National Park information a t r centres to help you understand the landscape you're walking through. e Abercrave / Aber-craf Copper Abercrave Inn / Ynyswen / Ynys-wen b G A Beech Tafarn Aber-craf Abercrave Farm /

u i

church / /

G d

/ Fferm Aber-craf eglwys d

n

G n

I’r chwith: tryddiferiad llawn haearn a Anelwch eto am y gamfa ym Mhant-y-Ffyrch ac ar ôl ei chroesi, o

o / e l / f c h s e a r dilynwch y llwybr amlwg ymlaen sy’n dringo’n raddol o’r pant o w s e d d r r n a Cadwch lygad yn agored am g T R A4067 e sch / R s O B a l o b ar y llethr uwchben y llwybr y buoch yn ei ddilyn gynnau. Wrth 5 l Y e n r A w y lwybr tarmac garw, sy’n troi’n ysgol o H io r & S hall / t / o y d ddechrau disgyn, ewch heibio i glogfaen mawr o rut gwaelodol a e t c h l w S rd s ôl i lawr y llethr ar yr ochr draw y neuadd < o

t a a

t c T o o r o f ac yna troi i’r dde i lawr yr inclên i Ben Cribarth: y tro yma, S r e G e F e n e < h v w s (deheuol) i hen gapel Bryn Seion. i - H R a

a T y l peidiwch â chroesi’r gamfa ond cymerwch y llwybr amlwg i’r o - F n weir /

to old canal basin / o n Dylech ei ddilyn i lawr at afon Tawe. r f f g -

The Hub A i o

chwith (gyda’r arwydd ‘Ynys-wen’) gan anelu i lawr ar hyd A4067 cored a y n i hen fasn y gamlas - a r Cerddwch i fyny’r afon i edrych ar a g e u u i l ola llethrau sydd fel arall yn arw ac sydd wedi’u haddurno â C he E l R G eo a y gored. Trowch a dilyn y llwybr H l r ©

t o phalmentydd grutfaen toredig. t G i lawr yr afon drwy’r ceunant.

A i 4 / Gan gadw ffynnon sydd wedi’i ffensio ar y dde, ewch am Pont y Yard 22 Mae’r llwybr cerdded yn gorwedd dros hen gyflenwydd y 1 a f lawr at gamfa yng nghornel y cae gyda choed y tu hwnt ^ f gamlas a adnewyddwyd gan Ddyfrffyrdd Prydain (Gland wr Lefel Fawr iddi. Ewch dros y gamfa a mynd ar hyd ymyl isa’r cae gyda a Cymru erbyn hyn) yn 2011. Ar un adeg, arweiniodd chwarter (coal/glo) w Choed Aber-craf ar y dde. Caehopkin t milltir ymhellach at flaen Camlas Abertawe a gwblhawyd Map based on out of copyright OS mapping / Map seiliedig ar fapio OS dihawlfrain. Sylwch ar y clogfeini mawr o Hen Dywodfaen Coch wrth hyd at Fasn Rheolau ym 1794. Cewch gyfle i edmygu’r to Coelbren / i'r Coelbren> Cover Image: © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru. ochr y llwybr yn y cae – rhai ‘dyfod rhewlifol’ yw’r rhain a ceunant cul a dorrwyd gan yr > Geological information based on mapping by the British Geological Survey © NERC 2014 All rights reserved / Gwybodaeth ddaearegol yn deillio o fapio gan Arolwg Daearegol Prydain © NERC 2014 Cedwir pob hawl. ollyngwyd yma tua diwedd yr oes iâ ddiwetha gan rewlif afon i greigiau’r Cystradau Glo Cwm Tawe wrth iddo doddi a’u cludo o fryniau ymhellach i’r sy’n gogwyddo’n serth. Yma ac gogledd. Mae coed deri a chyll naturiol fel hyn yn ffynnu ar acw, mae’r holl haearn sydd i’w y priddoedd asid gwlyb sy’n gyffredin yn ardaloedd gael yn naturiol yn y creigiau ne M BELOW This cross-section shows the rocks under your feet as you ascend the incline northeast from the start. The oldest rock hopsto udsto Bis d Bi ne grutfaen y Geoparc. reg Lai shopsto seen at the surface on the walk is the Carboniferous Limestone laid down around 350 million years ago in tropical seas. The hyn (sydd mewn mannau yn Car ne an cynnwys haearnfeini) yn cael ei Twrch S dstone youngest are the Coal Measures mudstones and sandstones formed in river deltas around 310 million years ago. Ewch dros gamfa arall a throi’n syth i’r dde drwy giât gae i’r coed. aen ddangos gan y tryddiferiadau Tywodf Twrch th An Mae’r croestoriad yma’n dangos y creigiau o dan eich traed wrth i chi ddringo’r inclên tua’r gogledd-ddwyrain o’r man Mae esgair garegog y Cribarth yn codi uwchben Coed Aber-craf a Chwm Tawe Uchaf. coch rhydlyd. Cadwch eich Cribar ticline iclin y Criba cychwyn. Mae’r graig hynaf a welir ar yr wyneb ar y daith yw’r Calchfaen Carbonifferaidd a ddyddodwyd oddeutu 350 Ant rth > llygad yn agored am drochwyr << > miliwn o flynyddoedd yn ôl mewn moroedd trofannol. Y rhai ieuengaf yw cerrig llaid a thywodfeini’r Cystradau Glo a a glas y dorlan! ffurfiwyd mewn deltâu afonydd oddeutu 310 miliwn o flynyddoedd yn ôl.

Mae glas y dorlan i’w weld ar hyd yr afon LEFT Three hundred million years ago, lateral pressure caused rock layers G-Dd Mae’r afon yn troi i lifo o dan ffordd osgoi Aber-craf. Ewch to fold and crack. These cracks made Cribarth's limestones easier to quarry drwy’r giât fochyn yma, yna daliwch ar y llwybr wrth iddo than flat-lying rocks elsewhere. redeg ochr yn ochr â’r briffordd. Wrth gyrraedd llain yr A4067, quarries / chwareli ewch yn ôl i’r dde ar lwybr cul i fyny i Heol Tawe a’r swyddfa UWCHOD 300 miliwn o flynyddoedd yn ôl, perodd pwysedd ochrol i haenau’r graig bost, lle gallwch fwynhau hoe haeddiannol ac ychydig blygu a hollti. Golygai’r craciau hyn fod calchfeini’r Cribarth yn haws eu cloddio na luniaeth. chreigiau gorweddol mewn mannau eraill.

>> th Anticlin rdd bar e / ffo Cri An Cymerwch y llwybr i’r dde i lawr drwy’r coed a thrwy Dram tic y lin 4 clên y sawl giât i fferm Aber-craf. Trowch i’r dde drwy giât y D-O / in ne C fferm ar hyd y lôn i Dafarn Aber-craf (mae safle bws yma). Incli rib ad a Ewch heibio i Dafarn y Copper Beech ac ymlaen i’r mro rt tra h gorllewin ar hyd y palmant wrth ymyl Heol Tawe, y brif stryd << drwy’r pentre, am 550m ymhellach.

Dilynwch God Cefn Gwlad, gan ofalu’n arbennig i ith iffa adael giatiau fel roedden nhw a chadw’ch ci ar res Dd asu g dennyn byr o gwmpas defaid. Me Glo rre al u a Co ada Y G ystr k / / C Roc ell ew Mae map daeareg syml newydd o Geoparc y Fforest Fawr ar gael gan Ganolfannau Far Gwybodaeth y Parc Cenedlaethol i’ch helpu i ddeall y dirwedd rydych yn cerdded drwyddi.