Trails - The Dark Run - Hirwaun

SPENDING A WEEK in South Wales at the bungalow in Hirwaun.   Looking at my normal trails run and thinking about opening up a new one instead of just using the main road between the two villages.   It's always good to get out and run in nature.

The run doesn't start off on the trails, instead you have to run down into the village and turn down Station Road, just before Penaluna famous (and award winning) fish and chips.   Following the road around you come to a "T" junction and this takes you over the disused railway line and onto Dark Lane.

When I first started to run in this area I found the route on the web, it was known as "The Dark Run", it took a while to find the name of the lane which then made sense.   A woman out walking her dog told me that you can run down the railway line past Llwydcoed and into Aberdare.   She has never run this because the surface, railway sleepers and ballast, which isn't a good combination.

There is a turning on the left hand side, with a gate that appears to go over to Penderyn, I will have to have a look at that and see if I can fit it in before I return to England.

Dark Lane is a steep uphill slog that is just over one mile in length, once you get to the top you have a short lane to a dead end.   From here you can see over the Heads of the Valleys Road, which follows the Valley up before dropping down into Merthyr Tidfil.   On the right is a farm track that takes you past the farmhouse and down onto Keepers Lane.   This is a tricky part of the run because you get a lot of water gushing down the path with an uneven surface due to rocks, bricks and lots of roots.   But it's also a great run, just really pay attention to where your feet are!

Keepers Lane will then take you back into the bottom or Hirwaun Village.   There is a small bridge, that I never like to run because it has a hump in it and you cannot see what is on the other side (like me running in the road due to no pavement).   In redesigning the Heads of the Valley's Road they have added a very nice footpath around the bridge, which was really helpful.

From here it's uphill back into the village and following the main road back to the start.

This is a very nice trails run just below the Brecon Beacons.   Next time I need to check that left turn at the railway line and see if it goes into Penderyn.  

Green Space Action Team - Beechurst Park

SECOND OUTING with the Green Space Action Team, this time the destination was Beech Hurst Gardens at the northern end of Haywards Heath.   A beautiful park, children's play area, miniature railway (in the summer), and a Harvester Restaurant where you can eat, get a drink from the bar or just grab a coffee in great surroundings.

As I walked from the car park to the meeting point I saw the signs up giving information that we were going to be there and asking if anybody was interested in volunteering.   Today we were split into two groups, one clearing dead plants, just behind the Harvester and one to the left of the park clearing brambles from the rhododendrons.   I took the battle with the brambles!

They have some beautiful rhododendrons (rhododendron ponticum), popular woodland shrubs which put on spectacular flowering displays from spring to summer.   The whole area had been taken over by brambles, weaving through and covering the beautiful rhododendrons, with signs of infecting the bay leave bushes as well (laurie nobilis).

After a few hours work and we had the area cleared, cleaned, and bagged with all the composting on the wagon ready to be moved.   We even managed to build some natural habitats for the wildlife (including hedgehogs) in the area with some of the debris from the overhanging trees.

Similar to the first experience it was good to walk away knowing that the area was cleared for the public to enjoy, the rhododendrons can breathe and flower for everybody to enjoy.   It is satisfying to do this work on a voluntary basis and allows people the opportunity to help out for a couple of hours once a week.

If you are interested in volunteering to help the Green Space Team, it's once a week on a Thursday between 10:00 and 12:00 (two hours).   You can email them direct for more information and they will send out dates, times, and locations.   You only need to attend the ones you can, there is no pressure.

Email:  rangers.midsussex@glendale-services.co.uk

 

Trails from Walstead to Lindfield

IT WAS A beautiful day to get out for some run training over the local trails.   I wanted to pick up on an old route running down the main Lewes Road and picking up the trails around the back of Lindfield heading for All Saints Church at the north end of the village.   It's been quite a while since I last did this run, but wanted that experience of getting off the main roads and being somewhere familiar.

The start of the run has a degree of difficulty, with a large hill up Northlands to the Lewes Road, after that it's downhill ending with a slight incline to Lyoth Lane.    This takes you past the Snowdrop public house, which is an amazing little pub.   It's a short walk from the house and a place I sometimes take myself in the evening for a pint of Guinness and a good book (I always have a book on the go).

At the end of the lane you cross the main road and start the trails run, down the side of a farm house and into the woods.  After a short while I reached a stile which crosses a field, normally with horses in it, run a bridge across a small river and circle back to cross the horse field again further down.

It isn't long before I reached the next field which has footpaths running through the end of the seasons sweet corn.    It's always a great feeling running in nature, which is close to you and makes you feel like you have increased your speed.

At the end of the field is the main road, cross that and back onto roads for a short distance before going back into woodland.   This time of year brings a few other problems, especially if the woodland has oak trees.   Wearing headgear of some sort really helps when you have acorns being dropped from height.   They can hurt and cause injury and best to be prepared for that, the sound of a falling acorn really resonates through your head.

As I came to the end of the run, going past Wilderness Fields, I found All Saints church was open to the public.   There was nobody inside and I decided to make a stop and sit in the church for a while.   It's odd but you really feel a closeness to God in a church, with the rich history, stained glass windows, alter and crucifixes it has a very calming effect.

Being there on my own made me consider my own well-being, mindfulness and allowed me to contemplate where I am and where I wanted to be, especially important as I have just retired after 32 years of public service.

Somewhere there was just me in a quiet space, away from the noise, just having a few moments to myself.   It was a great feeling.

Once out of church I needed to make my way home, running down through Lindfield High Street, cross the common and past the cricket pavilion back on the roads that took me back up Gravely Lane and home.