We went for our second official 'Weatherman Walks today and it was a gorgeous 6 mile circular walk roundabout the village of Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. This was mostly a flat walk with no real incline or hills. It was described as being 5.7 miles, of moderate difficulty and to allow 3 hours - we did come in way under and had plenty of time to relax and explore at the interesting bits.
Thankfully the weather stayed dry which is the main thing really. Was dressed in fleece and waterproof and quickly had to discard both cos it was still quite muggy. Summer in Wales this year has been pretty crap to be honest - it hasn't been 'bad' but we've never been able to trust what the weather will be so you've always got to go ready for heat, for rain and for cold - all at the same bloody time!!!!!
So, the walk starts at the National Trust property of Dyffryn Gardens which we haven't yet visited properly - will do soon, promise. The walk which Derek 'the Weather' Brockway follows is a section of the 65 miles Millennium Heritage trail. It was fairly easy to be honest, with it being in the Vale we knew it would be pertty flat. That's not to say we didn't find obstacles of sheep in our way, cows in our ways, bramble ridden paths etc etc. But it was SO pretty to start with:
First major point of interest was a Neolithic burial ground, Tinkinswood. In actual fact, this burial chamber is one of the oldest and largest prehistoric monuments in Wales - from 5000 years ago which is properly mind boggling.
So after the burial chamber we kept along through the vale heading to the village of St Nicholas which is described as being like a 'chocolate box' village. Not sure I'd agree with this description, it was really pretty but no shops and no pubs and no castle!!!! Nah, it was nice, but certainly not 'chocolate box picture perfect'. It does however have an example of the best 'post-war council housing in Wales'. Coming from council housing in Scotland I'd actually argue this is/was the best council housing ever! Anywhere! Really gorgeous wee street. There were folk outside when we took these photos and they were definitely bemused and curious about us. But what the hell, I'm a council house person and was just looking from an interested socio-anthropological point of view :)
In this wee village there is also an 11th century church - which is always going to be impressive - and it does also have a lychgate. The village also has one of the oldest police stations - in the vale! I thought this was going to be really historic as in maybe one of the oldest police stations 'anywhere' but no, only really in this area. The 'funny' thing, Derek thought was that some 'wag' found it funny to alter the painting from 'police' to 'old'. Hahaha? No, I didn't actually find it that funny. Not as funny as some of Derek's weather predictions that's for sure!
After this village, we pretty much headed in to the home straight which was mainly through across fields and through farms. Of course you always stick to obvious paths. If farmers allow you through their land you should always be respectful and cause least disruption. We're used to going through farms when out walking but must admit I was a weeeeee bit scared and intimidated by one field we went through where the resident cows were just maybe a little too curious! They behaved impeccably and are gorgeous creatures but still....they can a be a teensy bit intimidating.
So, on to the home straight - apologies for the length of this blog!? Thought it would be a fairly boring description of an easy walk - didn't realise I'd want to post so many photos and stuff. Anyways, after surviving the walk past the cows and through the fields of wheat which kind of reminded me of a horror flick, the name of which I don't quite have to mind we headed towards the end of the walk only to stumble upon our second! neolithic burial chamber - who'd have thunk it!!!!
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