As Storm Claudia had been wreaking havoc across South East Wales, it was an absolute delight to be joined by our very own “Sunshine Claudia” and 10 other Wick Wanderers for the Monday Walk.
Our starting point was a short drive away to Wild Mill, Bridgend. We followed a path that had the River Ogmore on our left, and Litchard Community Woodland plus fields on our right. A short diversion into the last field brought us to a single grave which is maintained by CWWG Commission in memory of CW Murphy. He is called locally ‘The Lonely Soldier’ but actually lies with hundreds of other people who were once resident at the nearby Glamorgan County Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1864. His story can be read online, and it was nice to see he had a few poppies laid down from the recent Remembrance Sunday.
We retraced our steps, crossed a bridge and entered into the grounds of the afore mentioned asylum which is now Glanrhyd Hospital. The old buildings themselves are impressive, designed in a Gothic Revival style. The formal gardens, which are open to all to visit, are laid out in a similar way to a country house of that period. The grounds are now part of NHS Forest which was set up in 2009 to transform green spaces around health institutions, providing green space for health, well-being and biodiversity. We all agreed Glanrhyd was certainly providing this after we had explored the area.
Leaving the grounds, we were soon on a quiet country lane. Well it was quiet until our chatty Wanderers arrived, I was too deep in conversation to notice I had missed the small gap in the stone wall I had intended to enter. A quick retrace of steps took us into a hidden area, the site of the original Angelton Cemetery. Again the site of hundreds of burials, but now very overgrown. There are only 10 marked graves, belonging to staff members and families from the end of 19th Century. A very beautiful spot non the less, with a magnificent area of tall trees where we took our first group photo.
Back out on to the lanes we headed north, crossed the Ogmore again, and followed the lane until we reached a path which took us up over the single track rail line which runs from Bridgend to Maesteg. At the top we turned left into the grounds of Ty Risha Alehouse where we took a well-earned refreshment break.
Final part of our walk was down the winding lane to re-join the riverside path back to the cars. We stopped off for one more group shot, and found a bench with a very apt inscription of ‘Putting walking at the heart of communities’ – see photo above. I think fellow Wick Wanderers we did a good job of that.
Thanks for joining me on such a lovely late Autumnal Day
wickwanderers.com 