Six of us set out at the slightly earlier time of 9.30am from the Village Hall, bound for the Wenallt, the hilly area between Caerphilly and Cardiff.
The walk took us downhill through beautiful beech forests carpeted in bluebells before crossing a stream and up onto the Rhiwbina Hill Road. A short stretch of road before we turned off downhill again, this time with the forests carpeted in wild garlic. It soon became apparent that the route I had chosen coincidentally seemed to be following the route of a half marathon as tired runners kept overtaking us.
We reached Castell Coch by 12.30 and stopped for our picnic lunches. We now followed a steep uphill path which soon joined a broad bridleway. After half a mile we turned off right up a steep path which took us through a section where some lovely wood carvings had been made, mostly of animals. A short detour took us to the site of old iron ore workings, dating from the 1800’s.
Crossing a road we now contoured along through the forest until we reached Rhiwbina Hill Road again, but this time branched off down a different track which meandered through the forest, crossing a stream and then finally a steep uphill path back to the cars.
In total 11kms, about 7 miles.
It had been the warmest day of the year to date, so we were thankful to have had the benefit of the shady forest in which to walk. A refreshing drink followed at the Travellers Rest at the top of Thornhill before getting back to Wick at 3.30pm
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