Parking

Park at Blaen-y-Cwm car park in the Gwryne Fawr Valley

Directions

It is no longer possible to access the reservoir by walking up the road, so …

1. Leave the car park via the footpath at the far end. Turn right up the road, and then fork right onto the track sloping up the valley.
2. Continue on the track until you reach the dam. Cross the dam and take a break on the far side.
3. Retrace your route to the car park.

Points of Interest

Gwryne Fawr Reservoir was built between 1913 and 1928 for Abertillery UDC. The site was chosen as one of the few high enough to feed a town already 1000ft above sea level.

The road up the valley and a light railway were both built for the construction. The track we walk up follows the upper part of the railway. The construction was suspended during the Great War and the track taken to the western front.

Just beyond the point that we leave the road are a number of concrete bases, the foundations of the huts that formed a temporary village for the workers who came from as far away as Newport, some of them working three weeks on one week off shifts.

Map