Parking

Turn off Heads of Valleys to Clydach south. Drive past the turning to Clydach iron works on the right, continue up hill and turn right into Quarry Road . Keep going up. Pass Limekilns on left and just about 100 yds further on parking is on the left

Directions

1. Looking out at Clydach Gorge, turn left to cross the road. A little further on you will pass through barrier / gate.
2. Carry on to two blocked tunnels going through the hillside. At this point there is a stream running down a steep valley.
3. The track now becomes tarmac. Carry on until you meet a barrier just before a road. The signpost says ‘Brynmawr 2 Miles’.
4. Continue to follow the Cycle Track 42 signs all the way up to the Heads of the Valleys roundabout in Brynmawr.
5. There are several footpaths on both sides of the track either leading to the hillside or down to the main road. There is a large wooden cross down a gravel path to the left of the track, more or less opposite the roundabout. It takes just under an hour to reach this point.
6. Return by the same route. Good views of Clydach Gorge in both directions.

Points of Interest

Crawshay Bailey and his partner Thomas Brown acquired the Beaufort Tramroad between Brynmawr and the canal wharf in Gilwern in February 1859 and were behind an Act authorising the incorporation of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway which obtained Royal Assent on 1 August 1859.

The line was one of the most heavily-engineered in South Wales. It cut across the grain of the landscape and involved numerous curves, steep gradients, tunnels and viaducts.[1] It branched off the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway near Abergavenny, crossing the River Usk on a flimsy viaduct adjacent to the road crossing, and began a steep 9 miles (14 km) climb at gradients as severe as 1 in 34. After Govilon the line meandered around the Blorenge Mountain through the Clydach Gorge, climbing upwards on a breathtaking 7 miles (11 km) ascent at gradients of 1 in 38, with the upper section hewn out of a hillside shelf.

The first sod was turned at Abergavenny on 18 June 1860 at the Brecon New Road by Crawshay Bailey's wife. The costs of construction and the failure by certain shareholders to pay their dues led to the railway company's bank account became overdrawn in late 1861, and its eventual acquisition by the L&NWR on 30 June 1866.

Map