Parking

Cwm Taf Fechan Nature Reserve car park near Pont Sarn. SO044096. Take the Heads of the Valleys road (A465) from Abergavenny to Merthyr. Do not turn off at the first Merthyr exit (Dowlais Top) with ASDA and Lidl, but take the next exit. When you get to the roundabout at the top of the slip road, go right over the Heads of the Valleys road, and the immediately left on the far side. Follow the road for about a mile, and the car park will be on your left near the bottom of the valley.

Directions

1. From the car park walk down the road towards the narrow bridge over the Taf Fechan. Before crossing the bridge turn right - upstream - keeping the river on your left. (It is possible to walk on the other side of the river, but the path there is much rockier and rougher).
2. Continue until you come to a footbridge on your left. Cross the bridge and take the path directly in front of you up the bank. The path bears to the left halfway up and rises to a stile at the top. Cross the stile and walk around the garden to a gate. Go through the gate and then into Vaynor churchyard. Look out for Crawshay’s grave.
3. Go around the back (south side) of the church, and carry on through the graveyard to the old church, and on through the gate to a footpath crossroads. Go left here and follow the path to the road, almost opposite the Spanish House (Hy Brasail).
4. Turn left down the road being careful of the traffic until you reach a bridge over the old railway line (now the Taff Trail), with Pont Sarn to your left. Cross the road bridge and take the path on your right down to the Taff Trail. It is worth doubling back under the road bridge to look at the views from Pont Sarn, but we need to go the other way (roughly south) down the trail.
5. Continue down the Taff Trail, past the Trefechan Estate above you on the right, until you come to a point where there are a number of large stone blocks on either side, and a path with long steps on the left. Take this path down the hillside, and at the bottom go right (downstream) towards the Heads of the Valleys viaduct high above you.
6. When you see a footbridge on your left, cross it and then turn left (upstream) alongside the river. Follow the path back to the car park.

Points of Interest

1. St Gwynno’s church, or Vaynor Church, was built to replace the dilapidated 13th Century Norman church which can be seen along the track from the site of the present one. In the churchyard, enclosed in iron railings, is a massive tombstone, a slab of Radyr sandstone weighing 10 tons. This is the grave of Robert Thompson Crawshay, third in the line of Crawshay ironmasters. The stone is inscribed with the words ‘Robert Thompson Crawshay, Died May 10th 1879, aged 62, God Forgive Me’. In the gable end wall on the far side of the church is the headstone of local parishioner Catherine Morgan who lived to the age of a hundred and six. Born in 1688 she lived through the reigns of seven monarchs.
2. Taf Fechan Nature Reserve. Follow this link for details.

Map