The Dare Valley Country Park Visitor Centre, where this walk begins, is built on the site of Powell's Pit. The stones for its walls and the cast-iron pillars inside were taken from redundant chapels in the area.
The route follows a tarmac road and turns off where a man-made waterfall cascades under a bridge into a pond. A sign indicates the route of the Coed Morgannwg Way, a long-distance footpath that starts at Margam and continues for 36 miles (58 kilometres) to Gethin. Here there was once a hamlet, Pithead, that served the Merthyr Dare Colliery, though nothing remains of either site now other than a few grass-covered spoil heaps up the hill on the left.
As you climb the slope into a small wood, the route follows a sunken track. The stones underfoot and the drainage ditch to the side indicate that this is an example of a man-made parish road from before the coal-mining era; this well-preserved early route to Rhondda survived in its original state because other, more convenient roads were built, leaving this one to the walker.
The ruined cottage on the left of the track at Pen-rhiw-Hech, abandoned in 1938, is a reminder of the system of farming whereby shepherds took their flocks to the high meadowland or 'hafod' in summer and retreated to the shelter of the valleys in winter (additional evidence of this practice can be seen in a number of ruined dwellings on the surrounding hillsides).
There are woodpeckers in the scant woodland of birch, oak, and elder, and their holes can be seen in the tree trunks. On the steep slopes and open moorland the mew of the buzzard is a common sound, alongside ravens and peregrine falcons that regularly hunt over the area.
As you climb higher, you can see two lakes visible in the valley below: one is a reservoir, while the other is part of the park's leisure facilities. They mark the site of Bwllfa Colliery, one of the largest in the area, of which nothing remains now except a row of cottages. To the left of Bwllfa Dare Terrace is Bwllfa House, originally a farm that became the property of the colliery manager when mining began and was enlarged in due course.
Ahead loom the steep cliffs of Tarren y Bwllfa. The hollowed-out shape was created by a glacier that formed on the north-facing slope, and Bwllfa is one of the oldest place names in the district, meaning 'basin' or 'site of a pool', suggesting there may have been a glacial lake at the foot of the cliff.
The path emerges onto the flat land behind Tarren y Bwllfa and follows a narrow ridge of higher ground studded with granite outcrops. Beyond it the land is boggy and drains not into the Dare as you would expect, but into the Rhondda Fach Valley to the south-west. On the left in the distance is the grass-covered dam of Lluestwen Reservoir, with the darker green of conifer plantations beyond.
A quick detour takes you to the Berw-ddu waterfall, where the Dare drops over Tarren y Bwllfa. Berw-ddu means 'dark foaming', but it is only spectacular in very wet weather; normally the moss absorbs the small amount of water.
The wet peaty soil supports marsh thistle, star sedge, and creeping buttercup, while grasshoppers and frogs are found among the clumps of purple moor grass.
The route heads north and passes a trig point marking the summit of these hills at 1,672 feet (510 metres). At the clifftop of Tarren y Bwlch the view is superb: on a clear day the distinctive outline of the Brecon Beacons can be seen on the horizon, while in the foreground is the town of Hirwaun and, immediately below, the site of Tower Colliery, the last operative mine in the South Wales coalfield.
Just beneath the cliffs is evidence of a prehistoric settlement. As you go downhill on the broad track you pass pre-Roman rock cairns; the sheep pen in the middle of these is 18th-century in origin, but archaeologists have identified a prehistoric settlement nearby of 17 round huts and enclosures.
The winding path takes you to the edge of Cwmdare village, passing to the right of a mound of grass-covered stones with a concrete plug at their centre — a disused airshaft, one of many that served the underground tunnels in the area.
The route crosses the country park almost to the start of the walk, but turns left to join a tarmac path lined with oak, elder, and birch trees that heads along the river towards Aberdare. The riverside was once a source of fascination to local people: at one spot, flammable gas seeped up through the water, making it possible to "set the river on fire."
Soon you come to some brick pillars overgrown with ivy and ferns. These are all that remain of a wooden viaduct built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to carry another line across the river. It was 450 feet (137 metres) long and 70 feet (21 metres) high, and a scale model of it can be seen in the visitor centre. The viaduct was dismantled in 1947 with just its supports left standing.
Brunel was responsible for the Dare Aman Railway, which you follow on the return route. The path passes under a bridge and a pipe — the remnants of their junction station situated here. The line of which the viaduct was a part was in competition with the Taff Vale line, though there is evidence that it carried timber and supplies rather than coal. Initially constructed in broad gauge to link with the South Wales Railway, it had to be reduced to standard gauge when it became part of the Great Western Railway. Between 1906 and 1924 the Dare Aman line carried passengers, closing to all traffic in 1939.
The return route passes a sign to Llwyn-helyg Farm. According to tradition, a plant grew in the fields here that made cattle vicious if they ate it — and it must have had some effect on humans too, for in 1868 Thomas Morris from Aberaman stole some gunpowder from a local pit and attempted to blow up the farm. Although the house was damaged, no one was injured. Later the land was mined, and the old spoil heaps of Llwyn-helyg Colliery can be seen beside the road.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
