Well, the attempt to find another way over Stormy Down was a complete bust – so what follows is a rant about
(a) Fly-tipping
(b) Motorcycle scrambling
(c) Blocked footpaths
The first problem was that the road from Tythegston to the A48 is much too busy for a pleasant walk. But we persevered, crossed the A48 and took the track up to Stormy Down. The perennial problem of fly tipping –
all along the lane (some Christmas decorations here – I always find that particularly sad)
You can cut through the bracken and brambles to a footbridge (hallelujah!)
but the other side is a labyrinth of scrambler tracks with attendant mud and litter. This is a pity because we did find the ruins of Margam’s Stormy Grange, very atmospheric in the mist
but this is a bit niche! and not really worth the plod through the rubbish. I thought I might check out the footpath over to Laleston on the way back. It should leave the road at Ty-du Farm
but I was told very firmly by a young woman out exercising the horses that the footpath didn’t go over their land any more, her father had sorted it out with the council and I couldn’t go through the fields because all the fences were electrocuted.
Here’s the old stile – but I didn’t feel up to electrocuted fences so we went back along the road and down the path to Tythegston past Ty-erfin, even more mysterious in the mist.
The only option seems to be to repair and waymark the stile at 851 802 and hope that the people at Upper Park Farm don’t claim to have Sorted Things Out With The Council!
becksinvinciblesummer
Hi! So, I came across your blog when I was doing research about St. Illtyd’s Church and the renovation of the Galilee Chapel, and I was wondering if I might enlist your help! I couldn’t find any way to contact you other than to leave a comment, so if you do see this comment, my e-mail is Rebecca.n.hatcher@gmail.com. Thanks!
Olly Parry-Jones
How disgusting. There’s an area just south of Bristol called Dundry and when I did a walk around there a couple of months ago; it was as if the further east you travelled, the worse the fly-tipping seemed to get! Funnily enough, I did scrape over one stile that was wrapped in barbed wire but on a positive note, large obstructions were fitted ahead of certain fields to prevent bikes from passing through.
Do you have any idea who causes it in this area?
madeleinegray2013
Fly-tipping and littering seems to be different in different areas. In Cardiff it’s mostly junk food waste (cheap lager cans, crisp packets etc). In the Bridgend area it’s general household rubbish, and further north a lot of builders’ rubbish. I think a lot of it depends on local authority waste collection policies, and the problem is that if something is restricted and people get into the habit of dumping they just go on doing it. So it’s very worrying that local authorities facing cuts are restricting what they will collect.
Maddy
Gordon Wheeler
Only just seen this whilst sidetracked from researching more recent stuff. The threat of “electrocution” represents intimidation and the Authority has a duty to protect members of the public from this, so I hope this was reported to the Council along with the rest of the rubbish experience! I wish I knew how to do this for you without loosing the benefit of the whole blog, especially as it seems all hands are being turned to going paperless at the moment, the irony being that the paper seems to be finding its way into the countryside!