The tumuli in the upper reaches of the valley are some 2000 years old. They were probably built by the Celtic tribes known as the Silureans - and I thought they were monsters in Doctor Who!!
Garw Valley once had 6 working coal mines and innumerable coal levels (drift mines). The collieries were: Lluest - working in 1880 and closed in 1902, Ffaldau - sunk in 1877 and closed in 1985, Darren - sunk in 1880s and closed in 1924, Glenafon - sunk in 1903 and closed in 1959, International - sunk in 1890-1893 and closed in 1967, Garw - sunk in 1883 and closed in 1985.
Reclamation of the area began in 1989, the slag heaps were removed, two small lakes now lie where the Garw Colliery once stood and a cycle path has now replaced the railway between Pontycymer and Blaengarw.
Work is in hand to restore some of the railway line by the Bridgend Valleys Railway Company. The aim is to restore, preserve and display railway locomotives, carriages, wagons and other artefacts and buildings of historical interest.
This buzzard was sitting on the railway fence as I approached. It took to the air just in front of me and I managed to get this slightly blurred photo of it in flight
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