Castle and Gardens with Beacons Bus - by Mike Ash, Pentre

I discovered the excellent Summer Sunday “Beacons Bus” network this year, and having more than a passing interest in gardens, was delighted to find that I could use it to visit both the National Botanical Gardens and Aberglasney.

Whilst these places are not in the National Park, they are both served by the service which runs from Brecon to Carmarthen via Llandeilo and connects in Brecon with the service from the Valleys.

Getting to these places by public transport is difficult if not impossible on any other days.

My first trip was to the National Botanical Gardens and I found the time allowed between outward and return buses was just about right to take a leisurely look around.

Aberglasney, on the other hand is a much smaller complex and I felt the time here was a bit excessive if it was made the sole object of the afternoon.

On my previous excursion to the Botanical Gardens I had noticed a hilltop castle not far after passing Golden Grove and thought it might be possible to combine a visit to this with a look round Aberglasney.

A brief study of a local map showed a that it should be possible to walk from the castle at Dryslwyn to Aberglasney reasonably quickly, so I decided to give it a try. Asking the driver for Dryslwyn only achieved the response of “where’s that”, so I did need to keep an eagle eye for the right turning. Alighting from the bus, the castle is in plain sight and is only a short walk away.

For the railway enthusiast you pass what is left of Dryslwyn Station, and there is still a level crossing gate in place on one side of the road. I could not help but think that in these days of tourist railways this old line which ran from Carmarthen to Llandeilo along the Twyi valley would have made a fantastic attraction in its own right as well as providing a useful link to/from the Heart of Wales line.

Dryslwyn Castle is approached by a footpath just after crossing the river Twyi, which takes you straight into the ruins. You do not need a lot of time to see the remains of this truly Welsh castle, but do take time out to admire the views up and down the river. Paxtons Tower can be seen across the valley.

Leave the castle by the footpath which goes down the opposite side to where you entered, and exit through a gate onto the road. Turn right and follow this road past a farm and up a small hill to a T junction where you need to turn right. Follow this road past the entrance to Pentre Dafis and then look out for a footpath striking uphill towards the woods on your left.

On reaching the woods the path bears right and roughly follows the edge of the wooded area .This path is poorly way-marked and badly overgrown, but with persistence you will eventually join a lane at Grongar which will take you down to Aberglasney. At times I did wonder if anyone had trod this path since “Under Milk Wood’s” Rev Eli Jenkins, passed by “Grongar, near Golden Grove”!

The entrance to Aberglasney is at the end of the building complex on your right. Should you not have strayed too far from the foregoing path, you should now have sufficient time to look around the various parts of the delightful gardens, as well as take a light snack in the tea-rooms which overlook the Pond Garden pictured above, and perhaps even buy a plant or two in their small garden shop.

The bus back to Brecon departs from the road at the T junction just outside the entrance. There is no obvious stopping place marked so keep your eyes open for the bus and flag it down.

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Rhondda girl Elizabeth Lewis of Cadwgan Road, Treorchy has been keeping in touch with our community website since embarking on a bit of a world tour over a year ago. Today we are pleased to share with you some of her photographs taken during her trip abroad.

Attached are some of the pictures we have taken of our travels from Canada to South America. The picture (above) entitled "Canada" is taken at the top of Blackcomb Mountain in the ski resort of WhistlerBlackcomb in British Columbia, Canada where I worked for 9months.

"Mexico" (above) shows a traditional religious street procession in the highland town of San Cristobal de las Casas in the Chiapas region of Mexico

and "Mexico2" (above) is of the Mayan ruins at Palenque.

"Guatemala" (above) is of one of the Mayan temples at Tikal

(where I believe they shot a scene from one of the Star Wars movies?!?)

"Bolivia" (above) shows a picture of the 'Salar de la Uyuni' which are Salt Flats in the South of Bolivia between 4 & 5000m above sea level.

Covered completely with a thin layer of water in the wet season the 12,000 sq km area reflects the sky and clouds like a mirror giving the appearance that the island in the middle is floating.

"Bolivia2" (above) is of the area surrounding the actual Salt Flats where Llamas and Flamingos live side by side again at the same altitude, in brilliantly colored lakes in the middle of a virtual desert.

"Bolivia3" (above) is of that same desert but with amazing snow covered mountains in the background.

"Amazon1" (above) is of the Bolivian Amazon jungle that we took a river boat tour through for 3 days

and "Amazon2" (above) is of the sun setting over the Amazonian Pampas.

"Peru" (above) is of one of the Nazca Line designs seen from a light aircraft, drawn nearly 2000yrs ago no one even to this day knows for sure their exact purpose.

"Peru2" (below) is of some ladies from Lake Titicaca during their Carnival Celebrations during Feb.

Such traditional dress is worn from day to day and not just during festivals.

"Macchu Picchu" (below) is taken just after sunrise over the famous Peruvian site after a long and rather hard four day hike though the mountains climbing to a height of around 4200m at one point.

I just hope these pictures encourage others to come visit these amazing places. It's been and continues to be an absolutely wonderful experience.

Enjoy,
Elizabeth
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Treorchy.net & Treherbert.info sends many thanks to Elizabeth for taking the time to send us these fascinating glimpses of her travels.

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