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THE WHISTLE-STOP TOUR

Blaenavon circular walk

Approx 5Km (3 miles): 1.5 hours

This walk can start from four different car parks on the loop, their grid references are shown below within the route description and their locations are marked on the plan.

If you are starting at the Lower Garn Lakes Car Park (SO 237 097), going back up to the entrance, turn left and walk down the access road for 200m then turn right into Garn Lakes  . This area, now reclaimed and landscaped, was once covered in spoil heaps from the coal industry. Follow the track as it bears right around the lake, go passed the Upper Garn Lakes Car Park (SO 234 098) and onto the lakeside path. After about 150m, take the right hand path up the hill with the stream on your left. Continue on this path around the top lake, taking the second path on the left; this will take you up onto the road at the start of the cycle track. Those starting from the Whistle Road Car Park (SO 230 103) may wish to walk along the road to this point. Turn left, crossing over the old railway bridge that once spanned the ‘London & North Western Railway’ built in the 1860’s. Now it bridges the Afon Lwyd in its early upper stage; the source of the river rises in the Waun Avon Bog (gwaun = moor, afon = river) less than a kilometre further behind you to the north-west. In 1944, a Handly-Page Halifax bomber crashed into this bog, all its crew managing to bail out before it hit the ground. They survived this experience and were revived by a cup of tea in the police station! 

Continue past the Whistle Inn, which has an interesting collection of miners lamps; after about 120m turn left onto the bridleway  which follows the line of an old stone walled track.
If you are feeling adventurous, you can climb the ladder stile!  On your right you can see Waun Mary Gunter Farm (Mary Gunters Moorland Farm) with the Coity Mountain rising behind.  About 150m along the track you may notice a few overgrown enclosures which is all that remains of a small holding called Pen Marc and continuing further, you will come to the remains of  Ty Rheinallt (Reynolds House). Bear right around the farm buildings, then left through the gate or over the stile. On your left look for the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway Station. Continue straight ahead along the line of the bridleway, through the gates, until you come to a track with the access road to the Railway Station on your left and Coity Farm on your right. Turn left then either continue left to take the shorter route back to Garn Lakes or bear right along the old access drive to Big Pit. The strange building on your left that looks like a giant concrete funnel is the water tower once used to fill the steam engines’ tanks. Should you wish to take a train ride, there are trains running most weekends (telephone 01495

The remains of the tips looming above you on your right are now protected and preserved as part of the industrial legacy of the Blaenavon World Heritage Site. Over the left hand side of the valley are the terraced houses of Garn-yr-erw (garn = cairn, erw = acre). Two of its demolished terraces were known as ‘Black Ranks’ because they had been painted in pitch! Looking further over to Blaenavon Town you can see the remains of the early coal scourings and the tips from the many collieries of this valley. The names of some of the pits were Coity, Hills, Garn, Milfraen, and Kays & Kears. As you round the bend, the wheel house of Big Pit Mining Museum comes into sight. Look again to your left, and across the valley you should be able to make out the whitewashed ‘Stack Square’ cottages and the arched remains of the water balance tower at Blaenavon Ironworks. The balance was a water powered lift that was used to move trams of raw materials and finished iron up from and down to the Ironworks yard. 

If you have time, stop for a few hours to wander around Big Pit, taking in an underground tour, or just to pop into the restaurant situated in the old bathhouse for refreshments. A pit has been on this site for almost 200 years. The ‘Big Pit’ was sunk in the 1860’s, its name is derived not from its depth but from a large elliptical (oval) shaft which at the time of its construction was the only shaft in the country wide enough to wind up two trams of coal side by side.

Leaving Big Pit (or starting from the Big Pit Car Park, SO 238 089), follow the exit road down the hill and at the museum entrance (by the buried winding wheel), turn left, passing under the railway bridge, then immediately turn left again onto the cycle track.  After 200m, bear right. You will see the big water tower again, this time rising above you on the left.

Along this route, keep your eyes open for Orchids, dainty blue Harebells, yellow Knapweeds and pink Ragged Robins. The Common Blue, Greyling and Tortoishell Butterflies can be seen on the knapweeds on warm days and Dippers and Wagtails can be spied ‘swooping’ along the line of the Afon Lwyd. If you are very observant, you may even spot the Golden Ringed Dragonfly, Britains largest species of Dragonfly.

When you come to the cycleway barriers at the top of the track, turn right and continue back to the Lower Garn Lakes Car Park or into Garn Lakes (go to    at
the start of the route description
if you are continuing onto the
other car parks).

Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and work;

Other walks leaflets for the World Heritage Site and other areas in Torfaen are available. For further information contact the Torfaen Countryside section on 01633 648066