A-Z of Railway Stations - A is for Aberdare

Me and my stationary dog - you would have thought he would have been excited enough to look at the camera.  Apparently not. 

Yes, I admit it.  I'm a bit of a list man.  I'm coming to the end of my challenge to have a pint of Guinness in every European Capital City so it is time to think of a new challenge.  That's where this one came from.  The idea to travel a bit more by train.  But to take the effort of having to think about where to go next I thought I would go through the alphabet, hence A is for Aberdare.  There's quite a few stations starting with A in Wales so why did I choose Aberdare.  Weill it's not a town centre I have explored much in the past, only sort of driven through it - not that there is that much of a town centre.  So let's go and see what there is.

Someone asked if I was doing the challenge in Welsh or English.  No need to decide just yet.  They both begin with A

Thought I had better get a shot of the train that I arrived on - after all the days of these old trains are numbered I believe,  Also my wife decided to join me of this first trip.  I am honored.

From the train station it is only a short walk up into the town though not exactly in a straight line. There are some main roads to get across and the route is a bit wonky.

Railings outside Aberdare library - they do say Aberdare but haven't come out too well on the photo.

Ahh.  That's better.  Now that's what I call A is for Aberdare.  

Aberdare Constitutional Club - a great looking building

From Aberdare town centre we walked up to Dare Valley country Park.  It's a pleasant walk of around an hour I guess, though I was dawdling quite a bit or should I say geocaching, which slowed up progress a bit as some of the caches were tricky to find. It was a good route for the dog too.  At the end we were rewarded with finding a tea shop.  Do dogs allowed in the main tea room but they are allowed in the foyer of the building on the opposite side of the courtyard so we went there and sheltered from the cold weather.

Not the train we were going home on luckily.  

There was just time to walk back down to town and meet up with a friend for a drink in a good Aberdare pub before heading home having enjoyed the start of another challenge.  Only 25 letters to go now.

For more news on this challenge visit:  A-Z of Railway Stations