A-Z of Railway Stations: F is for Ferryside

Another trip on a train with a difference.  This was to be the first request stop on the challenge of visiting stations starting with all the letters of the alphabet.  I'm always somehow fascinated by the trains on this route.  They start off in the large city of Manchester, come down through the Wales/England border region visiting small stations, enter South Wales for the much larger population centres of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea and then soon get to stations so small they are request stops.

Ferryside Request Stop - what a lovely station

Up early and walked the dog then down to Cardiff Central and all aboard.  Well, not all, I was picking up my friend at Swansea who also fancied a day's walk.   The plan was not just to visit Ferryside, nice though it is but to go from there down to Kidwelly and catch a train back from there.

Looking over to Llansteffan

First thing to remember, ask the conductor to stop the train at Ferryside.  Paul Merton visited Ferryside when making his TV programme about request stops.  I can see why.  It's a lovely little place, right on the side of the estuary.  So close in fact that you would worry about storm surges and alike but today was tranquil.  What a quaint station Ferryside is with its signal box and old fashioned signal. 

St Ishmael church

We walked down the coast to St Ishmael, some of it walking on the beach, some of it along the lanes.  Just the occasional train going past on the nearby line.  We pottered around the church in St Ishmael that has been a place of worship for over 100 years.

The bell on Pengay Farm - wonder if it is an old ship's bell

Another kilometre past St Ishmael and it was time to start heading inland, initially up the valley and them a steep walk through woods and ending up at Pengay Farm.  One reason for choosing this route was to visit some trig points - yes, strange hobbies some of us have, but they always seem to have a good view, well not always. 

Time for a bit of trig point bagging

By the time we reached the village of Llansaint I was looking forward maybe to a beer but a local told us we were out of luck and the pub not open on a Monday.  He told us a lot more actually, about local shipwrecks and all sorts of things and where to go to get a good view south over Gwendraeth estuary and look over towards the Gower peninsular.  He wasn't wrong.

Gwendraeth Estuary and Gower

The afternoon walk took us not straight down into Kidwelly, that would have been far too straightforward, but NE for a couple of miles over to another trig point and then south after that into Kidwelly.      

Kidwelly Castle - some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed here.

We had a look at Kidwelly Castle.  It's a wonder that anything remains of the place after so many people tried to attack it over the years - must have been well built. We read a bit about Gwenllian and he death at the Battle of Kidwelly.  It all went on around here.

Rumsey House - sceen of some very strange going ons just over 100 years ago

Talking things happening, another place I was keen to see was Rumsey House, the former home of Mable Greenwood.  You probably won't have heard of her unless you have been to one of my talks.  Poor Mable was poisoned with arsenic. Her husband, the local solicitor, amazingly was found not-guilty of killing her despite the evidence against him appearing strong, including the fact that he married his lover just a few months after his wife's death. 

Kidwelly station is a fair step away from the town and as every teashop in town appeared to be shut, I guess because it was a Monday or after 3.30 or both, we wandered down and had a look at the estuary and the remains of the first canal built in Wales. 

Evening sun setting over Kidwelly

Kidwelly, also being a request stop, meant we got in more practice of stopping a train with the mere bend of the elbow.  Made you feel quite powerful.

A-Z of Railway Stations: E is for Ebbw Vale

A town still somewhat struggling to recover following the closure of the steel works there 40 years ago. The 'Circuit of Wales' race track on top of a mountain never came into being which I can't help think was a good thing. Cyber security company Thales have recently announced jobs going there which sounds good. Lots of European money invested but the population still has a significant pro-Brexit majority. The small museum in the old steel works headquarters is well worth a visit.

The train that I caught to Ebbw Vale, still in Arriva Train Wales colours.

Ebbw Vale Town station

It takes an hour from Cardiff Central to get to Ebbw Vale Town by train. The line heads towards Newport and then swings off north just before Newport. and heads up the valley through places like Rogerstone and Risca.

Up until 2015 the line used to stop at what is now Ebbw Vale Parkway but the new station of Ebbw Vale Town was constructed at a cost of £11.5 million. You don't get a lot for your money judging by looking at the station buildings but I guess it is all to do with laying the like and signalling etc.

The Ebbw Vale Works Museum is based in the General Offices, the former HQ for the Steelworks, and what a grand building it is. The museum, staffed by former employees it seemed, full of enthusiasm to tell me all about the former steel works. Entrance is free but donations always welcome. The building, with its fine clock tower, also houses various other offices and a small cafe.

Behind the old steelworks HQ is sheet roller.  Imagine the noise this beast used to make when it was running. 

Coleg Gwent, another building with easy access to the train station

Gwent Archives building in Ebbw Vale

Anyone with ancestors in Gwent will find the modern archives building a very useful resource, and easy to get too as it is next to the station.

The fine clock tower on the headquarters building of the former Ebbw Vale steelworks

Just part of the collection of artifacts in the Steel Works museum, each with its own story to tell no doubt, if it could. 

Ebbw Vale cable car

 There is a small cable car present that takes you up from the level of the station and college up to the level of the town. When I was there it was pretty busy with students from the college using it.  unfortunately is does seem to get vandalized on a regular basis and is frequently out of operation.

Once I was up in the town of Ebbw Vale I had a wander up and down the main street.  There were a few modern sculptures that interested me as did the  old Ebbw Vale Literary and Scientific Institute, now preserved and used for arts and entertainment purposes it seems.

Ebbw Vale Literary and Scientific Institute

In 2014 a derelict piece of land was transformed into an attractive public open space featuring a four metre high dragon.I must admit I liked the dragon. There is a geocache nearby too in case you are wondering.

The 36 foot tall stinless steel clock.  

If you look the clock up on Google you find local residents complaining that it is a waste of space and could be used for market stalls. whats worse if that the stainless steel balls at the bottom of the clock get hot in the sunshine and people are worried they may get burnt. Yes, I'm not joking. Or is it I wonder the local newspaper just looking for a story. Who knows.

After returning to the lower level of the railway station using the cable car again, I decided I fancied a walk so followed the track down the valley to Ebbw Vale Parkway station doing some geocaching on the way to keep myself occupied. I never did find the cache on the wooden footbridge even though I spent n age clambering all over it and underneath it. Ever so often I think of that cache and let out a sigh. I must go back one day.

A-Z of Railway Stations: B is for Bridgend

The modern ticket office at Bridgend station

Well this is an easy challenge so far.  Spoilt for choice of where to go for a B.  In the end I decided on Bridgend more because I fancied a trip combined with a bit of geocaching.  It's an easy trip from Cardiff that's for sure as Bridgend is on the main Cardiff to Swansea line and most trains stop there.  Have I  been there before?  Not that I can recall though I must have been through it on the train many times before.

So regular is the service I didn't even bother planning my trip - just turned up at Cardiff Central and caught the next train to Bridgend.  Fortunately for me it turned out to be one of the new Class 800 trains.  My dog gave it the thumbs up and lay down quietly for the journey.

One of the new Class 800 trains at Bridgend station

Once at Bridgend I had a nose around the station, quite a mix of modern and old.  It was then out and virtually straight into the centre of town.  Yes, the River Ogmore does pass through the centre but if I was being honest it is not at its most attractive at this point.

The historic bridge in the centre of Bridgend

My hound isn't at his most comfortable in town centres - mainly sniffing out scraps of food that people have dropped.  So maybe that should be I am not at my most comfortable with my dog in town centres.  He's probably perfectly happy.  We soon escaped the main streets and the rest of the day was spent geocaching to the south west of the town along the banks of the River Ogmore, finding all bar one of the ones we looked for.  Some were a bit tricky but most were OK, some quite inventive in the way they were hidden. 

One of these creatures wasn't real.  

The Phoenix pub in an old chapel.

Another pub - tempting this one but not with the dog. 

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