Llacar one

Verified Slow Way

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Walked this in two sections, from Cardiff to Radyr and Radyr to Llantrisant. The first section of this walk follows paths alongside the River Taff, which is easy to follow. When you cross the river for the final time past Radyr, you'll have to make a short diversion as the level crossing by Gelynis Farm has been permanently closed. However, if you follow the road around, you'll soon join back up with the route. Then through woods and fields to Pentyrch, all straightforward to follow. The GPX isn't quite right by Pentyrch school; the footpath follows the boundary of the school rather than straight through the grounds.

Across more fields to Creigiau and on to Groes-faen, where again the GPX is not quite right, but just follow the road around. There's one section past Groes-faen which was very overgrown with bracken at this time of year—nothing too bad though. When you first get to Llantrisant, the route shown on the GPX does not exist, so you'll have to take a more circuitous route via Lowerdale Drive. After the estate, it's a straightforward route up the very steep hill to the endpoint. All in all, a very varied and attractive route.

April 2024. Direction: Llantrisant to Cardiff.

The first fine day after weeks of rain, so it was inevitably wet and muddy in parts. The first half of this walk as far as Groes-faen is the same as Llanpet2, mostly fields, although there was one lovely short stretch through woodland. The fields were extremely boggy and I suspect even after dry weather, there would still be some boggy patches. Hard going in these conditions, but a lovely walk. Easy to navigate - fairly well signed and some well defined paths along the way. Some of the styles were in poor condition in this part of the walk, so care is needed here and there.

From Groes-faen, the path is again through fields around Creigiau and Pentyrch. There`s a nice green lane walk leaving Pentyrch down Cefn Bychan, before leaving the lane to go out into the fields again and past the quarries. The path down into Morganstown through the woodlands is stunning with carpets of wild garlic everywhere at this time of year. After crossing the River Taff at Morganstown, the route follows a combination of paths including the Taff trail in parts. This section is a great walking / wheeling route into Cardiff, as it`s a green corridor all the way in to the city centre.

There were two short sections of the planned route with access problems...
1. The path from Ty Nant Road to the bridge over the River Taff was blocked due to some development and has been for a few months. Not sure if this is a temporary closure or not, but there is an alternative road looping round to re-join the path near the Taff bridge.
2. The path running alongside the Principality Stadium in Cardiff is mostly closed except on event days, so one alternative is to cross the bridge over the Taff and use Fitzhamon Embankment on the other side of the river.

Photo 1 - Looking down Yr Allt, Llantrisant
Photo 2 - The bridge over the River Clun
Photo 3 - The River Clun
Photo 4 - View across the fields to Pentyrch
Photo 5 - Cefn Bychan lane near Pentyrch
Photo 6 - View over Cardiff from near Cefn Bychan
Photo 7 - The quarries above Morganstown
Photo 8 - The woods near Morganstown
Photo 9 - Crossing the Taff near Morganstown.

This is a lovely route between Llantrisant and Cardiff, mainly on footpaths through fields and woodland, with the final section following the Taff Trail down the river to Cardiff. After leaving Llantrisant and crossing the A473, the route follows the Penrhys Pilgrimage Way as far as Pentyrch so those signs are helpful (see pictures). Just after leaving Creigiau, the footpath sign off the road on the left is quite obscured (I missed it first time!) - go past the house on the right hand side of the road and then look for the sign and gate on your left (see pictures). If walking in the other direction (from Cardiff), the footpath to leave Pentyrch comes off the road just before the school playground/school building.

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