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Waterfalls and barefoot walks

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Derek Brockway Derek Brockway | 12:15 UK time, Monday, 24 January 2011

It's the last episode of the current series of Weatherman Walking on iplayer currently so I hope you find time to watch it and try out the walks for yourselves - the maps are available online to print off.

For the first trek, we visited Blaencwm at the very top of the Rhondda Valley for a walk up through a wooded valley towards a stunning waterfall and the summit of Penpych with amazing views over Treherbert and beyond!

Views over Treherbert on the Blaencwm walk.

Kerry Rees and I enjoying the views over Treherbert.

Once at the top we headed down through a muddy conifer plantation towards the source of the River Rhondda and over the metal footbridge.

After a quick bite to eat whilst sat alongside a crystal clear pond and the stunning Nant Melyn waterfall, we continued on our way.

From there we trekked up a boulder ridden valley towards the Iron Age settlement of Hen Dre'r Mynydd and its crumbling stone huts.

Along the way we had some great view down over the two former coal mines that once worked the seams beneath these hills.

Getting my feet well and truly soaked!

I sunk my boot in a boggy patch, getting my feet well and truly soaked!

With the Rhigos mountain road (A4061) on our left we followed the track down, back towards town and the car park where we began.

For the second walk tonight, we visited Abergynolwyn in the After a quick blast on the local steam train, we got down to the serious business of walking, heading over a wooden footbridge and river towards the village.

Derek Brockway out waking

This was the last section of the walk before we made our way down through the mountain oak forest and back to the village.

Walking past the old quarrymen's houses we quickly reached the outskirts of the village and saw where the two converging rivers of the River Gwernol and the River Dysynni met.

The walk then opened up into spectacular views as we trudged our way down through a wide valley towards Castell y Bere. Have a look at the photos from this walk if you have time.

Next up we visited the nearby St Michael's Church and village where Mary Jones once lived. Mary was a local girl who walked from here to Bala in her bare feet! (25 miles), just to get her hands on a Welsh bible. I decided to keep my boots on though and kept walking!

The glamorous life of a weather presenter!

The glamorous life of a weather presenter! This was a stream we had to wade through during Abergynolwyn walk. Luckily I only had to go through it twice and we go the shot!

From there, we walked past more pristine waterfalls and headed into yet another impressively, steep sided valley with incredible views.

Once at the top we could see over Mynydd Cedris and Mynydd Rhugog which stand guard over the River Dysynni and Tal-y-Llyn Lake below. Then it was downhill, through a forest of mountain oaks and back into the village via a country lane.

It's been great fun doing the walks and we even had some beautiful blue skies and sunshine for these last two walks, so take a look and I hope it inspires you to give them a go!

Don't forget - you can watch all the episodes from this new series again on 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer.

Derek

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