An Amble Along The Angidy Trail

A final smug holiday post! This walk takes you along Tintern's Angidy Trail. Usually you say the name "Tintern" and most people would think of this:

We broke with tradition though and didn't visit the abbey. Instead we followed a path that showed us various ruins associated with the area's famous wire working industry which started in the 17th century and ended in the 19th.

This is one of the furnaces. The men would heat iron ore and charcoal and then be left with cast iron once it had cooled.

Many of the processes were powered by water and various workings remain.

However, as we climbed up and down the valley I was as enchanted with the wild flowers we discovered. Shown here are the orange hawkweed, green alkantet and comfrey.

The church ruin is called St Mary's and is Victorian. It was the wireworkers' church but was sadly destroyed by fire in 1977.

The shapes of these gravestones rather tickled my fancy- the winecooler shaped one has recently been restored.

Our walk threw up a rather lovely surprise at the end. I shall explain more tomorrow when I have uploaded the photos!

Arilx