In which Charles has a rant about:

-Wind turbines

– Solar Installations

– Fly Tipping

– Off road vehicles

– blocked footpaths

– the Government in general

It’s been nearly a year since I posted here last. How come? I don’t know really. I’ve not had any major health crisis, Anne and I are OK, the garden hasn’t been destroyed, though Box Blight has seen to almost all our lovely hedges and topiary. Yes, we’ve got a new government latterly who are doing their best to wreck the economy and exhibit various other self-harming behaviours. Starmer is as leaden a leader as you can imagine. No Blair Bounce there. But if anything this miserable government should have made me head for the hills.

Bob just having a little sit on the Beara Way

I have been walking occasionally with Paul and Bob and I had a very enjoyable week in Ireland last May when we walked part of the Beara Way in County Cork.  I took pics  but when I got home I just couldn’t summon up motivation to spend hours here writing about it. One thing has changed and that is that I don’t feel as walking fit as I used to be. I feel intimidated now by the prospect of a 10 mile trek. Bob and I are having a weeks gentle walking in Albania in May and none of our walks are that long. I’ll be 70 in May and although age may be a factor in my lack of trek appetite, I know in my head that If I had kept walking fit, 10 miles could still be a breeze. Hey ho.

So this walk on the Monmouthshire Way was intended to be just over 7 miles. I know what you are thinking.

The thing is that I am great on the flat, but as soon as I get to any kind of incline I quickly lose my breath. Paul reckons he’s the same but having had a heart attack, stents fitted and despite taking  loads of meds he’s still quicker up the hills than me,

It was cold and overcast when we set off, pockets of icy snow lodged by the side of the path. As inclines go this gentle pull up the side of Coerty Mountain was hardly challenging but I was soon panting away whilst Paul remained unfussed. This area used to be mined for coal and we could see by the exposed and worn stone by our track that this would have once been some kind of tram way.

The view looking back was over Blaenavon and the Big Pit national coal museum.

Paul and I speculated about the purpose of the pond but were inconclusive.

Ahead as we reached the brow of the hill were the first of several wind turbines that have been scattered over this rough moorland landscape.

Our deluded Secretary of State for energy believes these carbuncles  are going to provide us with energy security, which is utter tosh. They are only of benefit to us when the wind blows, and in order to provide any stable contribution to the national grid these installations will require massive areas of land given over to batteries – themselves proving to be hazardous. And if the wind blows too hard they have to be shut down. Wind farm operators are routinely paid not to generate electricity when they are sited behind a grid bottleneck and are generating more energy than can be used locally or exported. These payments amounted to over £100 million in 2023.

And yet the government is committed to adding hugely to these monstrosities which are alien and out of place in the vast majority of landscapes on which they are installed.

At least the sheep don’t seem to be bothered by them.

Crossing the boundary from Torfaen into Blaenau Gwent we had another environmental blight to contend with. Fly tipping.

Bearing in mind that we were about half a mile from any metalled road, the commitment of the off roader owners of the county to desecrate their landscape was deeply disturbing.  Neither of us could get our heads around why people would do this.

And some of the piles of rubbish were huge.

I can only believe that some people are so alienated from their surroundings that they just don’t care about polluting the place. If so, the failure is ours at some level, but I’ve no idea how we should tackle this irresponsibility.  I mean its not that there is no beauty here; this landscape is stunning in parts with its curving drystone walls and heather-covered moors

As we came off the side of the hill we followed a rough stone track towards a reservoir occupying a little valley above the town of Blaina.

Above the reservoir was a curious structure that has to have been water related but whether it was a smaller reservoir or old water treatment plant wasn’t clear to us.

And what’s its function now?

We joined the road that ran beside the reservoir to an old stone quarry that would have surely provided stone for the walls and nearby buildings. At first sight this was quite lovely, the face of the quarry having been colonised by ferns and mosses and young birch trees. Above, a small wood of stunted oak trees had established itself on the moor, the brown foliage of last years bracken adding to a beautiful palette of soft, muted greys and greens, with heather adding a purple tint.

However, first glances can be deceptive and as we got closer  it was clear that the fly tipping bast__ds had been busy. A van or pickup had dropped piles of garden debris….

……there was masses of general rubbish….

…. a microwave had been perched on top of a rock for airgun target practice…

… and there were plenty of hazardous stuff, like broken glass.

It was all deeply depressing.

At this point I should explain that Paul is a trained and highly talented artist. I knew that he usually takes his sketch book and paints with him on our walks but we seldom stop long enough for him to take them out. He was as taken as I was by the broad view of the quarry so I suggested that we stop for a bit. Donning his rose-tinted glasses, he got to work while I had a hot chocolate from my flask.

I shuffled over at one point, hoping to see the piece but he refused me a look, promising to show me when he had done a bit more work on it at home. Here is the rather lovely result.

Copyright Paul Steer 2025 – he’s good isn’t he!

The vandals had also littered the stream that ran down the hill….

… and had wedged cans in the stone walls.

Things didn’t improve much as we followed the road down the valley towards Abertillery. A half-built and apparently abandoned house build….

… was followed by a typically untidy and sprawling farmstead….

… and some shabby corrugated iron stables for horses that were nowhere to be seen.

Walking on the road was OK….

…..but then I realised that we shouldn’t be on the road at all, so at Rhiw Park we followed a cul-de-sac of poshish houses back up the hill to a dead end where the marked footpath disappeared and a vaguely threatening and tattooed gentleman asked us the “can I help you” ? (i.e.piss off!) .

In fact he allowed us to climb over the fence (that had had its barbed wire removed from and had clearly been used quite a bit) to re-join a track going back uphill, providing us with another view of Abertillery. We passed an intriguing spring that had its source protected by a stone built little shelter and reminded both of us of those sacred wells or springs that got named in times past.

Such places are usually marked on the map and it wasn’t so we were probably being fanciful. What was certain was that we were back on a marked path but when we got to the gate that would re-join our intended route we found it chained shut and padlocked.

We followed the wall for a bit and found that the barbed wire had previously been cut by some other frustrated walker and we were able to climb over….

…. re-joining our path by another small quarry.

The path was narrow here and just to make it more awkward, it had been quite deeply rutted by an off road motor bike.

But hey, when it was safe to look up we still had a view of Abertillery.

We climbed quite steeply on the narrow, sandy path….

which afforded us an even better view of Abertillery….

…. and, a large field that had been covered with solar panels.

These burgeoning power installations are even worse a folly than wind power stations. To start with they obviously only provide any power in the daylight, and not much of that unless it is a cloud free day. So not exactly well suited to our climate. In order to make any kind of stable contribution to our national grid they would also require battery installations in the same way as wind turbines would. But they are far worse than turbines in so far as they remove the land that they cover from any other productive use. Which is just crazy as any rural  land that we have ought to be supporting agriculture or forestry, not turned over to a ghastly acres of shining panels.  Just to demonstrate  how incredibly inefficient (in land use terms) both solar and wind power generation is, here’s a chart that I pulled off a web site.

Ok, so it was produced by a group with a vested interest in nuclear power but it seems obvious to me that the vast output of stable electricity production 24 hours a day that a nuclear plant can produce is a far more sensible basis to provide us with energy security than these other “renewables”.  Of course landowners and developers stand to make huge amounts of money from solar, and are applying to install them without regard for their environmental implications. For instance, here is a recent map of the Gwent Levels, which contains 14,000 of acres of supposedly protected Sites of Special Scientific Interest showing where solar panel installations are currently being applied for.

This is not any kind of party political complaint I am making here; the previous government started this madness and did next to noting to improve our energy security or National Grid, but really we ought to be taking to the streets to protest this mad approach to our energy needs.  Paul is probably fed up with hearing me rant about this.

Our path climbed slowly to a trig point at 1,600 feet which was situated in a pool of mud churned up by off road vehicles, but a snap had to be taken.

Yes, I look wrecked!

Just to give you a moment of light relief from my ranting, near by here we put up a pair of Grouse which delighted Paul as he’d never come across Grouse on these moors before. They sounded terrified as they sped off.

A couple more turbines later….

… we were striding on a fairly level track heading for Pontypool.

As we descended the hillside we said hello to some sheep….

….spotted a relict beech hedge…

… passed a rather nicely preserved gable end of a ruined cottage….

… and sympathised with some miserable looking horses in a very muddy field.

The final section of path was soft and slippery..

… and we emerged onto a quiet road near the suburb called Charlesville. Looking back there wasn’t even a footpath sign.

A few days later Paul did another,  much bigger version of his sketch. Here it is in all its glory.

“Charles resting below the quarry, Cwmtillery” 60x30cm. Mixed media on chipboard. Copyright Paul Steer 2025

Paul and his friend and colleague Eleanor Greenwood will be exhibiting ” Hidden Voices” at the Queen Street Gallery, Neath, from 6th to 27th September 2025 where over 20 of his works will be for sale.