The Door to the Valleys
This week on Weatherman Walking, tonight (Friday) BBC1 Wales, 8.30pm, we are starting our explorations in the town of Porth, Rhondda Valleys, south Wales. We follow a walk, and a story, about the local mining community down to Llandaff, Cardiff. Onkar is also in the area, with a fizzing story full of pop!
The word ‘porth’ literally translates to door or doorway. The town’s location marks the point where the valley splits in two to create the Rhondda Fawr (big) and Rhondda Fach (small) valleys. This episode’s story actually begins in Porth Morrisons car park…
Visitors to the supermarket may have noticed, and may well be aware of, the colliery coal truck memorial which sits in the car park.
This marks, and remembers, where the Cymmer Colliery once stood. Derek and I delve further into its story – and why so many people walk this particular route every year, and remember those who worked and died here – throughout the episode. The Cymmer Colliery explosion of 1856 was the first mining disaster in Wales to kill more than 100 people. Many of them young boys.
Tune in to BBC 1 Wales at 8.30pm tonight, or, in case you miss it live or live outside of Wales, online here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bw74h9
