{"id":3473,"date":"2023-04-14T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T16:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2023-04-14T14:48:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T13:48:08","slug":"crosskeys-circular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/04\/14\/crosskeys-circular\/","title":{"rendered":"Crosskeys Circular"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"min-width: 260px; max-width: 100%\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.outdooractive.com\/en\/embed\/264448496\/js?mw=false\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<p>A nice gentle walk offering a pub stop and great views of the surrounding hills. You might see Herons or Kingfishers on the canal section &#8211; I see them more often than not on this walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2mU68iX\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51785285845_39d01c1ea8_b.jpg\" alt=\"Chasing Kingfishers\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There is normally parking available just by the canal bridge in Pontywaun, but you could park anywhere in Pontywaun \/ Cwmcarn to pick up the canal. The walk along the canal is nice and flat on a good tarmac surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/GsvANa\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/807\/26554274917_ba4abfe8b3_b.jpg\" alt=\"Canal in the afternoon\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a memorial to <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up a hill, just over a canal bridge on this walk there is a memorial to the 142 men and boys killed by an explosion on the 1st December 1860, whilst working on the notorious &#8216;Black Vein&#8217; coal seam above Risca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>50 bodies from that disaster are buried here, in a now peaceful field, just above the canal that has shed its industrial past and is now teeming with wildlife, whilst the towpath is alive with joggers, walkers and cyclists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/HWkcA2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1755\/27525464377_757b1e9296_b.jpg\" alt=\"Memorial\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The memorial is in the patch of trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The memorial was badly overgrown and largely forgotten until 2010 when a community payback project cleared the site and uncovered the memorial, part of which reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;A sudden change at God&#8217;s command they fell\/They had no chance to bid their friends farewell\/Swift came the blast without a warning given\/And bid them haste to god in heaven.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You then descend at the end of the canal section &#8211; where it is cut in two by the road &#8211; to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darranpubrisca.co.uk\/\">Darran<\/a> pub if you wanted food \/ drink and cross the road heading towards the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2oth66T\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52817225785_21784a92a7_b.jpg\" alt=\"Crosskeys Circular\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can walk the riverbank all the way to Crosskeys park which has a good play park for kids and lots of green space to run around in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2oteZqE\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52816816466_0768dfc9bb_b.jpg\" alt=\"Crosskeys Circular\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Crosskeys play park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can then cut back to the canal and head up some steep steps and a bridge over the railway. If you wanted to make this a pram friendly route, you could stick to pavements and head back to the car that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nice gentle walk offering a pub stop and great views of the surrounding hills. You might see Herons or Kingfishers on the canal section &#8211; I see them more often than not on this walk. There is normally parking available just by the canal bridge in Pontywaun, but you could park anywhere in Pontywaun [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Crosskeys Circular walk - canal, pub and park!","_seopress_titles_desc":"A nice gentle walk offering a pub stop and great views of the surrounding hills. You might see Herons or Kingfishers on the canal section.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[268,266,261,272,289,282],"tags":[332,333,334,112,200,239],"class_list":["post-3473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caerphilly","category-canals","category-fairly-easy","category-play-parks","category-pub","category-river","tag-canal","tag-crosskeys","tag-darran-pub","tag-hiking","tag-south-wales","tag-welsh-valleys"],"blocksy_meta":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions\/3477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalkingkev.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}