Two friends cleared a little-known footpath to make it easier and safer for people to walk to the Castell y Bwch pub in Henllys.
Peter Frisell and Mike Tennant, both Henllys residents, came up with the idea after chatting to the landlord of the pub.
It took me a bit of time to find the pair this morning. The entrance to the “secret” path is off Henllys Way- on the opposite side of the road to the orchard entrance of Henllys Local Nature Reserve.
The footpath cuts through the fields and comes out at the back of some homes, within sight of the Castell y Bwch. Peter and Mike were hard at work cutting, strimming and trimming overgrown branches and brambles along the route.
Peter said: “So I was talking to the governor of the Castell y Bwch, Gary Bulmer. It’s an out-of-the-way pub and it’s difficult to walk to if you’ve got kids and dogs, especially that little bit of lane that comes off of Henllys Way and then comes through the bends and everything else.
“And I know it should be 20mph, but vehicles come flying around there and it’s really tight.
“I said to him, ‘what about the path down the side?’ and he said, ‘I didn’t know there was a path there’, so I said ‘yes, there’s definitely a path.”
After checking the route themselves, the pair decided they could clear it in a morning.
“It’s a country path, as you can see,” he said.
“It’s really muddy but you can walk up here with children now, whereas before you couldn’t have walked up here. That’s the whole purpose, you know, give people the opportunity to get out.
“You wouldn’t think you’re in Cwmbran where you are now, you really wouldn’t. If you stop for a minute and there’s no machines going, the bird song is phenomenal. You can hear the hawks that always nest up on the ridge by there. A couple of horses wandered down just to see what we’re doing. You can hear the sheep.”
Peter added that Henllys Community Council and Gwent Police’s road safety team were being asked to look at signage reminding drivers that pedestrians use the lane.