Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 01495-793123;
www.chunkofcheese.co.uk
; 80 Broad St; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat)
On the main drag,
Blaenavon Cheddar Company is both a champion for the town and evidence of its gradual
resurgence. The shop stocks the company's range of multi award-winning handmade
cheese, some of which are matured down in the Big Pit mine shaft. The Pwll Mawr is par-
ticularly good, but for extra kick try the chilli- and ale-laced Dragon's Breath. It also
stocks a range of Welsh speciality ales, wines and whisky.
Orientation
Blaenavon is situated at the head of the Llwyd Valley, 16 miles north of Newport. Most
buses stop in High St, in the centre of town. Broad St, with its bookshops, is a block to the
east. Blaenavon Ironworks is 400m west of High St: walk uphill to the top of High St, turn
left on Upper Waun St, then left again on North St. Big Pit: National Coal Museum is an-
other mile west of the ironworks.
Getting There & Away
If you're on a bike, a branch of Lôn Las Cymru connects to Abergavenny, before heading
north to Builth Wells and south to Chepstow.
Buses X24 and 30 head here from Newport (50 minutes).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Merthyr Tydfil
POP 55,000
Merthyr Tydfil (
mur
-thir
tid
-vil) occupies a spectacular site, sprawled across a bowl at
the head of the Taff Valley, ringed and pocked with quarries and spoil heaps. It was even
more spectacular 200 years ago when the town was at the heart of the Industrial Revolu-
tion, and this bowl was a crucible filled with the fire and smoke of the world's biggest
ironworks.
Today all the industry has gone and unemployment runs at 27% more than the national
average - it's said to be the toughest town in Britain for jobseekers. But Merthyr is en-
deavouring to turn itself around, redeveloping former industrial sites and turning its past
into a tourist attraction.
Perhaps unusually for such an industrial town, Merthyr Tydfil has produced two inter-
nationally famous fashion designers - Laura Ashley (famed for her flowery, feminine
