Machen and Ruperra Loop

Location

Caerphilly /Newport, South Wales

OutdoorLads shares the exact meeting point with people who have signed up, closer to the date. See the OutdoorLads listing for details.

About this event

This walk mixes woodland, historic villages and old castles and provides sweeping views across the Rhymney Valley and towards the coast, just 10 mins off the M4 between Cardiff and NewportStarting from Machen Village Hall we will follow part of the popular Forge trail into Coed Cefn-pwll-du, which hosts a popular (and challenging) weekly Park Trail Run. Here we will deviate from the original Forge trail and pick up the Cambrian way and head into the Llwyn Hir woods and head to Draethen and up to the Ruperra Hill Fort and view point. This boasts commanding views over to Cardiff, Newport, the Gwent levels and the Channel. Here we will take a breather and admire the sweeping views across to Newport, Cardiff and beyond. This old fort sits in the land adjacent to Caerphilly's "other" castle - no less impressive than its bigger town centre counterpart it has a colourful past and controversial future  From here we will cut across farmland and an old iron bridge to Lower Machen with its historic church. We then climb the slopes of Mynydd Machen via Royal Oak, where we are rewarded with more views across the Rhymney Valley. This route is a moderate walk on good paths. It is just under 16km in length and there is approx 650m of ascent and steep sections. If the weather is bad or we decide our legs aren't in it the route can be cut short to miss out Mynydd Machen, reducing the distance to 11km and 350m ascent.All pictures by David Pugh/Caerphilly Adventure Group and used with permission.