The Travel Nut

Goytre Reservoir (or Cwmwernderi Reservoir is its official name), is a place we’ve visited on many occasions over the past two years.

Believe it or not, I’ve lived in Port Talbot for most of my life, and only discovered this hidden beauty two years ago, when discussing somewhere suitable to take our dog for a walk, as a change to our usual spots.

It was quite tricky to find, but I’ve simplified the entrance to the path as much as I can for you.

The rough postcode is: SA13 2SH – this will help take you onto the correct road.

If you have a satnav, the lat long details for the closest parking spot are:

Lat 51.6005 Long -03.7341

This is what I use to look out for as a marker point, there’s a short row of large stones on the left hand side of the road.

 

 

The start of the walking path is down a country lane, and you could easily drive past it without realising, as we had done many times! The entrance, is opposite the rocks pictures above, on the right hand side of the road.

 

 

Once you go through that gap in the bushes, just follow the path!

 

 

Along the path, there are a few places to stop to throw stones in a little stream that runs alongside, but at the moment it’s quite shallow, so we continued with our walking. There are plenty of twigs along the path to keep the boys and the dog happy! Further along the path there is a big log which the boys love to climb on.

 

 

Continue to follow the path, and head through the gates.

 

 

A short while after this, the path starts to climb ever so gently. It then levels off, and you have two choices. You can continue straight, where the path dips back down ever so slightly – and follow this route. This takes you to the bottom of the res, with a steep climb up an embankment, which takes you level with the waters edge.

Alternatively, you can follow the path up to the left, which takes you high above the Reservoir, to give you another beautiful perspective.

 

 

As we were only on a short visit after school, we decided to take the shorter route, and follow the path straight ahead. From here, it’s a short walk to the res.

 

 

Just before heading up the embankment, the boys wanted to play on some more logs that were at the bottom of it, so we used this as another photo opportunity.

 

 

 

After a short play on the logs, we made the climb up. Once at the top, you are rewarded with this view;

 

 

It is absolutely beautiful, and very quiet! On our whole walk there and back (including a pitstop for some snacks) we only saw two other people.

 

The top of the embankment has a space right along the edge, where there is plenty of room to stop, have a rest and soak in the view…..and of course take some more photos!!

 

 

After spending around half an hour relaxing at the top, it was time to head back. We simply walked back down the embankment, and followed the same path all the way back.

 

 

 

It’s a beautiful place to visit and spend some time, and you can make your visit as long or short as you want too!!

 

When heading towards the reservoir, if you take the path to the left (that was visible in the photograph earlier) – this takes you on a longer walk, where you can look down on the reservoir. This is also a fantastic walk. You can walk up, and walk back the same way, (which although steep in places, is easy, and suitable for younger children, being mindful of the drop), or there is a much longer circular route, that takes you right around to the back of the reservoir. This route however I wouldn’t recommend for younger children, due to the steep nature of the path in places, right at the back of the reservoir.

Although we didn’t do that longer route on this occasion, we have done it before, so I’ve included some images that I took on my iPhone from a few months back. I will be returning soon to take an image on my digital camera to upload too!!

 

 

 

 

This is certainly a hidden gem in Port Talbot!

Have you visited? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Do you have any other hidden gems you’d like to share?