November 2025 - Dai's walk around Wales blog

Dai's walk around Wales blog - November 2025

Sunrise - The sun rising through the mist above the Cynon Valley,

https://youtu.be/QsXb3a80OCQ		BRECON RADNOR NEATH SWANSEA EAST REFORM UK CHAIRMAN IAIN McINTOSH INTERVIEW INAUGURAL MEETING An interview with Iain McIntosh the newly elected chairman at the inaugural branch meeting of Reform UK.
https://youtu.be/s7cMKzQhzxw		BRECON RADNOR NEATH SWANSEA EAST REFORM UK DEPUTY CHAIRMAN MICK BUSHELL INTERVIEW INAUGURAL MEETING An interview with Mick Bushell the newly elected deputy chairman at the inaugural branch meeting of Reform UK.

left: sunrise happening behind the Craig y Llyn ridge.

right: mist following the line of the River Neath

left & right: sunset on Aberavon Beach - that's me in the photo walking

https://youtu.be/OSZNaOZKjig

LADY FALLS - SGWD GWLADYS WATERFALL COUNTRY - VISITOR INTERVIEW - CHRISTIAN FROM JERSEY - An interview with Christian from Jersey at the beginning of his first visit to the Brecon Beacons Waterfall Country. He was in Wales to watch the rock band Volbeat and extended his stay to include walks on the Gower and Waterfall Country.

sunrise over the Craig-y-Llyn ridge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m3tl

Tonight sees me starring in a role I spent over 40 years perfecting, lifting a pint of beer in a pub. In the film Mr Burton been shown at 8.00pm on BBC 1 tonight the back of my right shoulder should be seen lifting a pint at a point in the film where Burton's father starts talking about the racehorse Liberato etc. Burton is watching from the doorway and looking side on at him, the edge of me can be seen sitting opposite him. The scene was filmed at Corbett Arms Hotel in Ogmore Vale in July 2024.

GLYNNEATH NEWS & VIEWS POST

RICHARD BURTON 100 - GLYNNEATH & BURTON
All those years of training in the Halfway and the Rock have finally paid off. Tonight sees me starring in a role I spent over 40 years perfecting, lifting a pint of beer in a pub. In the film Mr Burton been shown at 8.00pm on BBC 1 tonight, the back of my right shoulder should be seen lifting a pint at a point in the film where Burton's father starts talking about the racehorse Liberato etc. Burton is watching from the doorway and looking side on at him, the edge of me can be seen sitting opposite him lifting a pint of beer. Don't blink, you'll miss it. The scene was filmed at Corbett Arms Hotel in Ogmore Vale in July 2024. Of interest Richard Burton is known to have visited Glynneath in the mid 1970s for a party in Alun Roberts house in Brynhyfryd. That house and many others in Brynhyfryd were built by Richard Burton's nephew, Gareth Owen. If anyone out there has photos of Burton, and/or Gareth Owen please share them with the group. And Steve Stephen Smith can you tell us your Burton story please :)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/369552746753067/posts/2572907636417556

Steve Smith on Glynneath News & Views....
I’ve been invited to tell my Richard Burton story so I’ll give it a try.
I was about 8-9 years old down the beach in front of the old fairs by the pier. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was with best mate Ricky Evans, my eldest brother Harry had just left with his mates to go to the Beach Hotel for a pint. After a while we decided to go and try and bum a tanner (sixpence) off Harry, we stuck our heads through to look for him and saw he was playing darts with a woman so I shouted to him.
He turned around and walked over to the bar spoke to the barman and called us in. Over we went in our bathers (trunks) and covered in sand to be introduced to a couple who turned out to be Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, didn’t know them from Adam. So for 10 minutes we talked with all there, played darts with two Hollywood legends before we were told we had to go. Then I remembered why we there and asked Harry for a tanner, he grumbled a bit but coughed it up. Richard Burton heard the conversation and being one of the lads he was known to be, gave us a bob (shilling) each. It took a few years for it to sink in and realise who they actually were and so become my favourite Hollywood actors. Richard took a real shine to my mate as he was a Richard as well. He also beat us at darts.
So I hope this story was interesting enough to make it worth reading.

	17 rise = Craig-y-Llyn lower slopes
	18 rise = Moel Penderyn
	20 rise = Vale of Neath reflective sunrise - set = Vale of Neath
	21 rise = pylon near the Banwen Rd, the 4 patches on the grass are where the sheep had been sleeping overnight - dead tree foreground with a sunrise glow over the Maerdy mountain - set = Vale of Neath from Glynneath
	22 set = Vale of Neath

https://youtu.be/n-AJbORSfYQ

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BRITISH ARMY MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPION - MINDSET MEMORIES STRATEGIES & SECRETS

After 30+ years Dai Richards reveals the secrets and strategies that made him the Welsh 1000s, British Army Mountain Running Champion two years in succession. An all round stamina athlete, Richards was a World and European veteran quadrathlon champion and he represented Wales at senior level in 6 different sports.

	A new gate replacing the old wooden fence on the public footpath between Glynneath Cemetery and the Banwen Road. A good effort indeed.
	The view down the Vale of the Neath with the Glynneath Welfare Park in the foreground.

pink skies pre-sunrise over the Craig-y-Llyn ridge

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Hepplewhite and her partner Dave ( https://debbiehepplewhite.com/ ) at the Advance UK Wales launch in Taff's Well. Debbie is a children's reading language specialist and a fellow children's welfare freedom fighter. Her blog The Naked Emperor is well worth the read.

https://debbiehepplewhite.com/.

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