93) Footbridge along the Afan, between Velindre and Cwmavon

A little further down the path which runs between Ynys y Gored and the river, you come to this metal footbridge. I have seen anglers fishing from the bridge, and from the sides, but none were there when I made this sketch. In the summer it can be a very pleasant walk along the path as far as Cwmavon, although a few days of rain can render it very muddy. When my children were young, I used to take them just past the bridge where there was the most fantastic place for skimming stones across the river – not when anyone was fishing, mind you.

92) Ynys Y Gored - The House on the Hill

Here’s a question for you. Which is the oldest house in this picture? Answer – the one on the hill. I’ll come back to that in a minute. The other houses were built on what used to be the depot of Scott’s the builders. It’s a good location, right by the River Afan, and the houses themselves look very pleasant – far nicer than Scott’s yard used to be. I used to live in Velindre, and I fancy these were being built when we moved away to another part of town. As for the house on the hill, well that was there when I arrived in 1986. In fact, judging by the architectural style, I’d say it was probably built in the late 60s or the 70s. My wife and I nicknamed it Tracy Island after the very similar house on the eponymous island in Thunderbirds. The kids had no idea what we meant. . . until the Thunderbirds revival in the 90s, that is.

53) Dan Y Bryn Road and M4 Motorway

An unremarkable residential Street, yes. However, what I really like about it – and I admit that you can’t see this in a single sketch, is the way that the M4 here bends right round, and you can actually see it in your rear view mirror at the other end of the road, at the same time as you can see it through your windscreen, which you can see in this sketch.

38) Old Railway Bridge, Velindre

I mentioned in my comments about the sketch of Velindre Bridge from Tydraw Hill that there are only two ways in and out of Velindre. This is the second. The old bridge used to carry a single track railway line which I believe ran from the Afan Valley to the docks. The road out of Velindre runs underneath the bridge.

33) Tydraw Hill

To make this sketch I walked a few yards down the road towards Velindre from the position where I made the previous sketch, and took a photograph. I made a Youtube video on which I challenged myself to make a sketch based on the photograph in no more than 15 minutes. Bearing in mind the time constraint I set myself, and the fact that I don’t sketch particularly quickly I don’t think that this is actually a bad effort. Given more time, though, I would have either included more shading and detail OR I would have applied some water colour to it.

32) Velindre Bridge from Tydraw Hill

I used to live in a part of Port Talbot called Velindre. It’s not far from the town centre – a five minute walk really, but there’s only two ways into the area, which actually gives it a sense of community and almost a village feel. Coming from the town centre you have to cross a bridge to get there. When I first moved to Velindre in 1987 it was a very nice stone bridge, which has since been replaced with an inoffensive metal affair. This sketch was also made from my vantage point on Tydraw Hill, and shows the former Glanafan Lower School building.