Angels take flight over Blaenafon

I move in silence
With each step taken
Snow falling round me
Like angels in flight
Enya, On My Way Home

A spontaneous trip to Llanhilleth, to the old church of St Illtyd's overlooking the valley from Aberbeeg to Six Bells. Something of a recce to explore an area I've not visited before. Since I was in the area I also added a visit to Milfraen Colliery near Blaenafon, where I met A for a joint ramble through history. The trip across the mountain road to the British was interesting too, as there are plenty of visible reminders of the industrial past scattered around. The threatening dark clouds soon passed and we found the remnants of the old colliery quite easily, before heading back to the parked car. We met a man unloading a couple of baskets of racing pigeons, a real blast from the past as I recall seeing the cots lining hillsides in my childhood. The pigeons were young birds out for a training flight, back to Tredegar. The account we were given of the races was really interesting, the man's son was due to arrive soon to release the birds after giving enough time for the father to return home to be ready to welcome the birds back - with some feed to ensure they entered the cot. "They navigate using earth's magnetic field" we were told, when they're more experienced they'll be taken further afield, to France and Spain. And so they were released, and with barely a pause headed straight for Tredegar.