Walks from Neath

You can see all the way around Swansea Bay and across the sea to Exmoor on a clear day. A scenic, very largely off-road walk on woodland and hill trails, climbing high onto Mynydd Dinas to the national coast path with sweeping views over Swansea Bay and the steelworks and across to Exmoor. A steep descent into Port Talbot with many wooden steps; trails are tree-rooty and muddy in short sections. Follows the Wales Coast Path along the top of Mynydd Dinas; picks up Baglan and Briton Ferry as jumping-on points.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 3h30–7h

Lunch: Shops at Briton Ferry are a short detour off-route.

Warnings: A steep descent with lots of wooden steps into Port Talbot; short tree-rooty and muddy sections hinder wheeling. Keep an eye out to get under the M4 and cross a busy road correctly near Port Talbot.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A valley route whose second half from Pontrhydyfen to Maesteg is good, but whose first half is problematic: proposed detours to avoid the B4287 cross ground that is not a right of way and is in places impassable and the descent into Maesteg is across pathless scrubland.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 5h–10h

Warnings: The first half is hard to follow and partly impassable; some detours cross land with no right of way. The descent into Maesteg has no obvious path. The B4287 has no pavement.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Easy and largely flat, with only one unpaved section along the canal between Jersey Marine and Port Tennant. The stretch from Briton Ferry to Jersey Marine is a dull flog alongside the dual carriageway and but the wide shared cyclepath is safe; the approach into Swansea over a suspension bridge is more scenic than the road route. The canal path continues all the way under the road bridge at Giant's Grave; well waymarked and frequently used though not shown as a right of way on OS maps.

Time: 4h–7h30

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Walk details: Slow Ways.