Charity trek chooses Taff Trail

Macmillan to stage its first Taff Trail fundraiser

A 14-mile route from Merthyr Tydfil to Pontypridd along the archaeological Taff Trail has been selected by Macmillan Cancer Support as the location for its upcoming charity walk.

Around 150 people are expected to take part on 20 November 2011 to help raise money for cancer research and support for patients and their families.

Taff Trail fundraiser encourages people to explore their surrounding countryside

Debbie Jones, Fundraising Manager for Macmillan said “Volunteers came up with the idea for the walk.”

She confirmed that they wanted a route that explored the surrounding countryside but incorporated the famous mining town of Merthyr and the county of Rhondda Cynon Taff.

The Taff Trail route is much longer than Macmillan’s more established Rhondda and Cynon Valley walks and is expected to take people the majority of the day to complete.

Did you know?

The Macmillan Taff Trail walk will pass the original stone sleepers that Trevithick’s innovative locomotive travelled over during Wales’s industrial revolution as it carried iron from Penydarren to Abercynon.

Trevithicks’ Locomotive

On 21 February 1804, the world’s first ever railway journey ran nine miles from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal.

A replica of Trevithicks’ steam locomotive can be seen at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea.

The participants

Debbie Jones explained the motives behind participants supporting the ‘Miles for Macmillan’ campaign. She said on 20 November 2011 many people will walk in memory of someone, others for personal fitness and some as recuperating cancer patients just wanting to give something back.

Taking part

For information on how to take part you can visit the Macmillan website or pick up a registration form at Boots.