A councillor has walked 230 miles from Bangor to Cardiff as part of a campaign to reopen rail links between south and north Wales.
Elfed Wyn ap Elwyn, 26, from Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, a Plaid Cymru councillor for Bowydd and Rhiw, Blaenau Ffestiniog, followed the rail corridors of Afon Wen, Cambrian, Aberystwyth to Carmarthen and the Great Western to Cardiff line.
He did so to raise awareness of the need for a better public transport system to unite Wales and also link with the rest of the UK.
Elfed is a member of the Traws Link Cymru campaign group, which wants to see a train network re-established in west Wales and to reunite communities in both north and south Wales – saving people hours of extra time having to travel through England as it currently stands.
Elfed started his epic journey in Bangor on Sunday, 17 September, finishing 10 days later, on Wednesday, 27 September, in Cardiff.
The walk took him from Bangor to Penrhyndeudraeth, Penrhyndeudraeth to Barmouth, Barmouth to Machynlleth and Machynlleth to Aberystwyth. From there he walked to Lampeter, Carmarthen, Swansea, Bridgend-Ogmore, Bridgend-Penarth and, finally, Cardiff Bay.
Elfed said: “I really want to see the railways reopening because I want to see the communities that have lost touch with each other from the time of the Beeching (cuts) to be reconnected again.
“I would like to see a community like Tregaron be part of a rail network and Penygroes being linked with Caernarfon again. I think the connections between communities have distanced since the railways were axed. Rural Welsh communities need to be reconnected which would be a positive development for the economy and the language as well.”
Elfed believes it would be possible for someone to travel from north Wales to Cardiff within a few hours – and complete a return journey easily within a day in the future – when the rail system is improved.
He said: “It’s ridiculous that we have to travel in the shape of a reversed C if we want to go from Bangor to Cardiff – from Bangor to England and down the Marches towards Cardiff. It’s crazy.”
Elfed, who is married to Anwen is the father of 15-month-old twins Iorwerth Prysor and Gwynant Edw, added: “I want them to be able to maybe catch the train in Penrhyndeudraeth to go to Cardiff rather than having to have a car or if they want to go to Bangor that they can use the train.
“I want to develop Wales into a confident and prosperous country in which to live in so that we connect Wales internally rather exist as some cupboard under the stairs for Westminster as it is at the moment.”
A total of 12,856 people have signed a petition started by Elfed calling for rail links to be reopened to reconnect north and south Wales.
The petition was presented to the Welsh Parliament Petitions Committee on the day Elfed arrived in Cardiff at the end of his journey.
As the petition has exceeded the stipulated threshold of 10,000 signatures, there will now be a formal debate in the Senedd. No date has yet been set, but it will probably be sometime in December.
Upon the completion of the walk, Elfed said: “I’m very pleased at last to reach the Senedd here in Cardiff after a very long walk.
“Altogether I’ve walked 206 miles – I caught the train in Llanelli just to Bridgend, but 206 miles – I walked every step along the way, and I’m just so happy to here at last and to see how much interest people have in the campaign.”
Dwyfor Meirionnydd MS Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “Elfed’s done us a great favour with this walk by raising awareness about the need to reopen the railway lines here in Wales, especially the ones from the north to the south.
“Not only would it improve connectivity between communities, it would also improve the economy.”
Elfed added: “It is very important that we have a connection between the north and south of Wales. Reopening the line between Afon Wen and Bangor, Carmarthen to Aberystwyth and also making changes across the present line so we can connect our country better.”