The opening of a cycle trail and path along the ex-Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway’s connection between the Rhondda and Afan valleys came a step closer when Transport Minister Grant Shapps said ‘I would be happy to transfer it to a local group, the Welsh Government or the local council, with money for the purpose.’ At 3,443 yards it would become ‘the longest underground cycle path in Europe’, as the Daily Telegraph put it, and the second-longest in the world. Only the Snoqualmie Tunnel near Seattle in the USA would offer a lengthier subterranean experience. Chris Bryant, the MP for Rhondda, said: ‘It would be a major local attraction, which would be good for tourism and jobs in an area of outstanding beauty that unfortunately has terrible financial deprivation’. (Daily Telegraph)