High above the A470 to the north of Quaker’s Yard, the Giant’s Bite is a dramatic gap in the skyline quarried from the ridge top at the former Cefn Glas mine and quarry.
The site was intensively grazed up to the mid-1990s when a large belt of native trees were planted on the lower slopes. These trees are now maturing and have helped to heal the visible mining scares.
The shales forming the upper soil horizons support a wide variety of native flowering grassland species including wild strawberry, cowslip, foxglove and wild thyme, and the site is increasingly becoming re-vegetated by scrub species and returning to greater tree cover.
Fine views of the Taff and Cynon valleys are afforded from the summit ridge, while the line of the former Glamorganshire Canal is also discernible.
A circular walk via Pontygwaith and Quaker’s Yard can be made from Cefn Glas utilising the Taff and Trevithick Trails. The ridge leads to a possible cairn at the site of an old trig point.