Price comparison - multiply by 1.46 for 2023 equivalent
Events since my Last Long Distance Walk in 2010
Since doing my last long distance walk of the Cambrian Way in 2010, a lot of things have happened, which has meant that it was 6 years later before I embarked upon another one. First of all, we had the upheaval of selling our hotel at a rock bottom price, which left us with just enough to pay off our debts and buy a modestly priced bungalow in Kinmel Bay near Rhyl. We had already been considering retirement, as we were both 65, but the economic downturn meant that we had very little in our retirement pot, although we did have enough in pensions to meet our day to day needs. This meant that any holidays had to be kept to a tight budget and spent by my wife and me in a way that suited both of us, leaving nothing spare for me to indulge in my own walking holidays. However, living near lots of mountains and hills in North Wales, I was still able to have regular day walks in the nearby area with no more cost than the fuel to get to and from the starting points.
Although I was theoretically retired, it didn't mean that I was idle. With two daughters and various housing projects on the go, I was kept busy doing general building work and other DIY jobs as well as doing work for friends and neighbours. I am not one to sit watching daytime TV all day, so this gave me something to do and helped keep me fit.
At the beginning of 2014, my younger daughter, who was working for a recruitment agency at the time, came across a job as a gardener/handyman in a dementia home and decided that it would just be the thing for me. It was for 18 hours a week and initially temporary employment through an agency, but after several months the post was offered permanently and I then started working directly for the council. The advantage of this was that it gave a regular extra income which meant that there was more money to spend on holidays, hence the possibility of resuming long distance walks.
Another thing that had happened over this period was that Tony Drake, pioneer of the Cambrian Way had deteriorated in health and eventually died in 2012. In the few years prior to his death, I had been co-opted to set up the Cambrian Way website and got increasingly involved with updates to the guidebook alongside a long standing friend of Tony's, who also died, leaving me to look after Cambrian Way affairs on my own. After some time, it came to light that the intellectual property right to the guidebook had been left to three of us in a codicil to Tony's will with a view to setting up a Trust (I had never been informed of this before). Of the three of us, one had now died and the other no longer wanted any involvement, leaving the onus on me to take everything forward. I didn't mind looking after the website and day to day correspondence with walkers, but I didn't particularly want to have the burden of setting up a Trust, finding other members to be Trustees and organising publication of the next edition of the guidebook. Fortunately, Tony Drake had also left a considerable sum of money to The Ramblers to be spent on promoting the Cambrian Way and on maintenance of the route, so I became involved with their working groups and found willing Trustees with legal expertise, who could take care of that side of things.
Another opportunity arose for doing a long distance walk because of the European Football Championship in 2016. Having been caught up with all of this on a previous Championship whilst we were on holiday in France, my wife decided we should avoid this time of year for our 2016 holiday and go in September instead. This left June free, my favourite time for walks, although I was still limited with the amount of leave I had with my job, so there was just two weeks that I could take. Having so much involvement with the Cambrian Way, which I have always considered to be the best walk in Britain, this seemed the obvious choice even though I would only be able to do two thirds of the walk in a fortnight. The walk would serve the additional purpose of checking out the route. I had created GPX files of the route from online maps for downloading from the website but never had the opportunity to put them to the test. I had recently purchased a Garmin etrex 10 to replace my old Garmin etrex and this had the ability of holding a large number of route files which I could try out on the way.
Planning and Preparation
Planning the Walk
Although I had done the complete walk three times before, the actual route taken depends on where accommodation can be found and this tends to change somewhat over the years with Youth Hostels closing and B&Bs being sold to people who just want them as private houses or want to convert them into holiday flats for weekly letting. One area that is difficult for accommodation is the Brecon Beacons, and I had always had to take the Ystradfellte variant because the Youth Hostel at Llwyn-y-celyn (now called YHA Brecon) had always been full. This time I wanted to walk one of the other routes for a change so decided to look at availability of this hostel and the Llanddeusant hostel to see if I could choose my dates to fit in with places being available, which I was able to do, though this did not fit in with availability at Danywenallt Hostel. However, this didn't matter too much as there was plenty of accommodation in Talybont-on-Usk, including a new Bunkhouse at the White Hart pub.
I tended to stick to a fairly similar schedule to ones I had done before, though inevitably there were a few minor changes to make. On previous occasions, I had stayed at the old Cardiff Youth Hostel near Roath Park, doing a short bit of the route after arriving by train in the afternoon. However, a new flagship hostel with 24 hour reception had been opened by the YHA in the old Mercure Hotel just over a mile to the east of the City Centre, so I found that I could get a train after work on the Friday evening and then start the walk on Saturday morning, thus helping me to avoid an extra day. I had always walked from Cardiff to Abergavenny in two days, ignoring Tony Drake's advice, and found that I could manage it, but not without a struggle. This time, however, things conspired to add extra bits onto these two days. No longer would I have a bit of a head start on the route from Cardiff, but an extra bit of walking to get from the hostel to the beginning of the walk at Cardiff Castle. At the end of the first day, the B&B that used to be in Crosskeys had changed hands and then moved premises adding a bit extra to the first and second days, and the Bunkhouse I had used a couple of times previously in Abergavenny was by the railway station, a little way beyond the town centre, so I was faced with a few miles extra on what were already long days, making them over 20 miles, and even more when measured on my GPS. Nevertheless, I was not daunted too much by this as, despite now being 71, I felt fitter than ever and able to spend longer on my feet between rests, thanks partly to spending most of my time at work on my feet and also by doing long mountain walks without many rest stops.
My choice of staying at Talybont-on-Usk, YHA Brecon and YHA Llanddeusant meant that I would be taking a considerably different route across the Beacons, which is what I wanted, but it also involved more mountain climbing on top of long distances. However, having had a few days to get into the walk, I thought I would be able to cope. One problem that worried me all along is what I could do for food at YHA Llanddeusant, which is self-catering only. The nearest shop is 7 miles away and there is nowhere near for an evening meal. On my first two walks there was a pub at Talsarn, but that closed down and became the Red Kite Feeding Centre with only a café which was not open in the evening. On my third walk, I didn't realise that the pub was closed, but the volunteer wardens at the hostel had stocked up with food for themselves and kindly sold me things for me to make for my evening meal and breakfast. Unfortunately this cannot be relied upon and it it difficult to know who will be running the hostel at any particular time. It didn't help that the YHA website showed a Shop and Licensed Bar on one page but warned that there was nothing on site on another page, though I knew from my own experience that the latter was more likely to be true. The other problem is that is very difficult to find out what the real situation is. Other hostels deal with the bookings and a succession of different people act as wardens. The only safe thing to do was to take my own supplies but I didn't want to be carrying too much extra weight with some very demanding walking along the way. I studied all sorts of dried food and found that about the best you can get is 500 kcal from 100g of dried food no matter how much you pay for it. The only things that seems to do better are nuts which manage about 600 kcal per 100g. Not knowing what I might be able to buy along the way, I decided to take a couple of 100g packets of pasta based food right from the start, and then buy a few biscuits, chocolates or similar things on the way. However, considering I would probably use about 4,000 kcal in a day, that would still leave me with quite a shortfall.
Further along the route, the accommodation is not quite so hard to find, provided you are prepared to pay the price. Many of the B&Bs run by elderly couples for a bit of extra income have closed down or have been given expensive makeovers by new owners who, quite reasonably, want to get a return on their investment. Modern living means that most people are looking for a much higher standard of accommodation than previously, whereas I am content with a bed and a roof over my head. Also most B&Bs cater for couples and often have supplements for single occupancy and in popular tourist places they often will not take single night bookings at busy times. Consequently I ended having no option but to pay the prices or be stuck with nowhere to stay. The final sticking point was the last section of my walk from Dinas Mawddwy to Barmouth. Ideally this would be a day and a half at least, as there are a lot of mountains along the way and about 20 miles of walking. I wanted to go as far as YHA King's and then complete the walk to Barmouth the next day before catching the train home. However, King's had no beds available (someone told me that its future is in doubt), and any other suitably placed accommodation was either very expensive, needed a considerable detour or had no evening meal availability nearby. In the end, I decided just to bite the bullet and do it in one day, relying on the fact that I could arrive late and still find food in Barmouth, and with no walking the next day it wouldn't matter how tired I was.
Preparation
With all the accommodation booked, it was then down to sorting out what things to take with me. I have old lists of things to jog my memory, but a number of things change over the years and it is also important to take account of possible weather conditions. On the plus side, many of the electronic gadgets have improved by having reduced weight and chargers are also very much lighter than they used to be, though there is also a tendency to take more gadgets than before. I used to take a battery charger to charge A4 batteries for my GPS, but this is quite heavy, so I decided to ditch it in favour of alkaline batteries. My new GPS is very light on power, as it has a black and white liquid crystal display which only needs a backlight in the dark. If energy saving settings are used, it will run for about 4 to 5 days of walking on one pair of batteries.
Another thing I did to save weight was to use my subscription to OS Maps (one year free with my Garmin erex 10 GPS), which enabled me to print out A4 maps at 1:25,000 scale of the route I would be taking. By printing double sided, I got all of them onto 21 sheets of A4 paper, making a big saving in weight from normal Ordnance Survey Maps. I also had the luxury of 1:25,000 maps for the first time as, when I did my first walk of the Cambrian Way, Explorer maps were not available except for National Parks and so I used 1:50,000 Landranger maps instead. I then continued to use these on subsequent walks, though they did make route finding considerably harder without the better detail that is shown on Explorer maps. Also, instead of taking the guidebook, I printed out the centre pages with the maps and route description, thus cutting down on a bit of weight as well. It may seem ironic, but as the person who did most of the editing and updating of the 7th Edition guidebook, I have never even seen a copy, as they have been sent elsewhere for distribution. I do, however, have everything on my computer, so am able to print off what I need.
The potential weather posed something of a problem, as it was obvious that 2016 was going to be very unsettled because of the bad position of the Jet Stream, so I would have to expect the worst. This meant that I took both a fleece and a thick jumper as well as a woolly hat and gloves, fearing that I might need them on the mountains. As it happened, only the fleece was needed on occasions, but it was better to be on the safe side.
One of the problems I have had in the past is what to add to water to make it more palatable when it gets lukewarm. Some years ago, I discovered Kool Aid in sachets, which comes from the USA but is available online in the UK. By using sweeteners instead of sugar it is possible to take enough for a whole walk without it having much weight. However, my wife noticed some 'Squirty Squash' in Aldi and this is a super concentrated water flavouring that makes 6 litres from a 48ml container. This is so much easier to use as there is no need to measure out powder from sachets (I used to use half a packet to make 2 litres of water for the day). Instead, just a squirt into the neck of a water container does the trick. I actually found that I used less than recommended, which gave adequate flavour without being too sweet, so I got about 10 litres from one container. I then discovered that there are a whole host of similar products from different manufacturers to choose from now that flavoured water has become fashionable.
Another problem is washing clothes, as I rely on doing this on a regular basis to avoid carrying too many spares or relying on accommodation providers to do washing. I used to take hand wash powder, which is much lighter than liquids, but this seems to have gone out of fashion. However, it is now possible to buy 'Washing Powder in a Sheet', which comes in a self-seal packet of 10 sheets and is very light and easy to use. These are not widely available at the moment but can easily be obtained online. The one I used was called 'Fabrite'.
I always take a number of things such as sun lotion, deodorant, shower gel, Savlon, blister dressings, compass, small torch, paper hankies, surgical tape (helps prevent blisters), super glue, survival bag, some tea, coffee, powdered milk, plastic knife fork and spoon and a sports towel etc. just in case, though many of these I never use. The secret is to find small, travel sized containers, or take part-used ones to minimise on weight. When staying in B&Bs or hotels, some of these items are unnecessary, but in hostels and bunkhouses they are often needed.
Because of the challenging nature of the walk combined with my age, it was a good opportunity to get sponsorship for charity, as most people would not even contemplate walking even one day of it themselves. Consequently, my wife decided to get sponsorship to raise funds for a Community Garden at the church that she is involved with, and I also got sponsorship from people at work to raise money for a 'Secret Garden' project for the residents. I always feel like a fraud when doing this, because my real motive is because I enjoy it, but if others can use it for good causes they may as well do so.
Diary of the Walk
Day 0 - Friday 3rd June 2016 - Travel by Train from Rhyl to Cardiff and walk to Youth Hostel
Distance: About 1 mile
Accommodation:
After a last minute rush to get all my maps printed, then mark the route in highlighter, print relevant pages from the guidebook, copy tracks to my GPS and check that I had not forgotten anything, I was ready to catch the train from Rhyl to Cardiff. My younger daughter Jen gave me a lift to the station and helped me to get the tickets I had already booked online printed from the automatic machine. By booking well ahead, there is a big saving and it only cost £23.75, which I considered to be very reasonable. This particular train had the advantage of being direct whereas many involve one or more changes, and it was scheduled to arrive at around 9.30 pm. YHA Cardiff is a big International Hostel with 24 hour reception and a bar open until 3 am, so there was no worry about what time I arrived.
The platform was very busy with holidaymakers and a grandma with two young children sat next to me whilst their respective mothers sat inside in the waiting room with all of the luggage. The little boy of about two was having screaming tantrums, whereas the little girl of about the same age was somewhat better behaved. The train was a few minutes late, and I tried to find a space away from the kids, but it was fairly crowded so I didn't manage to escape. The train seemed to be going rather slowly, but I didn't think anything of it until an announcement came to say we were running behind schedule because of a fault and we would have to change to another train at Chester. This was a good start, but at least I wasn't worried about being late at the YHA.
The change at Chester went very smoothly, as there was already a replacement train waiting at the platform and our train just pulled in behind. There were already other people on the train, so it was again quite busy and I tried to escape screaming children again, but they followed me down the train looking for seats. At least they were not going all the way to Cardiff, but changing to go to Birmingham, so I didn't have to endure them for too long, although it wasn't exactly peaceful with many others on the train. The train now rattled along at quite high speed and gradually got less crowded as people got off at various stations along the way. By the time we were approaching Cardiff, all the lost time had been made up and we arrived pretty much on schedule.
YHA Cardiff is, in theory, a bit over a mile east of Central Station and I started heading in the right direction, using my OS Map of Cardiff. After a while, I was unsure about my whereabouts, so stopped to get out my GPS which had the hostel marked as the start of my route, and I tried to use that to find my way. First Mistake! Ordnance Survey Maps and GPS are not much use in a city, as the way you want to go is often not possible, either because it is a fast moving expressway with no pedestrian access, or there is a railway line blocking off all the streets. In this case a huge area was cordoned off for the building of a new road bridge, so I spent a long time walking whilst getting no closer to my destination until I had circumnavigated the huge building site and finally found the hostel.
To anyone who is familiar with traditional Youth Hostels, Cardiff comes as quite a shock, as it is basically the old Mercure Hotel with sets of bunk beds instead of normal beds in small en-suite dormitories. The reception area is very modern with a bar open until 3 am, and they were only just removing food menus around 10.30 pm when I arrived. Although aimed at young people and International travellers, the young staff were very welcoming and friendly, so it did have a pleasant atmosphere, though it was noticeable that everyone tended to sit apart from others rather than joining in on communal tables as is the case in most rural hostels. However, it is a case of 'horses for courses' and it serves well in a big city, providing high standard facilities at budget prices.
Inside Cardiff Youth Hostel
I had eaten before leaving home, so I dropped off my rucksack in my dormitory and went down to the bar for a half litre bottle of Marsden's Oyster Stout before going to bed, resisting any temptation to stay until last orders at 3 am. The rooms are fitted, as a number of modern hotels are, with an electricity supply that only works when a room card is inserted in a slot by the door. This is fine for one person or family, but when there are several strangers sharing the room it is far from smooth in operation. If nobody else has left a card in when you enter, putting in your own card makes whatever lights or equipment that have been left turned on come to life, with the TV playing some YHA propaganda video and various bed and room lights coming on. When you then want to leave the room, you have to take your card key in order to be able to get back in again, in which case the lights and power go off for anyone else in the room unless they come and put their own card in the slot. This is obviously a good energy saving measure and it is easy to see why the YHA retain the system, but it is a nuisance for everyone who is staying, though I doubt that that is much of a concern to the YHA, who are happy to let everyone muddle along trying to cope with the system.
Although dormitories enable bed prices to be cheap, there are downsides in that there is generally at least one person who snores. In this case there was one man whose snoring hit the resonant frequency of the room, which reverberated to his every breath. However, once I manage to get to sleep, I sleep very soundly for a few hours, so I did get enough sleep to see me through the coming day.
Day 1 - Day 1 - Saturday 4th June 2016 - Cardiff Youth Hostel to Crosskeys via Rhymney Valley Ridgeway and Mynydd Machen
Distance: 19.2 miles, 2700 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 22.0 miles
The GPS mileage figure includes small detours, meandering around, and errors in route finding. In general this is about 5% to 15% greater than the mileage calculated from a map depending upon the type of terrain, but in some cases is considerably more.
Accommodation: Solar Strand Hotel, Crosskeys
Breakfast started at 7.30, so I got down then as I wanted to get an early start for the long day ahead: my plotted route showed this as 19.2 miles from door to door. The breakfast buffet had quite a good selection of things both hot and cold. Like most such buffets, even in quite expensive hotels, the hot things are only lukewarm and eggs can have a dubious consistency, but it was good value for money. I managed to get everything sorted out and ready to go by 8.45 - I had a problem finding where I had put everything and sorting out which things I needed along the way, which is why I was rather slow getting started, but this was the first day so was only to be expected.
I set off on a different route from the one I had taken last night, and this avoided all the blocked off area of the building site. Starting to use my GPS to show if I was heading in the right direction, only caused confusion, as it kept trying to point me in what was obviously the wrong direction so, after wandering in and out of various housing estates in the suburbs, I decided to switch it off and on again to see if it worked any better. Lo and behold, it was now working properly. Then I remembered what had happened. When I switched it on inside the hotel it had no satellite signal so it asked me if I wanted it to continue searching. I pressed 'No', so it took me at my word and stopped looking for satellites. Even when there were satellite signals outside the building it didn't look for them and it kept on thinking I was still at the hostel and it was unaware which way I was moving, so it was hardly surprising that the result was total confusion. Switching off and on again made it start searching again and it was soon showing the right way. With a long day ahead, I could do without distractions like this, but at least I didn't waste too much time and effort. Although the GPS was showing the right direction, this is not always very good on city streets when plotted using an Ordnance Survey Map, so it was better just to follow street signs for the Castle instead.
I arrived at the castle, the official start of the Cambrian Way, at 9.15 and headed from there into Bute Park by the River Taff. The weather was rather dull and close, but at least it wasn't raining as I made my way past the ornamental gardens and then more informal area, where it was all very peaceful, though it was surprising how many joggers and cyclists were around. It seems to be the thing these days that, especially in city areas, there are large numbers of people who work hard at keeping fit and trim, whilst others just overeat and pile on weight. It is as if we are becoming more and more divided, with some taking health and fitness to the extreme, whilst others totally ignore all the warnings and are bringing about a huge obesity crisis with all its associated heath problems. The area along the coast near where I live abounds in caravan parks that seem to attract the most obese and unhealthy people imaginable and all they can manage to do is waddle slowly along the street and around the supermarkets, that is if they are not already on mobility scooters, whereas here in Cardiff there were a succession of trim young ladies in bright coloured lycra jogging along everywhere making a far more pleasant sight to behold.
One thing I do find in Cardiff is, that despite it being a fairly large city, it still retains a friendliness that is not found in many cities in England. It is still possible to get a 'Hello', or a nod or friendly smile from walkers in the parks and in the streets whereas this is usually only found in rural areas.
The first day of the Cambrian Way is not characteristic of the walk in general, which is subtitled 'The Mountain Connoisseur's Walk', but it does make it into a Welsh Coast to Coast Walk and the route is pleasant rather than inspiring. Beyond the park, which is remarkably free of the noise of city traffic and full of birdsong, there is a Nature Reserve on a stretch of disused canal, and this is also very secluded and free from traffic noise even though it ends very close to the M4 motorway. There is quite a lot of wildlife, and I came upon a heron perched on a log in the canal. I expected it to fly away as I approached, so I took a photo from some distance using a long zoom, but it seemed unconcerned as I approached are stayed where it was as I walked by.
Heron on Disused Canal, Whitchurch
Note: There are many more of my photos taken in better weather conditions on the Cambrian Way website and also on my previous walk in 2010
A series of little underpasses and walkways lead under the busy M4 junction and roundabout to pick up the road into Tongwynlais. This is where the first hill is encountered on the way up to Castell Coch, a Gothic Revival Castle built in the 19th Century, standing on the hillside above the town. I was getting on with the walking quite well and getting used to the weight of the pack on my back, which is quite a bit heavier than I carry on day walks. However, the extra weight was quite noticeable once I started climbing up the hill. After a few days, the weight of the pack becomes less noticeable and walking on the flat doesn't need to be any slower, but uphill there is still a need to go more slowly and keep stopping for more short rests when it is steep.
I stopped for a rest and a snack by the castle at about 12.00 and took the opportunity to phone home with a progress report. One of the advantages of having mobile phones on the same account is that it allows unlimited calls between them, so there was no worry about the cost of calls as there were when I was using pay as you go in the past. I, therefore, decided to keep in touch with home much more and would ring with a progress report whenever I stopped for a rest and there was mobile phone reception. One of the advantages of doing this in remote areas was that there was often no reception down in a valley where I was staying for the night, whereas there was reception on top of a hill or mountain that I had recently been upon. Having spoken to my wife not long before and warned her of the possible lack of communication, I then knew that she wouldn't be worrying about me, and I didn't have to try to find a pay phone to report back.
Beyond Castell Coch, there is a lot of walking along forest tracks which, though easy to follow and quick for walking, do not give many views and can become rather tedious. Since I last visited this area, quite a number of things have been developed to attract families into the area. One of these is the 'Three Bears Cave', which was actually the entrance to an old iron mine. It has recently been used as a setting for several TV programmes and Films such as Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Robin Hood, as it is conveniently placed only a short way from studios in Cardiff. It is just beside the route and has a large display board explaining its origins. A little further along, running parallel with the main track, is a Sculpture Trail, with large carved wooden sculptures of witches, animals and toadstools, obviously intended to attract children, but also providing a bit of light relief from the rather tedious forest track without adding any extra distance.
Sculpture near Three Bears Cave
Three Bears Cave
Sculpture Trail Entrance
I reached the Car Park at the end of the Sculpture Trail and tried to find the small stretch of footpath shown in the guidebook, cutting the corner off a short stretch of road walking. This was with my Cambrian Way Trustee hat on, as I was concerned that the guidebook shows the route going this way, but I couldn't find the path last time and it is not shown on the latest Ordnance Survey maps. Again, despite careful scrutiny, I still couldn't find a path and went down a very unpleasant hillside with lots of brambles and other difficulties to reach the road, whereas it would have been a lot easier just to follow the road for a short way to where it doubles back on the other side of the valley. This is one of the things to pass on to the Ramblers Working Parties for further investigation when carrying out surveys of the route, although I am drawn to the conclusion that any path that may have once existed has become overgrown through lack of use. The only other explanation is that on 1:50,000 maps one of the hyphens in Bwlch-y-cwm is in exactly the place that the path is supposed to be.
Little distractions like this tend to add extra time and effort to an already long walk, but I was making quite good progress most of the way by keeping up a good walking pace and not stopping for too many rests, my next one being at an old quarry close to the Ridgeway route at Cefn Onn. Prior to this, there are few places with much of a view, whereas this offers views overlooking Caerphilly to the north and Cardiff to the south, although the visibility now made it difficult to see that far. It did brighten up a little whilst I ate the remainder of my lunch and I made another call home. My GPS said I had walked 12.5 miles, and I set off again at 2.10 pm to more easy walking on pleasant paths but with few distant views.
Another thing I wanted to investigate was a World War 2 secret bunker that was intended to be a command and communications centre in the event of invasion. It was only a few years ago that this came to light after information was declassified. I had a rough idea of its whereabouts, and was just about to check my location on the map when I met a couple coming towards me, and they thought I was lost so stopped to offer help. They hadn't seen the bunker, but we had quite a chat about walking and the values of a modern GPS, so by the time they went on their way I had been distracted from my search for the bunker, which was probably not far away. By the time I started looking again, I had obviously gone too far and didn't have the time to turn back again. By now, I was starting to get weary, partly because of the monotony of the forest tracks, but I pressed on to Machen and reached the church, which I knew had a nicely situated seat with a pleasant view, ideally suited for another rest before the final push over Mynydd Machen to Crosskeys, where I was staying for the night. It was 3.55 and the sun made a brief appearance to brighten up the day. I was soon startled by a loud noise as the church bells rang 4 o'clock.
I was off again at 4.10 along the fairly steep but steady ascent, which follows a diagonal track up the steep hillside. Previously there was no mistaking the route, but some BMX tracks have now developed up and down the hillside, and these confused me at one point, and it was only when the path got very steep that I realised that this was intended as a fast downhill stretch for the bikes and not a good way to ascend. I soon scrambled back up to the main track where the going was a lot easier, with views starting to appear between gaps in the trees, though the hazy conditions limited them somewhat. At the end of the forest, the guidebook shows a sharp left up the steep hillside, making a direct line for the summit, but I went a little further along, following the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk that is marked on the Ordnance Survey Maps, taking a slightly less steep approach with better views over to the east, whilst only adding a couple of hundred yards to the distance. Towards the end of a long day, it was still a bit of a struggle, but with a few short rests I soon made it and stopped for a short rest and drink on a bench by the trig point.
The views from the summit were hazy, with visibility down to two or three miles, so I made my way on down towards Risca. Near the bottom of the hill there is a place where I had been unable to find the path previously. Again, I was unable to find it and took the wide forest track and road to get round instead, ending up in what seemed to be private land. However, I was in no mood to investigate further and just made my way in the easiest way possible, which was down the road into Machen and then on the Crosskeys, where I was staying in the Solar Strand Hotel. On the way down I had a missed phone call, which I assumed was from my wife, so I rang her. However, I realised later that it was the Hotel ringing me to ask what time I would be arriving
The old mining valleys are still somewhat depressed areas since the demise of the coal industry, though they have, with improved transport links, become commuter areas for Cardiff because they have an abundance of affordable housing. There are not many places to stay, and last time I stayed in Westwood Villas Guest House, but this had changed hands and then the new owners moved to new premises near the Station, with more rooms and a bar and restaurant. This was a bit further from the route, only about 0.2 miles, but every bit counts on an already long day. It also added a bit more to the start of the next day. On the plus side, I didn't have to go off for quite a way to find somewhere to eat, as I could get a meal and drinks in the hotel.
According to my route planning using online mapping, the walk should have been 19.2 miles, but my GPS showed 21.5 miles and there was a bit missing at the start because of the messing about with my GPS, so it was probably not far off 22 miles. However, it is only in recent years that people have had the accuracy of GPS, which takes account of every little bit of wandering here and there. Previously people never thought of including this in their calculations. The difference tends to vary depending on what sort of terrain is being covered, being less on fairly even, straight paths and more over rough or steep places where there may be much more wandering from side to side avoiding mud or rocks and maybe zigzagging up and down steep slopes. Typically it will amount to several percent plus any detours or mistakes in navigation. My method of working out how far I had left to my destination was to take the distance that had been calculated from online mapping and taking off the distance I had clocked up on my GPS. However, the discrepancy between online mapping and GPS meant that I needed to make adjustments for this. By adding about 10% onto my online mapping figure, this tended to give a better indication of how much further I had left to go when taking off what my GPS had clocked up.
It was 6.30 when I arrived at the hotel and they were keen to find out if I wanted a meal, as they wanted to close the kitchen, so I arranged to be down for 7.00 after having a shower and getting changed. The menu was rather limited, and I opted for chicken strips with chips. They had run out of those but offered chicken balls instead and I had a pint of Doom Bar to quench my thirst. The beer was just at the point of going off, with a hint of vinegar, but it was drinkable after a long, thirsty walk. When the food arrived, it was a large bowl full of the chicken balls accompanied by a huge portion of chips and some sauces, but not a bit sign of vegetables or salad. I had noticed the absence of these things on the whole menu but just assumed that some vegetables of the day would appear. Presumably, healthy eating has not arrived in this part of the world. There was also a distinct lack of fruit in any of the desserts as well. That didn't matter, though as, after struggling through all the chicken and about two thirds of the chips, I was so full that I couldn't eat any more. In hindsight, I would have fared better with the jacket potato instead of the chips, but I didn't think at the time.
My feet were feeling tender from all the walking so I went to lie down in bed and watched a bit of TV for a while in the very hot bedroom. When I first booked the room, I was told that breakfast was from 7.30, which was fine as it meant I could get off to an early start. However, I now found out it was from 8.30, as it was a Sunday and they must have not realised when I was booking. I had an even longer walk tomorrow with more ups and downs, so it meant that I was likely to be very late arriving and there would be less chance of getting something to eat without having to walk into town. The only option seemed to be to get everything ready before breakfast so I could just go as soon as I had finished.
Day 2 - Sunday 5th June 2016 - Crosskeys to Abergavenny via Twmbarlwm and Blorenge
Distance: 20.6 miles, 3600 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 23.0 miles
Accommodation: Great Western Hotel, Abergavenny
I was awake early, as I cannot sleep for a long time these days even when I am very tired. When I started looking at the options, I decided it would be better just to set off early without breakfast. I was still fairly full from last night's meal, and I had an apple and some flapjack left from yesterday and some biscuits from the room, so I had these with a cup of tea for breakfast and set off at 7.30 leaving a note on reception to say I wouldn't be staying for breakfast. I knew if nothing else that I would get to Pontypool by about midday, so I would be able to buy things there for lunch.
It was still dull and cool as I set off down the road to rejoin the route. I walked straight past the road I should have taken going up to join the canal but didn't worry, as I had done exactly the same thing before. It just meant turning further along to join the route where it leaves the canal to head towards the old hill fort of Twmbarlwm. After a steady uphill walk along the road, a track leads up towards the steep climb to the summit ridge. I had to take this steadily with several short rests, but at least it was still quite cool. I had developed one blister yesterday, but it wasn't causing me too much of a problem so far, and I was feeling quite refreshed after a night's rest.
The views were very limited in the dull weather, but along the ridge it was fast and easy walking along grassy paths most of the way, passing sheep, ponies and highland cattle with their long sharp horns. After descending to the track by the boundary wall of the common, I soon came across a tall, green kissing gate to the right with a sign saying 'Blaen Bran Community Woodland'. It looked interesting, so I decided to walk through there on a track that runs more or less parallel to the guidebook route, rejoining it further along. The first problem was that the kissing gate had not been designed with large rucksacks in mind so it required an act of extreme contortion to get through, but I did manage it without having to remove my rucksack. There are various parts to this Woodland area, which is centred around the small Blaen Bran Reservoir. The reservoir itself looked rather unappetising, being a yellowish brown colour, although it was in a pleasant setting among the trees. There were other walks further down, but my route just kept to the top, passing some wooden mushrooms carved from tree stumps. One main advantage of this route is that it is on a smooth surfaced path which is easy on the feet, compared to the rough, stony path taken by the normal route. After about three quarters of a mile there was another kissing gate that required a repeat of the contortions to get through, and then I quickly rejoined the track off the common.
Blaen Blan Sculptures
Blaen Blan Reservoir
Blaen Blan Kissing Gate
Soon the track joins a minor road, but there are routes along the edge of the common to avoid road walking for most of the way. The pub at Penrheol was still closed with signs trying to attract buyers, but like so many rural pubs it is difficult to make them pay when there are only a few scattered houses and farms nearby, meaning that most people would have to drive to get there. The rest of the way to Pontypool follows a narrow lane down the hillside, joining a busy road and going through an underpass of the A492, then towards the entrance of Pontypool Park. Just before reaching the park gates is a filling station with a shop and this had a good selection of things for lunch. I was then able to have an early lunch sitting on a bench in the park at 11.30 to make up for my limited breakfast. The sun even came out for a while, but there was still a pleasantly cool breeze that was good for walking.
After a rest and a phone call home, I set off at 12.00 going back through the Pontymoel Gates of the park. These very ornate gates are Grade II listed and were remodelled from earlier gates in 1835. They are often spelled as 'Pontymoile', which is just an Anglicised version of the Welsh. A little further along the road is the route up along the ridge above the park which was quite overgrown in many places, though it was possible to walk up the grassy hillside to the right of the sunken lane. I could also see a new footpath at the other side of the lane over the wall, but wasn't sure where that could be joined further down, though I was able to cross over to it further up.
Pontymoel Park Gates
Shell Grotto, Pontypool
Watch Tower, Pontypool
There are a few interesting landmarks along the ridge, the first being the Shell Grotto just off to the left, which dates back to 1794 with many improvements added around 1830. It fell into disrepair, but was carefully restored in 1996. However, it became apparent that the building was unsafe and would require very costly further repairs, so it has remained closed to the public for many years.
The next landmark, is the Folly or Watch Tower, originally built around 1770 on the site of a Roman Watch Tower, it was demolished in 1940 to avoid being used as a landmark for German bombers. Rebuilding work started in 1990 and it was reopened in 1994. This can be seen from quite a distance away in its prominent position further up the ridge. The weather conditions were improving with gradually increasing sunshine and a pleasantly cool breeze making it ideal for walking with the views gradually improving, though there was still some haze around. I met two couples in difference places along the way and both of them expressed amazement at the distance that I was walking.
There was still quite a distance to cover, so I pressed on with just a couple of short stops for drinks of water, which I was much in need of in the warm conditions, but I did have just enough to see me through. Most of the way is over moorland common, which is quite easy on the feet and it was possible to make good progress. The next point of interest was the pair of aerial masts in the far distance, which are close to a roadside car park by Foxhunter's Grave. The remains of this famous showjumper, or at least some of his remains were buried at this moorland location when he died in 1959. His skeleton is displayed in the Royal Veterinary Museum. The grave has a board listing all his achievements and the site attracts quite a number of visitors as they drive over this scenic moorland road.
Further gentle climbing led to the summit of Blorenge, the highest point of the day at 1833 ft above sea level. However, the summit itself offers only distance views and, although there had been some improvement in visibility, it was still rather limited. The really stunning view came half a mile further on at the steep northeast edge of moor overlooking Abrergavenny, with Sugar Loaf to the left and Skirrid to the right, and these were near enough to be reasonably clear despite the haze. I had a bit of a dilemma as to which route to take from Blorenge into town, as the shortest route goes straight down the very steep face, whereas Tony Drake suggested taking a slightly less steep route by looping round a bit of a way to the east, where there is no clear path. Neither of these are approved by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, who say the only right of way involves a much larger loop adding 2 miles to the route. However, their findings are based only on pathways that are marked as rights of way on Ordnance Survey maps or that are on Access Land, and there is a short bit of the steep descents that is neither of these. What they do not take account of is that in many places around the mountains there are paths that have developed over the years that have Common Law access rights because of continuous use without being closed to the public. Tony Drake was very knowledgeable about such things, and was presented with an MBE for services to footpaths, so there is more reason to believe his findings that those of the National Park Authority. I was in no mind to add 2 miles onto the walk at this stage and, having tried Tony Drake's suggested route previously without finding it particularly easy to find or follow, I opted for the steep direct descent. Fortunately it was dry, so there was less chance of slipping, and a series of steps have formed in the soil by people using this route, so it was not as difficult as it might have been. However, it was still quite a strain on my legs and knees with a fairly heavy pack on my back, and there was a constant worry about losing my balance, though it was always possible to scramble down backwards in the steepest places to allow hand holds.
The steep slope seemed to go on for ever, but then gradually eased off a bit to my great relief, but the descent was still not over, as the path then continues down through woodland to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and beyond on a steep incline that was once used for carrying stone from nearby quarries. The interesting feature at the canal is where the track goes through a dark tunnel under both the canal and a house that is built next to the canal. Coming from the sunshine it looked pitch black, but it was just possible to see the other end and my eyes started to get accustomed to the dark before being dazzled again at the other end.
By now I was getting rather weary, especially after the steep descent, but the rest of the way was on roads and paths into town, first of all going under a tunnel beneath the busy Heads of The Valley Road, the A465, then round the large cemetery at Llanfoist, where there is an old oak tree with a circular metal seat build around its trunk opposite the main entrance. As the tree has kept on growing, the metal seat has become embedded into it to quite a depth. From there, the route goes over the road bridge crossing the River Usk and into Abergavenny via the Castle. However, I was staying at the Great Western Hotel near the railway station, which is on the road out of the other side of town three quarter of a mile further on and this also included a climb uphill, not very much of a climb, but after over 20 miles of walking, any incline feels like quite an effort.
Seat Sunken into Tree, Llanfoist
The first thing I needed when I arrived was a pint of beer from the bar, where the young barman was very friendly and chatty. When I came to pay for my pint plus the bunkhouse bed, which included bedding and a self service breakfast, I had change out of £20 and he commented "It can't be bad to get bed and breakfast plus a pint for less than £20!" I had to agree with him, especially in a town very popular with tourists. Just then a chap came into the bar in an a belligerent manner and announced "I've come in here to say that I am never going to come in here again!", and proceeded to ramble on about some past history of arguments with the owner and being barred from the pub. He went on and on about how he had been a regular customer for 50 years and started bringing up all sorts of happenings in the past and getting quite aggressive, handing out lots of verbal abuse both to the barman and about the owner. The young barman handled the situation brilliantly, making counter arguments and putting him in his place in a well reasoned manner without resorting to the sort of abuse that was being thrown at him. One of the obvious responses being "If you have just come to say you are never coming in here again, why did you just not come in in the first place?", but that logic didn't register with the chap and he just carried on ranting in the same vein, whilst I just sat there being highly amused by the situation.
Eventually, a lady came into the bar and dragged him away to restore the peace and I went off to have a shower and get changed, ready to walk back into town to find something to eat. There was no food being served because it was Sunday evening and the chef was off after Sunday lunch.
My GPS said I had walked 23.1 miles as opposed to the map distance of 20.6 miles, so it was not surprising that my feet were aching and I was feeling rather tired - that steep descent from Blorenge had not done anything to help either. The prospect of another one and a half miles walk didn't please me, but after a shower and change of footwear into my trainers, I set off walking very steadily towards the centre of town. There was a pub on the way, by they were not doing food either and the nearest place I could find was a café with a special offer of fish chips and peas for £5, so I called in there. It was actually nearer than I had estimated and only about half a mile, but that was still an extra mile there and back. It is surprising that when you think you can't walk another step, once you get going it is not too bad, especially without a rucksack and walking at a very gentle pace. When I got back I had another pint sitting outside in the warm sunny evening by which the barman was off duty and having a drink himself outside. He said that the chap had been back again hurling more abuse whilst I was away. It was obvious that the chap had either some mental health problem or dementia. After finishing my pint I then went to rest my weary feet in bed.
There was just one other chap called John staying for the night and he came in a bit later on.
Day 3 - Monday 6th June 2016 - Abergavenny Capel-y-ffin via Sugar Loaf, Bal Mawr and Chwarel y Fan
Distance: 14.0 miles, 3600 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 15.0 miles
Accommodation: Grange Trekking Centre, Capel-y-ffin
After two long days, it was nice to think that I only had 14 miles to do today, so there was not the constant need to keep pressing on, and I could get off to a fairly leisurely start with breakfast at 8.30. Chatting to John, he said he was an old friend of Mary, at the Grange Trekking Centre in Capel-y-ffin, which was where I would be spending the night. He was 72 and had been a fell runner for many years and still continued to do so. He looked very unwell with pale, sunken features and a skeletal frame, but he was still running and said he might be calling in to see Mary on his way to Hay on Wye where he would be catching a bus back home. When I asked if he wanted me to give her a message if he didn't call he said "Just tell her I am still having treatment", which I took to mean cancer treatment bearing in mind the way he looked.
It was another hot day, especially through town and along the roads to where the path heads up towards Sugar Loaf. There was still no breeze lower down, so it felt even hotter as I started climbing upwards, so I needed to stop for a drink and a short rest. A bit higher up the route goes through woods, with the shade making it feel cooler, though this meant losing the views. Eventually, I emerged from the trees onto the bare hillside and at last found a cool breeze, which was a great relief, and this stayed with me more or less for the rest of the ascent to the summit. Most of the way it is quite a steady climb along a ridge, but the last few hundred feet is quite steep, which meant having several short stops on the way, reaching the summit at 12.00. There were several people already at the top with a few more coming up along other paths, as this is a very popular mountain. The present good weather also a good inducement to people to get out walking. It was not like me who, being on a schedule, had to just keep on going regardless of the weather.
On hot days, having sufficient water is always a problem so, although I had set off with 4 pints, I took advantage of a small stream on the way up to replenish some of it. A lot of the moorland areas have no streams at all, but there was one which had emerged from a spring not far away, so I considered it safe enough to drink.
There are great panoramic views from Sugar Loaf, with the vast area of the Black Mountains to the north and Blorenge, Skirrid and other hills to the south and east, so it is not surprising that it is popular, especially as it is easy to reach from Abergavenny. However, light cloud was now starting to form, which took the edge off the magnificence of the scenery, and there was also a slight haze that limited the long distance views. I stayed around the summit for half an hour, having a snack and a rest, before heading down the path to the north. This is quite steep near the summit, but is an easy, steady descent for the rest of the way.
As I got lower down, it became very hot again and the cool breeze disappeared as I passed through Forest Coal Pit, named after charcoal, not coal and headed across the valley to start my ascent of the ridge leading to Bal Mawr in the Black Mountains. The minor road at the start of the ridge had overhanging tree branches, so I tried to find as much shade as I could in the heat of the day. As I reached the top of the ridge, the breeze returned, making it much more pleasant for walking, with splendid views, quite good visibility and not much cloud. At Bal Bach, I met a couple of girls coming the other way. They were looking for the way back to Llanthony, having climbed from there to Bal Mawr and walked south along the ridge. They had no map, so I showed them where we were on my maps and where would be the best place to find their way down. It is surprising how many people go up into the mountains unprepared for any eventualities, assuming that because the weather is fine when they set off that it will stay that way and also assuming that they can find their way without a map.
After a while, more cloud started to gather, not so much ahead of me but the area around Sugar Loaf looked very black indeed and it wasn't long before there were flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder. I quickened my pace, hoping that I could keep ahead of the bad weather, at least until I started to drop down from the ridge. I was just approaching the highest point of the ridge at Chwarel y Fan, which is not an ideal place to be in a thunderstorm. Some light rain came my way and a rainbow formed, but the worst of the weather kept at bay until I had started my descent towards the Grange Trekking Centre, and I had to stop to put on my waterproofs when the spots started getting bigger. It rained quite heavily for about ten minutes and the lightning came closer, but at least I was away from the top of the ridge and less exposed. The rain eased off again and I reached the Grange at 6.00, where I was welcomed with a cup of tea and some cake by Mary.
Rainbow, Chwarel y Fan (Picture 1)
Rainbow, Chwarel y Fan (Picture 2)
I mentioned John and she said he had called in earlier. My observations about the state of his health were completely wrong, as Mary said he has always looked like that and she thought he looked better than usual. His reference to still having treatment may have been because he had been suffering from depression and he may have been having some therapy or counselling for that. Then, whilst I was drinking my tea, the phone rang and it turned out to be John who had arrived in Hay on Wye too late to catch his bus and was wanting someone to come and pick him up. Mary was alone at the Grange, and Jessica, her daughter was still at a show at her daughter's school and didn't want to leave until it had finished. The trip to Hay on Wye may only be nine miles, but it is along winding single track roads over the Gospel Pass, so the journey there and back takes quite a long time, and there was still dinner to make as well, so it would not have been easy to collect him. Eventually, he was persuaded to look for other accommodation in Hay and to ring back if he couldn't find any.
It turns out that the 'friendship' was rather one sided and involved John calling in for free cups of tea and cake, taking advantage of their kindness and hospitality. Had they gone to pick him up from Hay on Wye, he would have expected accommodation and meals at a heavily discounted price. It was apparent from my encounter with him that he had some personality disorder or mental health problem, as he just expected people to drop everything and do things for him without consideration of how much it put them out. He could be quite abrupt if they didn't respond immediately. Apparently, he has lived with his sister most of his life, so she must have been helping to cope with life in general. However, this has allowed him to lead a fairly fulfilling life in spite of his problems.
John didn't ring back again, so he must have managed to find some other accommodation for the night and it meant that Mary and Jessica were spared a lot of inconvenience.
After dinner, Jessica had a long chat with me, and we discussed ways of promoting the business and other things. Although I was able to offer some help by adding a few things to the Accommodation Guide on the Cambrian Way website, such as the 'Glamping' Pods and Shepherd's hut, which would appeal to people who are looking for a cheaper option that B&B, this would only be of minor assistance, due to the limited number of Cambrian Way walkers.
The Grange is in a magnificent setting with beautiful views out of the window, but being in such a remote location it must be difficult to make a living, especially in the winter. The number of Cambrian Way walkers is very small, though they do pick up some Offa's Dyke walkers as well and that is a more popular walk. As well as the B&B accommodation, they have camping with optional meals as well as the 'glamping', and also the slightly larger 'Shepherd's Hut'. There were two Offa's Dyke walkers staying in one of these, and I met them at breakfast time. Otherwise, I was the only one there, though their main business comes from groups of pony trekkers. Mary was complaining that the modern pony trekkers are a lot lazier than those of years ago. Being in a valley with steep climbs up onto the ridges, pony trekkers used to lead the ponies uphill, whereas now they just expect to ride all the way with no consideration for the ponies nor the fact that many of the riders themselves are grossly overweight.
Day 4 - Tuesday 7th June 2016 - Capel-y-ffin to Crickhowell via Twmpa, Waun Fawr and Pen Allt-mawr
Distance: 16.5 miles, 2650 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 18.1 miles
Accommodation: Porth y Berllan B&B, Crickhowell
Examining the state of my feet revealed a few blisters that I had been trying to ignore in the hope that they would go away. The original one on the sole of my foot was getting better with the aid of a Compeed dressing and I also had a blister on the side of each heel, but these were not giving me too much pain, and were just a minor annoyance. I had taken the opportunity to wash out two days of washing, as I had noticed that the central heating was on so I was able to dry things on the radiator. The Grange is more than 1000 ft above sea level, so it can get quite cool in the evenings, especially with a clear sky.
I was down for breakfast at 8.00 and the weather looked quite reasonable, though it was overcast and quite cool as I set off at 9.15, first taking a quick look at the Monastery next door before heading down the road to the hamlet of Capel-y-ffin meaning Chapel on the border, with its tiny chapel that still holds services and is kept open for the public to see inside. Making my way to the hills, I was not sure whether to follow the guidebook route which goes along the valley for a while and then goes diagonally up the open hillside with no path to the summit of Twmpa. This always seemed a rather odd route to take when there is a ridge route with a marked path that used to be the hostellers' route before the hostel closed. However, I realised that the valley route goes past a farmhouse where they used to offer B&B, so it was a sensible route for anyone wanting to stay there. Now, there is no real reason to take that route, so I decided to take the ridge route up Darren Lwyd. Some years ago, lower parts of this route were very badly churned up by excessive pony trekking, but now the track was quite reasonable. It is quite a steep climb up to about 1800 ft, but I was feeling refreshed after a less taxing day yesterday, so I didn't find it too difficult. The views from the top of the ridge down the Vale of Ewyas can be beautiful, though it was quite hazy today so visibility was considerably limited. However, I could see The Grange and the Monastery very clearly as they were only about half a mile away. There are also good views to the east, overlooking the Gospel Pass across to Hay Bluff but, further along, the ridge flattens out and this restricts views down into the valleys. This is the main criticism of the route taken by Offa's Dyke Path along the Hatterrall Ridge, but this goes on for a much longer distance.
Monastery, Capel-y-ffin
Monastery & Grange from Darren Lwyd
Once up onto the ridge, the walking became much easier with just a gentle slope to Twmpa or Lord Hereford's Knob, where I stopped for a rest and a drink at 11.00. This was almost into the cloud and I could just about see downhill through the gloom but nothing much else. I expected that I might have phone reception there as it overlooks Hay on Wye, but there was no signal at all, so I set off again after 10 minutes, heading southwest along the ridge. In clear weather this gives some spectacular views, but in the misty conditions the only things that could be seen were nearby features such as the heads of steep grassy ridges. One of these, Y Das, was stripped of all its vegetation over quite a wide area, and I assume it must have been washed away by heavy rain, as I don't remember it looking like that before. Just when I was thinking that there was nobody else out on the hills, a soldier with full kit came jogging towards me giving just enough of a chance to say 'Hello' before he was gone.
Further along, I got a text from home, so knew I must have come into an area of reception and I phoned back with a progress report. I was now a bit higher up and into the cloud giving me only about 30 yards visibility, so it was very useful to have my GPS to remove any confusion about which route I should be taking. Earlier in the walk, my main problem had been the heat and trying to make sure I didn't run out of water, but these cool conditions made the walking more pleasant and easier even if there was not much to see. I had seen reports about major footpath work around Waun Fach, so I was quite interested to see how this had worked out. The problem in this part of the ridge is that it is very peaty, and the base of the trig point used to be sitting in a sea of oozing peat, the trig point itself having gone. This area had now been covered in heather clippings with some sheets underneath to help stabilise the ground and give something for grass to put roots into. Other badly eroded paths in the surrounding area had been built up and finished with fine gravel, bringing them up to a very high standard, but there was still more work to be done.
Waun Fach Summit after Repair Work
Waun Fach Summit before Repair Work
Waun Fach was the highest point of the day's walk, so it was a convenient place to have a lunch stop at 1.10. One chap arrived at the summit from the south saying that it had been sunny the way he came until the last 20 minutes, so there was hope that I might see some brighter weather further on, and sure enough, as I headed down west from Waun Fach, it did start to clear a bit and I could at least see the scenery even if it were still hazy. At one point the sun actually came out for a brief moment and it felt as if someone had just switched on a giant infra red heater, as even at over 2000 ft there was still no breeze.
At Pen Twyn Glas I stopped for the rest of my sandwiches and a drink at 3.00, then on to Pen Allt-mawr and Pen Cerrig-calch, the last mountain of the day. As I descended from there, it became sunnier, giving lovely views over Table Mountain and Crickhowell. It also meant that the cool walking turned back into hot walking as I dropped further down into town and made for my B&B not far from the centre, arriving at 6.10.
I was given a warm welcome by Jean at Porth y Berllan and, seeing that I was very hot, she brought me a large bottle of chilled water from the fridge, which is just what I needed to cool me down. After a shower and a rest, I went into town to see about a meal. There are a few places to eat, but some are quite expensive, so I went into one of the pubs with a selection of real ales. It was quite busy at the bar and the very smartly dressed lady who was serving was having difficulty with the pumps. When it eventually came to my turn I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord, an old favourite of mine from years ago, but that ran out as she tried to pull it. I then switched to Bass and that did the same, so it was third time lucky with the Wye Valley Gold. Even that was not without its problems, as she sprayed it all over her smart dress in the process. There was a beer garden out at the back, so I went out there to enjoy my pint in the pleasant evening sunshine. It was very enjoyable and refreshing, so I had another pint before going for something to eat.
On my way around I had spotted a Chinese Takeaway that also advertised fish and chips close to the pub, so I had decided to go there. However, the owner said that they had opened another place across the road serving pizzas and fish and chips, whilst their first place just concentrated on Chinese meals. I found the place slightly hidden down a side street and decided on a peperoni pizza to eat in their little café.
Back at the B&B I started watching Springwatch and the next thing I knew it was 11.30, so I switched the TV off and went to sleep.
Day 5 - Wednesday 8th June 2016 - Crickhowell to Talybont-on-Usk via Llangattock Escarpement and Mynydd Llangynidr
Distance: 15.7 miles, 3450 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 17.1 miles
Accommodation: White Hart Inn, Talybont-on-Usk
After a very good breakfast at 8.00, I set off into town to get a few things for lunch, so it was about 9.30 by the time I set off. It was a sunny day and already quite warm but not as close as it had been before. After crossing the river, the route goes up through Llangattock to join the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal towpath for a while. Enjoying the pleasant walk, I was daydreaming and then realised that I should have turned off onto the road a quarter of a mile further back. At least I was now into a part of the walk with less daily mileage, so the wasted distance didn't matter too much, The exit from the towpath to the minor road is quite unusual in that there is a set of steps up the side of the bridge. The first two are wide, solid steps but the remaining four are just stones sticking out of the stonework of the bridge.
Steps to Road from Canal Towpath
It was now getting hotter as I turned off the road onto a track leading to the bottom of the escarpment. From there the route climbs two steep inclines built for lowering stone from the quarry down tramways. The first incline had shade from a lot of overhanging trees, and this helped to keep off the heat of the sun, but it was still hot and sweaty work requiring several short rests. The second incline had no shade, but was shorter and benefited from a bit of a breeze. With the climbing over, it was good to have a relaxing walk on the flat along the escarpment, with lovely views across to the Black Mountains, though this was still marred by the hazy conditions.
Although I have walked this route three times before, I have always been confused as to where exactly on the map, the locked cave Ogof Agen Allwedd is situated, The guidebook used to show this at the point where the right of way starts to descend to the valley floor, but I found that it was actually nearly a quarter of a mile beyond, and this had caused me confusion, sometimes making me take difficult routes down instead. I made an amendment to the 7th Edition of the guidebook to make this clearer for other walkers who may find the same problem, and this time I used my GPS so that I could be certain of its exact position. This time, however, I decided to see if I could find a route along the escarpment without dropping down at all. The reason for this was that I was exploring to see if I could find a route to avoid some of the road walking that lay further ahead thinking that by staying higher up I may meet up with a path up the hillside above the road. This looked fairly promising at first, but got more and more difficult as I progressed with fallen branches, prickly bushes, nettles and all manner of difficulties, making me wish I had never even contemplated the idea. However, I had come too far to turn back so I just had to struggle on until I finally came out on the hillside not far from the road. It was 12.20 and I needed a rest after my efforts, so I stopped for my lunch, taking off my polo shirt, which was soaked in sweat, and relaxed in the warm sunshine.
This had actually brought me out on the hillside overlooking the road and, sure enough, halfway down towards the road these was a path, but this could easily have been reached from the proper route without all the problems I had encountered. I was able to follow this for some way, walking parallel to the road. This was good for a while with a grassy, reasonably clear path away from any traffic. However, further on it became less and less distinct until the only sensible option was to drop down and walk along the road. This did at least save about half of the road walking, which was still worthwhile, as the road is very straight and vehicles travel along it at high speed. The weather was pleasant now with a cool breeze to offset the heat of the sun, as I followed the road for the rest of the way up the hill.
There was a fairly easy path across the moors towards the Chartist Cave, which was used to store arms for the uprising. Then it was in the middle of an open moor with no paths and few landmarks, so it was well hidden from the authorities. Although I was aware of a breeze, I thought it was only gentle until I nearly had my maps blown away and realised that there was actually quite a strong wind but it was a very warm one so it was only having a limited effect on keeping me cool. When I entered the cave it felt refreshingly cool, so I stayed in there for a rest for ten minutes, but when I got up and walked out of the cave it was like walking into a hot oven. It wasn't long, though, before I reacclimatised as I made my way towards the wide, dusty road leading to the quarry. A few vehicles were coming and going leaving clouds of dust in their wake, but the road was so wide that they didn't come too close.
The Talybont Variant that I was taking turns off to follow the route of an old tramway round the head of a very steep sided valley and parts of this used to get badly flooded where a stream crossed the route. There was no sign of this now so it was either because of the dry weather or possibly because something had been done to stop the stream flooding the track. Further along, a nice cool stream, Nant Ddu, crossed the way and I was able to cool myself down from its water. It wasn't so much that I lacked fluid, more that I needed something to cool me down instead of the lukewarm drink I was carrying.
After reaching the edge of Glyn Collwn, with the Talybont Reservoir down below, there is a choice of several paths that run along the hillside. The guidebook route follows the old Brinore Tramroad that used to carry stone from the quarry to the canal at Talybont on Usk and this runs along the top of the ridge, though it doesn't offer many views because of the trees and is also rather hard on the feet because it is stony and uneven. However, I am not sure whether any of the alternative tracks would be any better, as they all seem to suffer from the same problem. The long, straight track seemed to go on forever before it eventually ended up at a bridge over the canal right by the White Hart Inn where I was staying for the night. It is a busy pub serving food and offering B&B but they had recently converted part of the upstairs into a bunkhouse that was extremely well fitted out and they were hoping to get a five star rating for it. Before going up to the bunkhouse, however, my first objective was to get a pint of beer to quench my thirst. It is a real ale pub with a few to choose from and I had a very good pint of the Welsh Dragon. It did also have my favourite beer, Reverend James from Brains Brewery in Cardiff, but it was Reverand James Original, which is a lighter, summer beer rather than the darker Reverend James that I like best.
White Hart Inn from Canal Bridge
There was no phone reception inside, but I was told that most people could get some reception on the bridge over the canal, so I was able to report back home. I was the only staying in the bunkhouse so I had plenty of space to spread out and, after a much needed shower and a change of clothes I went back down to have another pint anda large plate of gammon and chips which I ate outside in the warm evening sunshine. It is a popular pub and gets trade from canal boats as well as locals and walkers on one of the several local trails, which include the Taff Trail, the Usk Valley Walk and the Beacons Way.
There was a sleeping bag and pillow case provided and a good drying room, so I was able to wash out my things and also dry out some of my previous washing that was still damp despite being hung on the back of my rucksack for most of the day in hot, sunny weather. I was weary from all the heat, so went off to bed to lie down, though I could only sleep fitfully even though I was very tired.
Day 6 - Thursday 9th June 2016 - Talybont-on-Usk to Brecon via Craig Pwllfa, Cribyn and Pen y Fan
Distance: 12.4 miles, 5950 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 14.0 miles
Accommodation: YHA Brecon
I made myself a cup of tea whilst I was waiting until it was time for breakfast at 8.00. This, along with everything else here, was very good and also very large, which would keep me going on my traverse of the Beacons. I hadn't ordered a packed lunch, as there was a small shop/café not far away beside the canal where I got some sandwiches and a few other things. The weather was overcast but brightening up, as I went back past the White Hart to the Brinore Tramroad to retrace a couple of miles of the route on the way to Aber, where I would start my ascent of the Beacons from the eastern end of the ridge. I got a short way along and then realised that I hadn't filled my water bottles, so I turned back rather than try to find somewhere to fill them along the way. Fortunately I still had the piece of paper with the key code for the bunkhouse door, so I could just nip back in and out again without wasting much time.
Canal, Talybont-on-Usk
When I came to where I should turn to Aber, I rather carelessly overshot the footbridge and then had to backtrack again because I hadn't been keeping an eye on my GPS - not a very good start to the day, but it didn't matter as I only had twelve and a half miles to walk, though there was about 6000 ft of ascent.
The fairly cool start to the day soon changed now that there was more sunshine, so when I started climbing up the ridge towards Twyn Du and Carn Pica it became a bit of a struggle in the heat. Now that I was some way up the hillside, there was a bit of a breeze to help keep me cool, but the temperature was steadily rising. There was a tree offering some shade, with good views back down into the valley, so that seemed like the ideal place for a rest. Before I arrived at the tree, a lamb had been taking advantage of the shade and it moved away as I approached, wandering further up the hill out of sight of its mother who had not been taking much notice. She then realised the lamb was missing and spent a long time bleating, trying to get a response from her lamb, but it had obviously gone out of earshot. Rather than going to look for it, she just carried on bleating as loudly as she could. Eventually, the lamb answered and peace was restored, and I moved on again so the lamb could return to its spot in the shade.
I continued onwards and upwards with my shirt off to try to keep a bit cooler, but I was still very hot, sweaty and thirsty when I managed to reach the top of Carn Pica even at about 2500 ft above sea level, so I decided to have an early lunch break and rest now that the hardest part of the climbing was over. There was a temptation to drink a lot, but I was aware that I still had quite a long walk ahead, so tried to ration myself. After a while, however, it clouded over with a cool breeze and even a few spots of rain, so it spared me from the heat even though it took the edge off the scenery.
It was now quite easy going with fairly gentle ups and downs along the ridge to Craig Cwareli and the weather started improving again, though still remained overcast and cool. As I progressed along the ridge, there were a few more people about, though most tend to approach Pen y Fan from the Storey Arms and do not venture to the eastern end of the ridge. I stopped to chat with one chap who told me that he had done the northern part of the Cambrian Way a few years ago. He didn't do the whole route because he had already done a lot of walking around the southern parts, so felt that he had already seen most of that. He mentioned that he often looked at the Cambrian Way website where the photographs helped remind him of his walk, as they were generally taken in much better weather conditions than he had encountered. I was able to tell him that they were all taken by me, most of them taken in 2010 when I was incredibly lucky with the weather.
With improving weather and all the beautiful Beacons scenery, the walking seemed no effort, with every little rest up any of the steeper slopes rewarded with panoramic views down the long ridges and deep valleys to the north and the distinctive flat topped twin peaks of Pen y Fan and Corn Du ahead. The Cambrian Way doesn't go to the summit of Fan y Big, but it doesn't add much to the distance to do so and involves only a gentle climb so I decided to go up there, choosing it as a good place to stop for the rest of my lunch. I tend not to eat all of my lunch at once, as it is better not to have too full a stomach when exerting a lot of energy - 'little and often' is the general recommendation to anyone involved in strenuous activities. This avoids too much blood being diverted to the stomach to digest the food when it is needed in other parts of the body, in this case my legs.
Path repairs are still ongoing around Fan y Big. Major path work started several years ago on the most popular areas further west and has gradually progressed eastwards where the problems were less serious. There are a few steep climbs along the ridge, but these are broken by stretches of easy walking and, although there is about 6000 ft of ascent in total, it doesn't really feel that much, especially as there is not too much distance involved and the scenery is so uplifting.
As I progressed towards Cribyn, where I stopped for another rest, there were more people about, but not the crowds I have seen sometimes. The worst times are when there are sponsored walks with masses of people swarming over the area, but there didn't seem to be any of those today, fortunately. With just one more major ascent to undertake, I could allow myself more to drink, though the thirst problem was now not so great with a cool breeze around. Along the ridge, which overlooks Brecon, there was quite a good mobile signal, so I phoned home with a progress report.
A drop down and a steep climb of several hundred feet brought me to the summit of Pen y Fan, where I was quite surprised by the lack of people, with only a few others around. It was now 4.00 and the weather was turning cooler and more overcast, so most people had probably been and gone by now. There was no point in lingering on the summit, so I headed straight over to Corn Du and then, after a short break, down to the Tommy Jones memorial. As I was descending the ridge, there was a helicopter circling around, and looking down to Llyn Cwm Llwch, there was a flare giving off red smoke, though I couldn't see anyone nearby. After circling round a few times and descending near to the flare, the helicopter went away. I assumed that it was just some exercise that was taking place and not a real emergency.
It is easy to think that all the climbing has finished by this point, but the route down to the Storey Arms goes down a dip and up the other side. It is only a climb of about 150 ft, but can come as a bit of a shock if you thought it was all over. One advantage of having done the walk on previous occasions is that I can psyche myself up to these things and then take them in my stride. It is often what goes on in the mind that determines how well people can cope with strenuous activities rather than the body itself, apart from when some physical injury is involved, and even then people can often overcome this with strong willpower.
Down at the road by the Storey Arms, there were still quite a lot of parked cars and people who had obviously returned from Pen y Fan. In the guidebook there is mention of being able to buy an ice cream, but I had been told that now it is possible to buy a lot more than that from a burger van, and there it was as a more or less permanent feature in the car park area, proudly displaying its name of 'THE STOREY ARMS REFRESHMENTS'. It obviously attracts a lot of business from walkers who are hungry after their trip to the summit. There was nothing to say what times the van is open, but one can assume that whenever there are plenty of walkers around, they will take advantage of the trade. At weekends the car parks and road can be jammed with cars, many of which double park, bringing a lot of money to coffers of the Council from fixed penalty notices. I didn't bother about any refreshments, as I had already had enough to eat and it was not long before I would reach YHA Brecon a couple of miles away.
Storey Arms Refreshments
There is a convenient and easy track leading down to the Youth Hostel, avoiding the busy main road. It becomes a bit trickier finding the footpath from the track to the hostel, but there are some waymarks to help, and I arrived at 6.00. I had pre-booked everything including dinner, breakfast and packed lunch, so it was just a matter of choosing from the options as I checked in. The hostel was very busy, which is what I had expected, as it attracts lots of walkers heading for Pen y Fan as well as other parts of the Brecon Beacons plus cyclists and other tourists. This is the first time I have managed to find a bed here in four walks of the Cambrian Way, and that was only because I planned the walk around availability of accommodation both here and YHA Llanddeusant.
As I headed for my dormitory, I passed doors marked 'Drying Room', so I thought that I would be able to do my washing with a good chance of getting it dry. The dormitory was almost full when I arrived, with only a couple of top bunks remaining. The problem was that there was very little space to put any of my things. Those in the lower bunks had put all their belongings underneath them leaving no room for anything else and there were no cupboards or lockers for anyone else. The only space I could find was next to the washbasin where it would get in the way. This made it very difficult for me to sort out the things I needed for getting a shower and washing out clothes plus anything else I needed to do. Consequently I ended up taking various things with me around the building and forgetting where I had left them, then hunting round later trying to find them.
After having a much needed shower, I washed a few things out and went to the drying room only to find it was stone cold. Some places use off-peak electricity to heat them overnight, so there was still some hope that it might warm up later.
Apart from the overcrowding, the hostel was very good, with friendly staff and good homemade meals. I was somewhat concerned about letting YHA Llanddeusant know that I had a long day's walk to get there and that I would be rather late arriving. I didn't want anyone calling out the mountain rescue team because I hadn't arrived, and I was also not sure whether a warden would actually be on site or whether it may be someone who lived nearby and just came to check people in. The Brecon warden tried to let them know but couldn't get through. The problem is that it is a small, basic hostel manned either by volunteer wardens or by wardens brought in from elsewhere, so there is a lack of continuity. He did, however, establish that there was only one woman and myself booked in for tomorrow night, and he gave me the hostel's direct number so that I could try ringing when I was on my way there. This was a great advantage, as calls to the hostel's 0845 number cost about 53p per minute from a mobile phone: 3p to the YHA and 50p to the phone company, and in any case they often get diverted to another hostel or to head office.
Dinner was at 7.00 and was served on long bench tables, which encourages people to get to know each other and to join in conversation, which is the way traditional hostels worked. In recent years a lot of this has been lost as hostels have been modernised and fitted with small, individual tables, and the hostels in urban areas tend to have less of a communal atmosphere, as people tend to have less interests in common. The evening meal was soup, beef pie with chips, then crumble with custard; traditional hostelling fare, but all very tasty. There was a lot of lively conversation on the table, despite the big mix of ages; a couple of young men who were brothers, a few older ones and a woman from Australia, all joining in. The conversation kept going well beyond dinner time and only ended as people left to go to bed.
Day 7 - Friday 10th June 2016 - YHA Brecon to YHA Llandduesant via Craig Cerrig-gleisiad, Fan Nedd, Fan Gyhirych, Fan Brycheiniog and Pics Du
Distance: 18.3 miles, 6400 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 21.3 miles
Accommodation: YHA Llandduesant
Breakfast was at 8.00 and I spent quite a bit of time prior to that trying to sort my things out in very cramped conditions whilst also trying not to disturb others too much. A trip to the drying room confirmed what I had expected, that there was no heat on in there, so my things were still wet. My shorts were old ones with several zips that kept breaking one by one, so after a few repair jobs of swapping bits from one zip to another, the final zip had now broken. I had a spare pair of new shorts with me, so the old ones went in the bin, saving me from trying to dry them and also saving a bit of weight to carry. This just left my wet shirts and pants that I could hang on the back of my rucksack to dry. By hunting around the building, I found some of my missing things: near the shower, in the kitchen and even one thing that had been handed in at reception, so at least I wouldn't be delayed any more after breakfast trying to find them, and I managed to get off just before 9.00.
The first thing I found was that my GPS route would not work. I didn't realise at first, as it failed to load, still leaving yesterday's route loaded and this caused me confusion as I was setting off from the hostel. I had had a problem with the route to Talybont where the last few miles were missing, but this time nothing at all would load, so I just had to revert to normal map reading. I started to have my suspicions as to the cause of this and became more convinced as other discrepancies came up. OS Maps, the online mapping program from which I had generated the GPX files, had a new feature in National Park areas whereby it is possible to lock onto a path and follow it for long stretches without having to plot all the intermediate points. I had used GPX files that I had produced for the Cambrian Way website without using this facility but then modified them to go from stage to stage of this particular walk customising them to go between each place of accommodation I was using. In doing so, I had made some modifications using this locking-on facility without thinking any more about it. In this particular file, I had locked onto a long stretch of the the route, whereas on some others it was just for small parts, which caused some minor problems, but in that case the file just failed to load without any indication why.
This is the joy of working with Ordnance Survey software, which is sold as a companion to the Garmin etrex 10 that I was using. Not only does OS Maps fail to cope with a track log from the Garmin if it is more than the duration of a stroll around the park, but some of the files produced by OS Maps are not capable of being used on the Garmin for whatever reason. This is a fine time to find this out, in the middle of a walk, but at least I had a good set of maps to fall back on. I just wish the Ordnance Survey would stick to what they do best, which is making maps, and not venture into areas where they have neither the competence nor the commitment to make things work properly, launching half-developed products and then abandoning development before they are working properly.
This is the first time I had ever walked this part of the route, known as the Cnewr Estate route, as there are a number of options across the Brecon Beacons determined mainly by what accommodation options are being taken. Previously I have stayed in Ystradfellte, which makes the previous day's walk longer but with an easier walk over the Llanddeusant. One of the reasons I wanted to take the Cnewr route was because it goes over a few of the mountains that I had not climbed before. It also passes a few landmarks that I have only seen in photographs, such as Maen Llia and the Cray Tower.
Having got used to the ease of route finding using my GPS, even if some of the route was not exactly as it should be because of minor errors in the GPX files, it took me a while to get back into the map reading mode of navigation, and it took some checking of grid references and landmarks to make sure I was heading in the right direction, but I then found the way up the steep ridge to Craig Cerrig-gleisiad. This was the first of the mountains I had not climbed before, which is why I was taking this route over the mountain top rather than the guidebook route, which omits the summit by either going further south or taking an optional detour through the Nature Reserve to the north. A sign at the start of the ascent warned of the need to be properly equipped and that parts of the route pass close to the cliff edges. Tt was very steep with a bit of climbing and scrambling needed in places, but it offered some good views back down overlooking the nature reserve, down the valley towards Brecon and over to Pen y Fan. After a few short rests I made it to the top where I joined the Beacons Way for while, rejoining the Nature Reserve route at the pass between Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and Fan Frynych. The latter was another mountain I had not climbed before but with an already tough schedule ahead, I had to limit any diversions to the minimum, so this mountain will have to wait until another day.
Craig Cerrig-gleisiad
Pen y Fan from Craig Cerrig-gleisiad
The going was quite easy now and there were a few more people about as I was now on the Beacons Way for a while. It was also the weekend, which brings out more walkers and I saw a group of three women coming the opposite way. Another little diversion I had planned was to a sheltered resting spot that had been pointed out by Richard Tyler, Chairman of the Cambrian Way Trust. It meant only a fairly modest detour, so I started to head over in that direction. A group of several soldiers or cadets were not too far behind me and, when I turned off the Beacons Way over open ground, they followed me. I was a bit concerned that they did so because they thought I was following the same route as them, so I called out to them to say I was heading in a different direction. It turned out that they were also going off across the moorland, but in a slightly different direction and did actually know where they were going.
Before long I reached a place by a stream that I took to be Richard's resting spot, but when I later compared the description, I wasn't so sure. There was no time for any more meandering, so I just took a direct line over the hillside to where I rejoined the Cambrian Way, heading towards Fan Nedd, the next mountain on the route, passing near to Maen Llia, a standing stone. I had intended to go close by Maen Llia, but without my GPS to follow, I ended up bypassing it on my way to Fan Nedd, and only saw it from up above. The route doesn't go to the actual summit, only to a cairn with good views over the surrounding area, which was a good place for a lunch break and it also had a good mobile signal so I was able to call home. Whilst I was there, a chap and his dog came walking up from a different direction and he didn't even know what mountain he was on, having just climbed up from the road below. A young lady also came by a bit later.
Fan Nedd over field of cotton grass
Fan Nedd Summit towards Carmarthen Vans
Cairn on Fan Nedd
After a rest, I walked the quarter of a mile to the actual summit, which involved very little extra ascent, then back again to resume my way along the route towards Fan Gyhiraych, joining a very wide stony track along the hillside. Further along I realised that there was a fairly faint path with marker posts running parallel, which was over a grassy surface and would have been more pleasant for walking. Before turning off towards the summit of Fan Gyhirych, there was another minor diversion I had decided to take to the south to climb Fan Fraith and this involved only a very gentle ascent although it was over quite rough ground so was not very fast for walking. From the summit, I could see down the hillside to the south where two farmers were rounding up sheep in an area that is otherwise very remote and deserted. I returned by more or less the same route having added a bit over half of a mile to my walk, then headed in a line over the open moorland towards Fan Gyhirych, joining up with a footpath to the summit along the way.
Some of these mountains are quite flat topped, so the best views are obtained away from the summits where the ground drops away more steeply. By now the weather was rather overcast, so the views were not as good as they might have been. The route down from Fan Gyhirych is rather vague, as the direct route down the very steep hillside is not advisable and the general idea is to go in a wide loop trying to take a somewhat gentler descent, but there is no real footpath to follow and the lie of the land and the direction of all the sheep tracks always seem to be heading slightly uphill, so it was just a matter of trying to cut across and head downwards wherever wasn't too steep or difficult underfoot. Eventually I reached a path which joined the road down a steep drop not far from the Cray Tower. There was some speculation as to the purpose of this tower, which was built as a ventilation shaft above the underground waterway from the Cray Reservoir. It makes a good landmark and is close to one of the alternative checkpoints at the road crossing. I reached there by 5.00 and, as there was mobile reception nearby, it was a good time to ring Llanddeusant hostel to warn of my late arrival. A young lady warden answered and said it was no problem, as she was staying there overnight. I told her it would be between eight and nine o'clock before I would reach there, as I still had seven and a half miles to walk over some quite high mountains.
Cray Tower (Crai in Welsh)
Fan Gyhirych back beyond Cray Tower
From there the route goes up over the top of another hillside and down to a minor road by the upper reaches of the River Tawe. By now I had already done quite a lot of ups and downs over hills and mountains, but I was feeling in good form, my feet were doing well, and I had quite a bit of energy left, so I pressed on at a good pace, spurred on by the beautiful scenery. It was starting to get misty with some drizzle as I made my way up to Fan Brycheiniog past Llyn y Fan Fawr, where I met a couple on their way down. This surprised me a bit, as this area generally has very few visitors despite its amazing scenery, though now that the Beacons Way follows this route, it has become more popular and not the secret gem that it used to be. I was actually in the cloud for a bit of the way but most of the time I had some views, which still looked stunning even with poor visibility.
Waterfall in Nant y Llyn
Llyn y Fan Fawr
I kept going without having much in the way of a rest, dropping down off the hillside and even jogging for part of the gentle, grassy descent to meet the road leading towards the hostel. This is another one of the places that can come as a shock at the end of a long day, as the road climbs up again to the hostel, which is on a hill. It is only about 160 ft of ascent, but it can seem bad if you are not expecting it. Fortunately, I was prepared on this occasion, so took it all in my stride at quite a fast pace and reached the hostel at 8.15.
There was nobody around at first so I started making use of the kitchen facilities to make a cup of tea and started to think about making a meal from the things I had brought with me. About 10 minutes later the warden came down. It seems that, although this hostel is normally manned by volunteer wardens for a week or more at a time, there was a gap in the diary so wardens had to be shipped in from other hostels. The very pleasant young lady had come from YHA Cardiff, and she was quite surprised when I said that I had stayed at that hostel just a week ago. In fact, she had worked a shift on the evening that I checked in, but had probably finished before I arrived. It would have been quite a coincidence if she had been the one to check me in in both places. She was very chatty and helpful despite there being about half a century difference in our ages, and she made me feel very welcome.
To my benefit, there had been a large group in previously and they had brought a whole lot of milk, butter and other items, and had left what they hadn't used for anyone else to have. After my cup of tea, I had a shower and then came back down to make something to eat. One of the things that had concerned me right from the start when I booked my night here was how I could make a sufficiently nutritious meal without carrying too much weight. I had brought two packets of dried pasta dishes at 500 kcal each that I had carried from the start, plus a packet of oat biscuits that I had bought in Talybont. The pasta dishes could be made in the microwave by just adding some water, but milk and butter were also recommended and I was able to add these from the food that had been left, thus adding more calories and a bit more taste. Four oat biscuits then served as dessert. After walking for over 20 miles with about 6500 ft of ascent, my meal was not very substantial, but it was enough to keep hunger at bay.
This time I checked that there was heating in the drying room before I chanced putting anything in there. It was quite warm, so I was able to dry out the things that were still damp from the day before. I was the only one in the male dormitory, so I had plenty of space for my things and no worries about others disturbing me or me disturbing others, though I didn't sleep all that well as the bed was quite hard and my feet were sore.
Day 8 - Saturday 11th June 2016 - YHA Llanddeusant to Rhandirmwyn via Myddfai and Llandovery
Distance: 17.3 miles, 2900 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 18.7 miles
Accommodation: Royal Oak Inn, Rhandirmwyn
I was down for breakfast by 8.00, making my second pasta dish, again with plenty of butter and milk. The lady who was also staying there offered me some of her bread, and there was butter and marmalade left from the group, so I was also able to have a couple of slices of toast and marmalade to help fill me up. I knew I would be able to get food at lunchtime, as I was heading to Llandovery and would be passing through Myddfai where there is a Community Café.
I was off by 9.15, with a bit of drizzle in the air, but it was still fairly bright. The drizzle wasn't enough to need waterproofs, but there was a lot of long, wet grass to go through, so my feet were soon soaking wet. This part of the walk is in an area of more gently rolling hills rather than mountains and is pleasant walking country, though not so dramatic. Unfortunately, after the initial few miles over commons, there are not many suitable footpaths so there is quite a lot of walking on minor roads. As mentioned earlier about the descent of Blorenge, there have been some comments from the Brecon Beacons National Parks Authority (BBNPA) about short sections of the Cambrian Way that are not on public rights of way. There is another of these where the route turns up a lane to reach the common. This is an obvious route up to the common that must have been used by locals for years, but it is shown on Ordnance Survey maps as 'Other road, drive or track' and these are said to be "Not necessarily rights of way", but then this statement applies to all roads and paths. In the absence of anything to say it is a right of way, the BBNPA take this to mean it is not. My faith lies more with Tony Drake, who was very careful about only using routes with access to the public, though this was often based to Common Law rights established after years of continuous access.
After the pleasant walking over moorland paths with views further on over the Usk Reservoir, I dropped down to Sarnau, joining the minor road to Myddfai, and was looking forward to reaching the café there, but when I arrived there was a notice on the door saying "Sorry, closed due to a wedding", so there was nothing to do but carry on to Llandovery. The drizzle turned to rain for a while, so I had to stop to put on my waterproofs, but it only lasted for five minutes and then there was even a little bit of sunshine to brighten things up for a short while.
Myddfai Community Centre
Statue of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan
It was 2.15 when I reached Llandovery, where I bought some sandwiches, an apple and some yoghurt, and ate them on a seat next to the Tourist Information Centre by the Castle which has a 20 ft high stainless steel statue adjacent to it. The statue was erected in 2001 to commemorate Llewelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan who was executed by Edward IV in 1401 as punishment for his support of Owain Glyndwr's rebellion. It was very busy in the town with a street market and other activities centred around pubs and other businesses. I have long since learned to avoid the temptation of a pint or two in the middle of a walk, as it can very easily lead to a feeling of lethargy, which is not very good when there is still a long way to go. After calling home with a progress report, I headed off out of town at 14.50.
There followed quite a lot of road walking with not a lot of views, but the roads were fairly quiet and the ascent steady. As I was walking, a chap joined me and started chatting. His dog has arthritis now so he couldn't bring it with him for its daily walk any more, but he was keeping up the walking himself to stay fit and active. He wasn't into going right to the top, so turned around when he reached one of the farms. I don't often have anyone to talk to when I am walking, so it helped to pass the time on a less interesting section of the walk.
Although today's walk was not very strenuous, I was starting to feel weary, which was probably due to yesterday's exertions catching up on me, but I just kept plodding on at a steady pace, feeling thankful that I didn't have any serious mountain climbing to do. I felt like having a rest, but there was nowhere to sit down, especially as everywhere was wet. This is quite common when walking along roads and lanes, whereas over the hills and mountains there are often stones or fallen trees to be found. Eventually I reached the point where the route leaves the road to follow a track and I managed, with difficulty, to find a place to sit for a while.
It was now mainly downhill for the rest of the way to Rhandirmwyn, partly on tracks with a bit of road walking in between. Where the road comes to a T junction, there is a track going steeply down opposite and this was very overgrown and badly eroded by past heavy rain. On the Ordnance Survey maps this is shown as a Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT), but there was also a sign saying that it was now closed to everything except walkers and horse riders, and it was easy to see why. To the casual reader, I apologise for going into a lot of detail at times like this, but this is intended to help other walkers who are coming this way.
For a long time this track has proved difficult to navigate due to a lack of maintenance and signage. The route does a zigzag through the trees and, at the bottom of the hill there is a footpath sign going off to the left. However, this leads towards the riverside footpath going in the opposite direction from Rhandirmwyn, though it would be possible to double back where the river is joined. The route taken by the Cambrian Way follows the BOAT, which runs through a field towards Gwernpwll Farm. There is a tied up gate leading there with a sign saying to keep to the edge of the field, but this is the boggiest part of the field and, in any case, there are no crops being grown there, so it is better to walk further to the right.
The buildings of Gwernpwll Farm are now owned by Coleg Elidyr to house young adults with learning difficulties and disabilities including autism and Down's Syndrome. The lack of signage makes it difficult to find which route to take, coupled with the fact that anyone who is around thinks that it is private and may try to tell people to turn back. One recent walker had someone gesticulating at him and speaking in a language he couldn't understand, making him feel intimidated, and making him take a route that caused him a lot of difficulties. I have walked this way before, so had more idea of what I was looking for, but still found it difficult to find the track going onward, which is somewhat hidden by trees and looks as if it is private. I didn't meet anyone and was able to continue unhindered, finding my way at the bottom of the hill over a gate where I could see a stile to the riverside path at the opposite side of the field.
Further investigation makes it appear that when the BOAT was closed to all but walkers and horse riders, the County Council just marked it as closed on their own definitive maps, but did not pass on any information to the Ordnance Survey, who still continue to show its original status. The track and any signage has obviously been neglected since the closure, and the people in the college assume it is a private track and are rightly concerned when members of the public come through when there are vulnerable young adults around. The matter has been passed on to Carmarthenshire County Council to resolve and they will hopefully put up some signage and also make the college aware of the right of way, though this may take some time. Alternatively, it may be possible to divert the right of way to join the riverside path before reaching the buildings, but we will have to wait and see what is decided.
The riverside path is not the easiest to follow, as there are tree roots and other obstacles, but after so much road walking it was a welcome relief. The Royal Oak Inn is up the steep road from the bridge at Rhandirmwyn, but I cut the the corner off by rejoining the BOAT by the Sewage Works, reaching the pub at 6.15. It was busy in there when I arrived, being a Saturday evening and when I was shown to my room I found that there was a bathroom next door rather than a shower. It is a rare luxury to have a nice soak in a bath when on a walk, but the low ceilings of some of these old inns make showers difficult to install, so the baths are still retained.
This is a CAMRA pub with lots of awards for their real ales displayed on the wall, and their food was up to a high standard as well. I had slow cooked pork in a bun followed by cherry crumble along with a couple of pints of their real ales before going back to my room to rest. There was an oil filled radiator in the room, that was useful for drying out my boots and socks, which had got very wet.
Day 9 - Sunday 12th June 2016 - Rhandirmwyn (Royal Oak Inn) to Pontrhydfendigaid via Doethie Valley and Garn Gron
Distance: Accommodation: 20.2 miles, 3400 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 23.2 miles
Red Lion Hotel, Pontrhydfendigaid
I woke up at about 5 o'clock to the sound of torrential rain hammering down. I also felt wet, which means I must have been sweating very heavily. I have noticed this sometimes after having done some strenuous walking and then having a big meal, that my body goes into overdrive trying to use the food to build up muscle and replenish any reserves that have been lost. Because I only had a very light meal the day before, this could have been a delayed reaction following last night's quite large meal. I was beginning to fear the worst for today's walk if the rain continued as it was, but after a while it eased off and stopped, but it was still damp and dingy as I went down to breakfast at 8.30.
Today was going to be another long day, and I would have preferred an earlier start, but this is often not an option at the weekend. There were two couples down at the same time as me and the man who had been running the bar was doing everything on his own and the cooked breakfasts took a long time to arrive, but when it did so, at 9.00, it was delicious. In catering it is quite common practice to part pre-cook things such as sausages that take a long time, but this had all been freshly cooked, which was better from the point of view of the taste. I ate it quickly, then rushed to get everything together and was off at about 9.20. I rang the Red Lion in Pontrhydfendigaid to say I would arrive between 7 and 8 in the evening and enquired about the availability of food, which is sometimes a problem on a Sunday. They said that last orders were at 8.45, so it gave me some time in reserve should it take me longer than anticipated.
The route follows the river for a while after crossing the bridge to avoid some of the road walking. Though not shown on the Ordnance Survey maps, there is a path going further along coming out nearer to the Towy Bridge Inn, and I had noticed this when passing in the car on a recent visit to the area, but it wasn't very obvious going from this direction, so I turned off up to the road following the sign as I had done in the past. When I passed the sign for the other path further along the road, it looked rather overgrown, so I was probably wise in taking the route I did.
River Towy, Rhandirmwyn
The dull weather didn't matter so much, as most of the views are of things that are quite close, and the coolness is better for walking. As I was passing the Towy Bridge Inn, I noticed the new owner outside. I knew it had just changed hands and that the bar had reopened but they were not yet doing meals. I had a chat with him and he said that they had been refurbishing the kitchen and expected to start serving food at the end of June. It is slightly confusing here, as the name of the pub suggests that the bridge should be called Towy Bridge, whereas the maps call it Rhandirmwyn Bridge which would be a more appropriate name for the unnamed bridge at Rhandirmwyn itself.
I continued along the road and must have been daydreaming again, as I suddenly realised that my GPS was showing I was not on the route, having missed the turning some way back, so I had to do an about turn and go back along the road. This added an extra 0.7 miles there and back. This always seems to happen on long days where there is not much time to spare, but it is just one of those things. There is quite a lot of road walking on this section, but by not crossing the river by the Towy Bridge Inn, about a mile of the route is off the road on a track. This is all well and good and a welcome relief, but it wasn't such good news today. The track was very overgrown with long grass, ferns and nettles, all of which were soaking wet from the overnight rain. This meant the my feet soon got soaked and even my shorts got quite wet. Wet nettles tend to droop, making them hang over the path and they are also more virulent when they have had a good watering. It was almost impossible to avoid getting stung without stopping to put on my leggings, which in turn would have needed me to take off my boots, so I just pressed ahead trying to avoid them as much as I could, but ending up with quite a lot of stings. Fortunately, wherever there are nettles, there are generally dock leaves, so I was able to rub the stings with some of these and reduce their effect.
With all the wet grass around it was not easy to find good places to rest, but my legs and feet were doing well and the walking was easy, so I happily continued until 12.50 without a rest, not even for a drink, as I was not so thirsty now that the weather was cool. Despite the dull weather, the views along the Doethie Valley were still lovely, as they didn't rely on long distance visibility. After part of my lunch, I set off again at 1.15 heading for Ty'n-y-cornel Hostel / Bunkhouse. There were problems caused recently when heavy rainfall washed away the track where the route crosses Nant y Rhiw, just before Ty'n-y-cornel causing the route to be closed for some time. This has now been repaired and a new footbridge has been built. There is often somebody at the hostel and they invite walkers to call in for a cup of tea. I also wanted to take a look at the memorial seat that was put there in memory of Tony Drake. There was nobody around when I arrived at 2.30, and the door was locked with a key code lock, so I couldn't venture inside, though there is shelter available in the out buildings if needed. On the door is a list of people to contact for the access code, but there is no mobile reception for a long way, so this is not much help to anyone. It is therefore important for anyone who is expecting to stay, or who has booked at a quiet time, to make sure they have obtained the access code if it is going to be needed before arriving.
New Footbridge, Ty'n-y-cornel
Tony Drake Memorial Seat, Ty'n-y-cornel
The weather was reasonable, so I sat on the Tony Drake seat for a drink and a rest before heading onwards towards the Nantymaen road junction. Where the track ends, this section can be notoriously boggy, so it is better to keep away from the edge of the forest where it is worst and keep on the higher ground a few hundred yards away. I managed to find a fairly reasonable route by following a number of tracks and footpaths, some fairly clear and others intermittent, going over or skirting round some of this higher ground. This made it far better than on the previous occasion I had used this route. I had hoped to keep this track log from my GPS to update the GPX file on the Cambrian Way website, but the log was lost later in the walk due to lack of memory in my GPS, so I just had to adjust the GPX file as best I could using online mapping and aerial photographs.
The Nantymaen road junction is known for its iconic red telephone box, which is one of the most remote in Wales, and this is in an area where there is little or no mobile reception. It was totally vandalised several years ago and has not been repaired since, as BT is trying to opt out of maintaining rural phone boxes. These cost quite a lot to maintain whilst bringing in very little revenue, so it is easy to see why they adopt this stance. The fact it may be a life saver for someone stuck in the snow doesn't seem to come into it. I stopped for the rest of my lunch at 4.30 on a spot overlooking the phone box and the road junction before setting off on the final leg of the walk over Garn Gron to Pontrhydfendigaid. I have often found it difficult to find my way over here without ending up heading over rough, boggy ground, but this time I was following the route using my GPS, which avoided all the problems making it the easiest time I had ever done this part of the walk. Garn Gron summit was overcast, cool and windy, but there was not any rain. This was the first place I had found any mobile reception since early on, so I phoned home, knowing that I may well lose the signal lower down. I had warned my wife that reception would be very poor in the wild area of Wales, so she was prepared for me not being in contact earlier.
Nant y Maen Phone Box
Although my GPS helped in getting to the summit of Garn Gron, it didn't help all that much on the way down, which was over a lot of rough boggy ground with few paths visible on the satellite images that had been used for plotting the GPX files. I think the advice here would be to keep at a higher level until further round the hillside, as it is less boggy on the higher, sloping ground than on the gentler lower slopes where the water collects more.
The GPS did help again when I came off the common and was finding my way to the road. There is a waymarked footpath, but it is still rather hard to follow in places, as it is obviously not used very much. In one place there was a large tree with low lying branches right next to a broken down stile. The branches had grown so much that it was almost impossible to get to the stile and I had to find a way around it. Finally, I reached the caravan park and then the road into Pontrhydfendigaid, reaching the Red Lion next to the bridge at 8.05, not far off my estimated time window and in good time to get a meal.
There had been some changes since I stayed here before, with a young couple now running things. My room was part of a new loft conversion, with a sloping ceiling and large beams running through the middle of the room, which had a very modern en-suite with bath and shower and an expensive leather easy chair in the bedroom. It was a bit late for me to have a bath, as I needed to be back down to get a meal, so I settled for a shower. I then had fish and chips in the bar followed by Eton mess and a couple of pints of bitter before returning to my room. There was no mobile reception, so it was just as well I called home from the summit of Garn Gron.
I didn't attempt any washing as there was nowhere for it to dry, but this wasn't as much of a problem, as my things didn't get so sweaty in the cool weather. It rained steadily through most of the night and the forecast was for more unsettled weather.
Day 10 - Monday 13th June 2016 - Pontrhydfendigaid to Ponterwyd via Teifi Pools, Domen Milwen and Devil's Bridge Gorge
Distance: 20.1 miles, 4050 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 22.2 miles
Accommodation: George Borrow Hotel, Ponterwyd
The room information said that breakfast was from 8.45 to 10.00, though the girl at the bar said 8.30. There were comments from some of the locals about the chef not liking to get up early. This is often to be expected at weekends, but during the week most places have business people staying wanting an earlier start. I could have done with an early start myself, as I had another long day ahead and was worried about getting there whilst food was still available.
I was down for breakfast at 8.30 just in case breakfast was available, but the chef was only just putting things out on tables and getting things organised in the kitchen. However, when he did get started my breakfast arrived very quickly. I hadn't ordered a packed lunch as I had a few things left from yesterday and I had also been given a pack of Welsh cakes that were close to their sell by date in Rhandirmwyn.
It was raining steadily as I set off at 9.15, so I put on my waterproofs and stored things in my rucksack in the best way I could to keep them dry. However, it reduced to a drizzle as I made my way towards Strata Florida Abbey and thence on the minor road on the way to Teifi Pools. By the time I reached the point where the route turns off the road before Tyncwm Farm, I felt I was getting wetter from perspiration inside my waterproofs than if I didn't have them on, so I took advantage of a conveniently placed bench seat to take them off. It is always a nuisance with my waterproof trousers, as the legs are not wide enough to put them on or take them off without removing my boots, and this is difficult when it is wet and there is usually nowhere to sit. Consequently, it needs to be raining fairly heavily before I decide to wear them.
New Footbridge near Tyncwm Farm
Once free of the encumbrance of waterproofs I felt much better and the walking was pleasant even though there was a misty haze everywhere. It was very tranquil, with hardly any breeze, and the path was quite good despite there being a lot of puddles around. The crossing of Nant Egnant half way up to the lakes was rather difficult because of the volume of water flowing, but by following the stream a bit further along it was fairly easy for me to jump across and I then noticed a makeshift bridge a bit further along that would have been even easier.
Up by Teifi Pools there are generally a few fishermen around, but it was deserted today. I knew from a recent visit here by car that there was at least one place with mobile reception, near the turning off the road towards Claerddu Bothy, so I rang home and left a message when there was no answer. The bothy was a convenient place for an early lunch break at 11.55, as it offered somewhere dry to sit, but it was colder inside than out. This is often the case with such places, as the temperature of the stone walls drops overnight and takes a long time to warm back up again as the temperature outside rises. There is a supply of wood to make a fire, and bottled gas for cooking, but this is better left for people who really need it, rather than someone who is just having a lunch break.
My GPS seemed to be having a few hiccups causing me to have to switch it off and on and reload the route file. I noticed that the track log was saying it was 99% full so I suspected that the shortage of memory was causing problems with other functions. It was also apparent that the log, which starts to discard earlier data as it runs out of space, had already lost logs for a number of earlier days in the walk. Reckoning that it could only hold about 5 days of log, I decided that I may as well just delete the whole log now, as the current data would all be lost by the end of the walk anyway. This was a great pity, as I was anticipating using the track logs when I got back home to make accurate corrections to the GPX files of the route. The only way for me to remember things now was by occasional track points that I had saved at some strategic points on the way, but these were no substitute for a continuous record of all of the walk. However, there was nothing I could do about it at this point, but it was something to think about in any future walks. It is possible to reduce the size of track logs by increasing the time interval between recorded points, but I had already done this. The default setting is every 15 seconds and I had changed this to every 30 seconds, but there was no options for it to be any longer than that and, in any case, longer time intervals would reduce its accuracy and usefulness considerably.
I set off again at 12.20 up the ridge above the bothy. At one time there was nothing much of a path here and it was just a matter of heading upwards over rough ground, but now there is quite a clear track forged by quad bikes and walkers, so it is quite easy to find the way, though it can still be quite boggy in wet weather. On the brow of the hill there was mobile reception, so I took the opportunity to call home, not knowing where I might find reception again in this very wild and open part of Wales.
Although it was damp and misty, the walking was still pleasant with some views of nearby hills and lakes. My main concern with dull weather conditions is the disappointing photographs that result, but I have a lot of photographs of most parts of the Cambrian Way taken in good or excellent conditions on previous walks of the route or on day walks in various places including here, so I wasn't too worried about getting good photographs this time.
After passing the moorland lake Llyn Fyrddon Fawr, the next landmark is Domen Milwen, a prominent hill that stands out above the moorland terrain. The route is somewhat uncertain between the two, and I have had problems finding my way across the areas of boggy ground at times. After all the recent rain, this was more of a problem as I just tried to make my way in a straight line and ran into the boggy area. At first sight this doesn't look too bad and the mossy covering looks as if it might not sink too much. The first few steps seemed to confirm this, but as I went a bit further my feet started sinking right down much deeper. The moss was actually floating on water that was underneath and I ended up with water up to my knees as I made a quick dash to reach firmer land. Taking stock of my position, I realised that I was now on a small island in the middle of the floating bog and that my best option was to go back the way I came or face what could be even deeper water. My boots were already full of water, so they couldn't get any wetter as I started to go back, but then the unstable floating moss caused me to lose my balance and I fell forward, so that I was now on my hands and knees in the water and was unable to get back on my feet. The only thing I could do was to flounder along on all fours until the water depth decreased and I was able to stand up again. Fortunately I kept my rucksack and camera, which was attached to me belt, out of the water and the only thing, apart from my boots and shorts that got wet was my GPS that I was holding in my hand. However, the GPS was designed to work in wet conditions and is quite well sealed, so that came to no harm.
The next thing now was to try to find a reasonably dry route around the bogs, and the best way is generally to either stick on higher ground or skirt around the edge of raised ground where it is still firm. This proved to work well as I skirted along the left of the bog until I got to the highest point of the boggy area where there was a reasonable route across to the raised ground approaching Domen Milwen, and I even picked up a bit of a footpath to help me find the best route. In the rather miserable conditions there was not much point in hanging around on the summit, so I just climbed to the trig point, which is one of the checkpoints, and carried on going. Domen Milwen is not the highest point in this area, but it is probably the most distinctive, as it looks like a rocky volcanic outcrop in the midst of a lot of flat topped moorland hills.
The route down to Cymystwyth is not clearly defined at first and it is just a matter of trying to find a reasonable route over rough ground, though this area is less boggy, so not much of a problem and there are some faint paths in places. The idea is to meet up with the track to the north of Nant Milwen, having crossed over the boundary fence, which is not very high and also has stiles every few hundred yards. Having reached the track, it is just a matter of following it down the valley until it turns downhill through Tynewydd Farm to the bridge crossing the River Ystwyth. I was a bit unsure as to which way to go at the farm, but it was just straight down the hillside through a field and not on one of the farm tracks.
After all the recent rain, there was a spectacular cascade of water tumbling under the metal bridge where Nant Milwyn joins the River Ystwyth, though it was difficult to get into a position to get the best photograph because of trees. There was also rain and spray so I was trying to keep this off my camera.
Nant Milwyn joins River Ystwyth, Cwmystwyth
Waterfall by Nant Cae-glas, Cwmystwyth
Turning north off the road at Cwm Glas, I determined to try and find the proper route past the smallholding Ty'n-y-rhyd. I have always had difficulty here as the route seems to be either difficult to access or deliberately blocked when walking up the left side of the valley. I had noticed a bridge crossing the stream a few hundred yards before on a previous occasion. This is not shown on Ordnance Survey maps but it is possible that it may have been obscured by other legends, so I decided to try out using it to see if it was any better. It leads down into the bottom of the steep sided valley, where the small stream, Nant Cae-glas runs. The stream is quite narrow and is easy to cross without a bridge and I did so a few times as I walked along the valley floor, passing a small waterfall on the right, which was in full force because of the wet weather. A bit further along, a steep scramble brought me back up to rejoin the original path over a second bridge which is shown on the map. However, this did not actually achieve anything, as I still had to get past Ty'n-y-rhyd and the narrow path between a fence and the steep sided valley was obstructed by bushes and what looked like other branches that had been put there deliberately. I went back across the bridge and went a little bit further on the other side until I was past Ty'n-y-rhyd, where a boggy path lead me back onto the route.
On closer scrutiny of maps later, I realised that the first bridge is intended to take the path across to the minor road on to the right of the valley and the second bridge leads from the road back to the other side again. The route I had taken to get around the obstruction is not actually a right of way as this is not access land. This is something that needs to be looked at by the Ramblers Working Groups who are going to survey the route, and it may need the County Council to become involved to either clear the obstruction or make a legal diversion of the footpath.
After the problems lower down, there was no problem going the rest of the way to meet the road at the top apart from the fact is was boggy in places, but my feet were already completely saturated, so it didn't make any difference. The walk through the forest and past Gelmast Farm was easy going. This farm is famous because it is considered to be the place where modern farming methods originated when Thomas Johnes (1748 to 1816) experimented with selective breeding of farm animals and developed new farming methods for crops thus greatly increasing efficiency. Further along, The Arch, built to commemorate King George III's Jubilee in 1810 now stands on its own instead of spanning the road, since the road was widened and diverted around it.
Extensive clear felling has greatly improved the view from the track leading down to Devil's Bridge, and there were some lovely views across the valley despite the dismal conditions. The rain was starting to get heavier as I made my way into Devil's Bridge itself, so I took shelter in the doorway of the ice cream shop that was now closed ? this wasn't exactly the best day to do business and there were very few people around despite it being opposite the Vale of Rheidol Railway Station. I thought that there may be mobile reception around here, but there was none, so it wasn't long before I pressed on once the rain eased off a bit.
Following the route near the railway tracks in the Rheidol Valley, I made a bit of a mistake and ended up going down a very steep slope before realising that there was no way through and that I would either have to scramble back up the wet, slippery slope or clamber over a fence covered in brambles to get onto the railway track. I decided on the latter, and was able to then follow the tracks for a way to the proper crossing point. There were no trains running at this time so there was no danger, though it was technically trespassing with a fine of up to £1000. (If anyone from the Rheidol Valley Railway Railway reads this and wants to issue me with a fine - I was only joking, honest!)
After dropping down to the bottom of the gorge, crossing the bridge and reaching the point where the steep path heads back up the other side, I decided that the rain had eased off enough to no longer require my waterproof jacket which would have made me very sweaty on the ascent. No sooner had I started off on my way up than the heavens opened and I had to quickly put my jacket back on again. The rain eased off a bit, but was still fairly steady for the rest of the way to the George Borrow Hotel where I was staying.
Earlier editions of the guidebook took the roadway up the hill, just cutting across to the George Borrow when it came into sight down to the right, but the 6th Edition guidebook decided on a different route to avoid too much road walking, so I decided to try this out myself for the first time. However, though the route was more interesting and offered better scenery than the road, it was quite tortuous in places where it wound around the hillside along narrow paths through wild bilberries. It was quite well waymarked with posts and signs, so it was not difficult to find the way, but towards the end of a long day's walk it was quite hard going and it would have been a lot easier to take the old route, though I was still glad that I had gone that way to see what it was like.
I arrived at the George Borrow at 8.00 with last food orders at 8.30, so I took a quick shower and rang home from the phone in the hotel room as there was still no mobile phone reception. I had been in the George Borrow before for bar meals and drinks, but never into the hotel part. They have kept the place in two halves to tap into the trade from different quarters. The hotel part is a smart AA two star hotel with 10 rooms, expensive carpets and a restaurant to match, though it is all a bit dated. The bar area has been kept as the sort of basic, rustic place that you would expect to find in a village pub. In this way, people who want to look smart and dress up for dinner use one side and those who prefer more basic things have a bar in keeping with what they like. Apparently there is quite a lot of trade from bikers, who often come in covered in mud, but they spend a lot of money, so it helps the business to keep going, especially in the winter time.
Being a resident, I wasn't sure where I should go to eat and sat at first in the restaurant where a group of about ten smartly dressed people were sitting at a large table. I felt a bit out of place, so wandered through to the bar to get a pint and found that they would serve my meal in there, where I felt much more at home. Although I change from my walking gear in the evening, there is no way I could be described as smart. There were not many people around but the bar staff were very friendly and chatty, so it was much better than being on my own in the restaurant. I had a couple of pints of Double Dragon bitter and steak and ale pie. The barman was telling me about all the work they were having to do in refurbishing the old place, which was built in the 17th century. It was being rewired and having the plumbing replaced and in pulling up all the floorboards, they were pleased to find that the building was still quite sound.
I went back up to sort out all my wet and dirty things and had no option but to wash out quite a lot of them but with little hope of getting them dry.
Day 11 - Tuesday 14th June 2016 - Ponterwyd to Dylife via Plynlimon and Bugeilyn
Distance: 14.9 miles, 2900 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 16.3 miles, 4225 ft ascent (track log)
Accommodation: Star Inn, Dylife
As expected, the things I had washed were still very wet. The forecast was for heavy showers but possibly some bright spells, so I could but hope, though had to be prepared for the worst. After my breakfast, I went to pay the bill for my meal and phone call and someone in front of me was paying their whole hotel bill by debit card. They were being charged a surcharge for paying by card. It was only about 1%, and less than the surcharge for paying by credit card, but it is very unusual in the modern day to be charged for debit card payments at all. The charges for processing debit card transactions used to be just a small fixed price regardless of the amount being paid, and most businesses would absorb this as part of the running costs. However, the receptionist was saying that since earlier this year, the charges were now based on a percentage of the transaction, so they were adding a surcharge to cover this. This just tends to highlight the attitudes that remain in an old, family run business in rural Wales, where the feeling is that every penny of the bill should go to them and any other overheads should be paid by the customer, whereas in other places businesses are generally willing to absorb these relatively small charges themselves to avoid loss of goodwill of their customers. I later checked online and found that in 2015 the charges that banks could make were capped at 0.2% plus 1p on debit cards. However, the companies who provide the card machine services generally put a large markup on these, especially to small businesses. When we ran our hotel, however, we absorbed card processing costs, even including corporate AMEX cards, with an extortionate 5% fee or more.
When it came to my bill, there was no problem as I had paid for the room online without incurring a surcharge and I paid for the meal and phone call by cash.
I set off down the busy A44 road at 9.15, calling at the shop in the petrol station not far away to buy a Cornish pasty and an oat bar for my lunch. In the shop I met a lady who had been with the large party eating in the restaurant, and she told me they were a group of RSPB members on a trip from North Wales. She was from Llandudno and the others were from various places along the coast between there and Prestatyn, so they were not far from where I live. I should have bought some more AA batteries for my GPS, as I was now on my last pair and wasn't sure whether they would last to the end of the walk. Having a chat with the lady made me forget and it was not until I got some way along the road that I remembered, but decided not to turn back hoping that I may be able to pick some up elsewhere.
In the centre of Ponterwyd the route leaves the A44 and soon takes a footpath which joins the less busy B4343 before rejoining the A44 not far from the Dyffryn Castell Hotel where the ascent of Plynlimon begins. There was some fast moving traffic on these roads, but there were verges to walk on in places, though I was stil glad when I was able to get away from them altogether. The Dyffryn Castell Hotel closed several years ago and was eventually sold to someone who started major renovation work on it, but this came to a halt and it has been looking more and more derelict ever since. It is still in need of a new buyer, with 'For Sale' signs up. It is a pity that a place like this in what seems like an ideal location cannot find a buyer, but such is the fate of many such rural pubs and hotels with insufficient local trade to help them through the winter months. In this area, most people are heading towards the coast so would not generally be looking for accommodation.
I started up the hillside with mist around making for poor visibility of about 30 yards. My feet very quickly started to get wet from walking through the grass and then the wild bilberries further up where there was only a faint path through. Along the side of the forest, the path is shown going into the forest and then back out again, but the forest is now more or less impenetrable, so the path just runs along the other side of the fence instead of entering it and most people seem to not bother to even cross over the fence but stay on the right hand side. This means climbing over a fence, but this is not very high and, as this is now being Access Land, there is no problem of right of way. Further up there is a wide gravel track which was even wider and more extensive at one time. It was being used by someone practising his rally driving until complaints to the Council resulted in him having to let the grass grow back over a lot of it, though some of the track still remains. I have used this track in the past, but this time followed the intended route which goes straight up the hillside to the top corner of the forest rather than cutting off the corner as the track does. This is actually better as it is on a softer surface and joins a grassy path along the ridge with views on either side, though today there were only misty views for quite a short distance.
As I was walking along the ridge, I got a call from my wife, so I must now have managed pick up a signal that was absent lower down. It was getting cold and wet further up as there was a cold wind at the top of the ridge so I was getting more and more chilly despite the effort of the uphill climb. Eventually, the summit loomed into sight through the mist and I was able to hide from the wind in the shelter. By this time I was starting to shiver with the cold, so I quickly put on my fleece underneath my waterproof jacket to try to get warm. In the first week or so of the walk I kept looking at all the things I had with me for cold weather: a fleece, a warm jumper, a hat and gloves, which all added to the weight of my pack when the main problem I had was trying to keep cool. For the first time now I really needed something warm, though it never got to the point of wearing the hat and gloves not the jumper.
I only stayed at the summit for long enough to have some lunch, as it was pretty cold, wet and miserable, so I pressed on, trying to keep warm and make progress so I could descend from the mountains to where it might not be so cold and wet. I didn't put on my waterproof trousers because of the nuisance of having to take off my boots to do so, and I was still walking in shorts that were now very wet. Once I got moving again I managed to keep warm, but only just. Further along the mist lifted and there were some distant views but it was still dismal. Eventually, I passed the source of the River Severn where the route then goes over rough ground before descending the mountain towards Bugeilyn Lake. My GPS was quite useful in showing the way, but the exact route isn't important so long as it is in the right direction which was easy to see now that there was no mist. The only thing to look out for is a marker post where there is a crossing place over the stream. I was never quite sure about the importance of this, as I had sometimes crossed elsewhere without a problem. However, the stream actually runs in an underground pipe to emerge by the marker post, so anywhere to the east of this is easy to cross with only some small streams of surface water, whereas there is much more water around to the west. It was still quite boggy with a lot of reeds, so I took the shortest route up to the track that leads round the lake rather than trying to cut the corner off.
Once on the track, it was easy going but I was getting tired having had very little rest since I started out this morning. It is always difficult in the rain when out in the wilds as it is never comfortable to sit for long anywhere. There was still not much shelter around, but by the ruins of the old farmhouse was a large barn with doors that were not locked, so I was able to go in there to have a rest sheltering from the wind and rain, though there was still nowhere to sit. I was able to finish off what I had left of my lunch as well as having a drink, though in the cold and rain there is no need for a lot to drink.
A little further on, the route now joins Glyndwr's Way, which is quite well waymarked, so it is easy to follow and the only thing to watch out for is the path down into Dylife from the ridge a few miles further on. There was no let up in the rain and I arrived at The Star at about 6.00 dripping wet. The entrance was geared up for wet walkers with a box of screwed up newspapers for putting into wet boots, so I took off my wet things and went through to have a cup of tea and some cake. This used to be the Star Inn, but the elderly couple who owned it retired and Louise who took it over a few years ago spent a lot of money refurbishing it. I hardly recognised the place when I went in though what used to be the lower part of the bar, where there were now cosy leather armchairs instead of tables and chairs. The upper end of the room is still used as a bar and dining area, but is now just for guests of the B&B and not for the general public.
The idea had been to offer workshops and therapy treatments in this remote retreat from the pressures of modern life as well as accommodation for walkers and other visitors. It was still run as a pub initially, but the local trade gradually declined making it no longer worthwhile to run it as such, so application was made for change of use to a B&B. This was resisted initially, as it was the only pub in the area, but it was pointed out that there was virtually no bar trade by this time, so the change was granted. Unfortunately, the treatment and therapy side of the business didn't take off in the way that was hoped, so trade tends to be just the few walkers and other tourists who are passing and they tend to stay for only one night. Reluctantly, Louise has decided to put it back on the market, having had her dreams shattered, and having poured a lot of money into the venture that she will not get back. It was probably something that may have taken off in a different place, but wasn't working here.
There was no mobile reception nearby, but there was still a phone box not far down the road, so I was going to go down there to call home before dinner, but Louise, kindly offered me the use of her phone to make the call.
The establishment is eco-friendly and there is a discount for those who are not using motorised transport. Most of the food including the bread is homemade, and there is a pescatarian menu, which is vegetarian plus fish. This means that there are more things to please those who are not vegetarians like myself. The sleeping accommodation has all been upgraded to a very high standard with stylish modern bathroom fittings and both bath and shower. This is a complete contrast to how it was previously. Two other people were staying there, a couple from the south east who were walking Glyndwr's Way, so I joined them for dinner and we had a good, long chat. I had a very good fish pie with some bottled beer followed by dessert and coffee. The couple were talking about retiring and moving to North Wales, and when I mentioned that some of the popular areas can be quite expensive, they pointed out that moving from the south east, house prices elsewhere don't tend to be a problem.
Because of the bad weather and the altitude of The Star of over 1000 ft above sea level, it was quite cool, so the heating was on later in the evening and I was able to do some washing, knowing I could dry things on the piping hot radiators. The washing I had done before and packed at the bottom of my rucksack whilst still wet was now completely soaked, so I had to wash that again. The shorts I had been wearing had also got soaking wet and had started to chap my legs, so it was good to be able to dry those out as well. My boots had been stuffed with old newspaper to help dry some of the wet, but they were unlikely to dry out very much and would most likely soon get wet again walking though wet grass.
Day 12 - Wednesday 15th June 2016 - Dylife to Cemmaes via Commins Coch
Distance: 11.7 miles, 2100 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 13.2 miles, 2832 ft ascent (track log)
Accommodation: Penrhos Arms Hotel, Cemmaes
Breakfast was at 8.30 and there was no rush as I had quite a short walk today of less than 12 miles, the shortest one of the whole walk and without a lot of ascent either, so I could take things easy for a change.
The cooked breakfast involved a few changes to the usual one, with Glamorgan sausages, which contain cheese in place of meat. There was no bacon, obviously, but there were plenty of other things to make up it and it was nice to have a good selection of fruit and cheese available with meals. I had breakfast with the other couple of walkers and had another good chat with them. Most of my days on the walk involve little or no contact with other people throughout the day, and it is often not much different in the evenings, so it makes a pleasant change to have people to talk to, especially when we have common interests, though the lack of company, doesn't bother me like it does some people.
My clothes were almost dry, sufficiently so to be able to pack them with the dry things in my rucksack. One fault I have found with rucksacks of all makes that I have ever had is that nobody has ever made provision for water to drain out of the bottom. In continued spells of rain, especially if there is wind as well, it is inevitable that water will get into a rucksack. Plastic bags can keep a lot of things dry, but the wet eventually finds its way to the bottom where a pool of water collects with nowhere for it to get out. I generally put things like trainers or dirty clothes in there and these can easily get soaked, even if they are in bags. The obvious thing would be to have one or two small eyelets in the bottom to let the bulk of water drain out and this would help the situation considerably. Of course, standing the rucksack in a pool of water would then allow water in, but this wouldn't happen by just putting it down on wet grass or stones. Though I have often thought about making a hole in the bottom, this latest experience prompted me to actually do so, and I cut a small slit with a knife.
The weather was not so bad today. It was still raining a little as I set off up the hillside, but the visibility was quite good and the walking easy, making it quite pleasant despite the occasional shower. There has been a lot of felling of trees over recent years, and this has opened up some of the views very nicely. This felling is normally just part of the cycle of growing trees for use as timber and the areas generally get replanted, so the views are lost again once the new trees thicken out and get taller, but this takes a number of years. There is also a tendency now for more sympathetic planting of mixed broadleaf trees rather than the regimented rows of conifers of the past. It must be obvious these days that we haven't got suitable land area to be self-sufficient in the production of timber, so we may as well accept that we have to import timber from the countries that do, which means that we can put more resources into making the countryside attractive rather than just concentrating on commercial forestry.
On the higher moorland above the first forestry plantation near Moelfre, Ordnance Survey maps show a right of way to the left of the fence on the route towards Bwlch Glynmynydd. However, several years ago a gravel track was built on the right hand side and most people now use this instead. This is now all Access Land, so it does not present any issues with regard to access rights. The original path has now become very difficult to follow through lack of use, so it is better to cross the low fence to make walking a lot easier. About half a mile further on, there is a farm gate allowing access back to the original path leading down to Bwlch Glynmynydd.
As I made my way along the open ridge ahead, I was a bit concerned about the risk of a lightning strike, as there were still some rumblings in the distance, but it didn't get too close and it wasn't long before I started to drop down the hillside greatly decreasing any risks. The walking and the views were still good despite the weather, though there was still a little bit of rain from time to time. After dropping down to the minor road at Maesteg for a very short distance, a track leads off onto another forestry plantation, Coed Bryneinion. After about a mile on the forest track, the route drops down the hillside to Commins Coch and the main A470 road. Where the path turns off is a marker post, one of the small number made and erected by Tony Drake. When it was first put up, it was very useful, as it was easy to miss this small path tuning off between the trees. However, several years ago there was extensive tree felling all along this hillside which meant it was much more obvious where the route turns off down the hillside. The marker post has rotted at the bottom, but is now held up by stones in memory of Tony Drake.
Waymark made by Tony Drake
The problem I had today was not finding the way, but finding that the path was badly overgrown. Had it been dry, I would have tried pushing though the undergrowth, but this was all soaking wet and up to chest height, so I would have been guaranteed a soaking had I done so. This has been overgrown previously and a group of volunteers cleared it, but this is something that needs doing on an annual basis if it is to be effective. The other option was to continue along the forest track and turn off later. There was another footpath several hundred yards further on but this was also overgrown, so I continued to where the track meets a minor road about a mile from the original turn off, then turned right down the road into Commins Coch. This added about half a mile to my walk, but I wasn't worried, as it was only a short day today and there were good views most of the way along the track now that there were not many trees to get in the way.
There is now no accommodation in Commins Coch, so I was taking the Cemmaes Variant to stay at the Penrhos Arms. This was the first time I was walking this route as, although I stayed in Cemmaes in 2010, I made a mistake thinking it was in Cemmaes Road and ended up going a long way around before I found the place. The route proved very pleasant and I sat on a conveniently located bench on the way for a drink and a snack. Before long the rain started again, so I pressed on to the hotel, arriving at about 5.00, this time not as wet as yesterday. There was an oil filled radiator in my room, so this was a good opportunity to wash things out and hang them above it to dry.
Over the past couple of days I have been having a few twinges from my right knee at times, so I had been taking advantage of the lesser daily mileages to take things more steadily. Knowing that I had a very tough day ahead on Friday I was hoping it might have a chance to recover by then.
Down in the bar, which was quite busy, I had a pint of bitter and started looking at the menu but was informed that it was Steak Night with a special offer of a large steak with all the trimmings and a glass of wine for £12.99. This seemed like very good value, so I ignored the other menu options and ordered that and it was excellent. I had been worrying that the batteries in my GPS would not last for the rest of the walk and hoping that I might pass a shop to buy some more, but there had been nothing on the way, so I asked in the bar if they had any. The girl went off and found me a couple for which I was grateful, but I realised that they were not alkaline so would have a very short life in my GPS. However, it was better than nothing, and I don't think I was charged for them on my bill. A few of the other diners were walking Glyndwr's Way which passes not far from here, so I chatted to them for a while before heading off to bed.
Day 13 - Thursday 16th June 2016 - Cemmaes to Dinas Mawddwy via Mynydd Cemmaes, Esgair Ddu and Mallwyd
Distance: 12.2 miles, 2650 ft ascent (Map measurements) - GPS 12.8 miles, 3485 ft ascent (track log)
Accommodation: Llew Coch (Red Lion), Dinas Mawddwy
My washing was all dry and I had even managed to get my boots dry as well, so I would have dry things to start off with at least. The forecast was for possible heavy showers with flash flooding in some places, but also with some bright spells. The trouble with this sort of weather is that things are so localised that it is difficult to know what to expect. The three Glyndwr's Way walkers were also down for breakfast and it turned out that they were just doing three days of the walk not the whole thing.
I set off at 9.15 into rather damp drizzly weather, though it wasn't too bad, but a bit disappointing after the bright weather when I first got up. The route follows minor roads foe a mile to Twnwtra Farm before heading up to the wind farm on Mynydd y Cemmaes. There have been reports of a few problems with the route around the farm and in reaching the track up the hillside, so I was trying to take stock of the exact situation on the ground. At one time a path went off to the left just before the farm, as early maps showed a right of way there, but for some time that has been blocked off in an attempt to stop people going that way. The latest Ordnance Survey map shows the right of way going between the farm buildings and along the opposite side of the hedge from where it used to go, but there were no signs to this effect. The only footpath sign was one going off to the right, which is not the one in question. I made my way around the buildings trying to see where to go and made my way round to the edge of the field where I saw a newly erected metal gate coming from the farm buildings into the field behind me, obviously on the route shown on the map. As I progressed up the various fields there were more new gates along the map route until I reached the start of the small diamond shaped piece of woodland where there was another new gate on the right giving access to the gravel wind farm access road. There were no signs on anything, but the newness of the gates suggested that this was still work in progress and that signs may be erected in due course.
The route I was following goes to the left of the trees on a narrow shoulder between them and the steep sided valley of the nearby stream. This got increasingly boggy as I progressed until I came to a point where very low branches had grown out so far that they completely covered the area to the steep valley's edge. I then had to try to step between the branches, each time putting my foot into very boggy ground and getting my feet wet in the process. Having struggled over this obstacle, the next one was where I came to a fence ahead. The path goes to the left over what is marked as a ford on the map, but in reality the ford has long since been washed away leaving the steep, eroded bed of the stream in its place. The way to the left, which goes over a old tied up gate involves dropping down several feet into the steep sided valley. The stream is easy to cross but there is then a steep scramble up the other steep side to the bottom of the gate which then has to be climbed. This seemed more like an SAS assault course than a pleasant walk through the countryside.
Coming along the main route is no better as this, in theory, should go through the middle of the diamond shaped woodland to come out at the same point. However, the path through the woodland has long since become impassible, though there is still a track leading into the wood from the south. The only alternative is to go downhill along the wind farm access road to the new gate and come back up the way I had just done. The other option would be to take the wind farm access road to the top instead, though whether there is legal access along this is not clear, as Access Land only starts a little further up the hill. These are some of the problems that need to be resolved so that proper information can be given in the Cambrian Way guidebook and on the website.
After all this it was a great relief to be walking up a fine, grassy track climbing steadily up the hillside with good views across the valley below and to the hills and mountains to the north. There was even some lovely sunshine in the valley, but it was spotting with rain where I was walking. At the top of the track, the route follows the right of way, which runs nearer to the edge of the valley than the wind farm road in a number of places. Although this is not as easy underfoot, it has the advantage of much better views down into and across the valley, weather permitting, so it is well worth the extra effort, as the views can be stunning. Further along the right of way follows almost the same route as the road, so is largely disused and difficult to see on the ground. There is little to be gained by trying to follow it apart from having grass to walk on rather than gravel. Where the access road turns right towards the very last wind turbine, there is a track that goes straight ahead towards higher ground and from there the corner of the forest is reached. This was a convenient place to stop for a lunch break at 12.10. I didn't get a packed lunch, as I had some things left from previous days and, not having a demanding walk today, I didn't need a lot to eat. The sun came out for a while, so I even managed to get 10 minutes of sunbathing until it clouded over again.
From here the way takes a very zigzag route, which was originally necessary, as this was the only route with legal access. In 2005, however, much of this area became Access Land, so it would be legally possible to take other more direct routes. I have been tempted to do so at times, but this area is very boggy with a lot of tufty grass which makes walking very difficult, so shortcuts may end up slower and more difficult than the official paths which can themselves be difficult enough.
I followed the way eastwards down the hillside, which was not always easy and then turned north to enter the forest, where I found that there had been more felling of trees. Although this improved the view, there were some trees that had blown over in the wind and other debris from felling that were obstructing the path in places, making it a bit more difficult. The route is waymarked but is still not easy with boggy paths and tufty grass to contend with, so I resisted the temptation to go across what was obviously even more boggy and difficult ground to cut off the corner, even if it could save about three quarters of a mile.
Coming back up along the other side of the valley, there is a point where the waymarked footpath turns from the track straight up the steep hillside without there even being a visible footpath to follow. Not fancying a steep climb at this point, I have sometimes been tempted to find other routes that take a more gentle ascent, but these don't always end up being any easier. This time I used my GPS to follow what I had plotted as the route intended in the guidebook so that I could check it out on the ground. It actually worked out quite well, even picking up the stile over the fence at the top, though this doesn't really matter as it is over a low fence that is easily crossed at other places without using a stile. I didn't come across too much of the boggy ground that I have often encountered and I found it to be the easiest route I have ever taken.
The scenery started brightening up as the sun came out more and more whilst I made my way down the hill to the old farmhouse below and hence along the track to Mallwyd. This runs along the hillside overlooking the Cleifion Valley with rolling hills and mountains beyond, though the views are restricted somewhat by trees in quite a few places. In Mallwyd, I stopped for a rest and a drink on a seat near the A470 roundabout. I missed another opportunity to buy AA batteries, as there is a filling station with a shop not far from where I stopped but the thought slipped my mind and I carried on towards Dinas Mawddwy. I was just thinking that the weather was doing well when I got caught in a heavy downpour, such was the changeability of the weather.
There have been suggestions of avoiding some of the road walking here by going up the hillside near Pont Mallwyd and taking the footpath that runs above and parallel to the road for about three quarters of a mile, but I didn't feel inclined to try this out at the moment, especially with the weather having deteriorated, so I just followed the road. There was information that the footbridge near the Red Lion (Y Llew Coch) was closed because of flood damage, so instead of taking the path through to Meirion Mill and then through the caravan park, I continued straight on to meet the A470, then took the minor road through the village to get to the Red Lion that way. This wasn't a bad route as the busy A470 has a good pavement and the road through the village, though lacking pavements in parts is quiet anyway. I arrived at the Red Lion at 5.45.
This is a lively pub and a great melting pot of all sorts of characters: local dog walkers calling in for a drink and others calling in from work or for a meal as well as tourists. I was particularly entertained by a small group around the bar, one of whom was expounding conspiracy theories having recently seen a programme about them. This had convinced him that the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers were orchestrated by the Americans themselves because they wanted an excuse to invade Iraq to get control of the oil. The final collapse of the towers, which came about because the temperatures reached double what the building was designed to withstand, according to him was because other explosives had been set off in there by the CIA. The stories went on with more and more implausible tales that he was convinced were true with far fetched theories about other topics as well.
I had a pint in the bar before going up to my room. One of my favourite beers is Reverend James, which is brewed in Cardiff by Brains Brewery. In fact I had walked past there at the beginning of my walk, and I had hoped that, particularly in the South Wales area, I would come across Reverend James in one of the pubs I visited, but I had not found any so far, apart from some Reverend James Original, which is a lighter version aimed at summertime drinking. At last I had found a place here in North Wales where it was served, and it was in very good form. After this I went up to my room and had a good soak in the bath, as this was another place with a bath. In fact it had been made into a suite by combining one of the rooms with what used to be a communal bathroom. I then went back down for something to eat.
There were a number of reasonably priced things on offer, but I saw a list of homemade traditional favourites and ordered the leek and lamb pie with new potatoes and vegetables. When it arrived, it was absolutely delicious and it made a change having new potatoes instead of chips that I nearly always had. A chap who was sitting near me in the bar started chatting and he said he was just having a pint while waiting for his wife, who was the one who cooked the food, so I told him to pass on my compliments to her. I then followed it with blackberry and apple crumble which again was of an extremely high standard, so I passed on my compliments about that as well.
For the last couple of days, despite them being a lot less challenging than many previous ones, I had been feeling rather weary for some reason. It may have just been some of the earlier exertions finally catching up with me once I let myself ease off and relax a bit, but I was hoping to call on some extra reserves of energy for my final day's walk, which was more like a day and a half's walk in one day. I would have to press on to complete it, although it wouldn't matter if I were late arriving, as there was bound to be somewhere in Barmouth to get food and there would be no more walking the next day.
Day 14 - Friday 17th June 2016 - Dinas Mawddwy to Barmouth via Bwlch Siglen, Waun-oer and Cadair Idris
After a good breakfast, picking up my packed lunch and paying the bill, I was off at 8.50 heading towards the main road for a short way to pick up the path where it starts to climb up the steep hillside through the forest. Fortunately, I felt refreshed this morning with plenty of energy to face the challenging walk and with my feet in reasonable condition. The early rain eased off as I got going and the mist that was hanging down the hillsides started to lift gradually away. The scenery around here is some of the finest in North Wales; not as rugged as many of the Snowdonian Mountains, but with lovely rounded green mountains with very steep sides and beautiful valleys between them.
It is a long, steep slog up the hillside, but the path is well marked with steps in some of the steepest places. The path isn't in exactly the place shown on Ordnance Survey maps, as the route has been changed a bit with some of the pathwork, but it it is still easy to find the way. After the ascent through the forest, the path levels out and runs along the sloping hillside and this needed a bit of care in places because of the wet conditions. Nearer to Bwlch Siglen the path gets considerably more awkward for a while. In fact, the map shows it entering the forest and coming back out again, but this doesn't quite match what is on the ground where a path of sorts stays to the right of the forest. At this point my wife rang, so I gave her a progress report and I also rang work as there had been some confusion as where my emails to them had been going. As my walk was being sponsored I had been sending daily progress reports but one of the recipients had been unexpectedly off work so had not been passing them on. With all this sorted out, I was free to carry on up towards Maesglase, the first mountain on the ridge. Because of the length of this section, I had decided to take a more direct line than the guidebook route whilst still going past each of the checkpoints, so I missed out Craig Maesglase and the actual summit of Maesglase, which are not checkpoints, taking the more direct route straight upwards. Despite the weather being dull, there were still some fine views all around and the walking was good, becoming easier as I reached the top of the ridge. The clouds started to thicken and there were a few spots of rain, but this didn't spoil my enjoyment of this fine ridge walking.
I managed to miss most of the rain apart from the odd shower and there were now a few patches of sun around, but it was looking very black in the direction of Cadair Idris where I was heading. I stopped at one point when the batteries in my GPS ran out. First of all I had a warning that they were low, which I acknowledged but not long afterwards I noticed that my altitude was steadily decreasing as I was climbing uphill. There is no logical reason why failing batteries should have this effect on altitude readings and I can only assume it is to make people take notice of the battery warning. I still hadn't got any new alkaline batteries, as I forgot to call at the petrol station shop in Mallwyd, so I was left with a pair of standard zinc carbon batteries with a very much shorter life and I just hoped that they would manage to last until the end of the day.
It was now 12.30 so I had some of my packed lunch and rang home again as there was good reception. The packed lunch was very generous with two rounds of sandwiches, one ham and one cheese, so I ate half of them with crisps and drank the can of Pepsi that I had been given. More lovely ridge walking followed with signs of an improvement in the weather coming from the northwest, with large areas of sunshine down on the lower ground. The ascent of Waun-oer is very steep and it was handy to be walking next to the fence to provide hand holds to help in climbing up. Cadair Idris was now looking a lot brighter, though there was still some cloud gathered above the summit. After more fine ridge walking it was time to drop down to the minor road above the A487, and it was hard to believe that a large pipeline had been laid alongside the road just a few years ago, as there was no trace of it now. It was now 2.55 and with a convenient wall to sit on, I had another snack from my packed lunch still leaving a few things to finish off when I reached Cadair Idris summit.
My rest stop was fairly long, as I was gathering my strength for the steep climb ahead, so it was 3.20 by the time I headed down to Bwlch Llyn Bach to cross the main road and start the ascent. This is another steep and tortuous ascent where fence posts and wire fences prove very useful for hand holds. At one point further up it is even too steep for that and the path goes in a loop to avoid the steepest part by the fence. It was a bit of a struggle to reach the top but then it was going to be fairly easy going along the ridge until the next climb up Mynydd Moel, which is only 30 metres lower than Cadair Idris itself. There was still cloud persisting over Cadair, but elsewhere it was a lot brighter.
Another easy walk lead me to the ascent of Cadair Idris itself and I reached the summit at 6.00 where I was quite surprised to see a man coming from the other side at the same time as me, He was also surprised to see me, as we both expected that anyone coming up would have already gone back down by this time. However, this was the best time of the day for weather so this had obviously prompted a few people to come up later in the day. The sun even shone for a brief spell, and a few minutes later a couple also arrived. These were the first walkers I had seen all day. I started working out how far I had to go and it was about 7.5 miles, some of that being down very steep paths, so I reckoned that it would be at least 9.00 before I reached Barmouth and possibly later. I was a bit concerned that the hotel I had booked might worry about my non arrival, so I gave them a call, as there was good reception from the summit. They didn't seem worried about me, as their main business was from tourists, so they probably didn't give much thought about walkers coming over the mountains. I had already paid for the room online, so it was no loss to them even if I didn't arrive at all. They did, however, tell me that I should get food on the way, as they would have stopped serving by the time I arrived, but I had already anticipated this. I also rang my wife to give her a progress report and my estimated arrival time.
After a quick snack of the remaining things from my large packed lunch, I started to head downwards along the Pony Path. It is another one of those occasions when it is easy to think that it is now all downhill, but this is not the case and there were still a few ups and downs to contend with. Just as I got going, my GPS batteries died, so I would have to rely on my map for the rest of the way. This wouldn't be much of a problem except that I couldn't remember exactly where my hotel was, but had it programmed in my GPS which I could no longer use. I then started to get sharp pains from my right knee and occasionally lesser pains from my left knee whilst going downhill, although they were alright when I was walking on the flat or even uphill. I tried various things to see what might avoid the pains and found that it was better if I could keep my right leg as straight as possible whilst walking, which was possible on gentle slopes but not so easy where it was steeper.
This slowed my progress quite a bit when I could have done with some faster walking. After following the Pony Path down to where it starts its way down the steep hillside, my route climbed back up a few hundred feet over Craig-las and it was easier on my knee going up there, but not when I started drop down the other side. I soon had to start my long descent of the very steep hillside so I had to work out how best to avoid my knee getting worse. It was easier walking backwards down the steepest parts, using my hands to steady me and allow me to put my foot down gently whilst keeping my leg straight. This made for slow progress and the descent seemed to go on for ever, but I eventually reached more level ground at the bottom near the road with a great deal of relief. This was by no means the end of the descent, but the remaining descents were not as steep nor as long, so I managed to walk a bit faster but still slower than I would normally be able to walk. After the descent to Hafotty-fach, I deviated from the proper route, taking short cuts to get to Barmouth Bridge. My slower than normal progress was, of course, pushing my arrival time later and later, and I had a call from my wife at 9.00 thinking that I would have finished by then, but I had to tell her that I was still some way from Barmouth Bridge at the time with about another couple of miles to the hotel.
At least the rest of my walk was on the level now, so I was able to manage a more normal walking pace, but I was getting tired and just wishing to get to the end. Having crossed the bridge, there was still some way to where I thought the hotel was near the railway station, but I still wasn't sure, so when I realised that the Coop Supermarket near the station was still open, I went in and bought a Cornish pasty, some Doritos and some AA batteries for my GPS, as I didn't want the bother of having to start looking for somewhere to eat. With the batteries in my GPS it now confirmed that I was in the right area, but I hadn't got the location quite right in my GPS and still couldn't see the hotel. However a quick phone call to them confirmed that I was nearly there and just needed to walk a bit further along the sea front. It was nearly 10.00 and my wife rang again and I was able to report that the hotel was now in sight as I walked along, so she could then go to bed in peace. She congratulated me on finishing and I then rolled up outside the hotel, taking off my boots before going inside. A chap who sitting outside was quite amazed that I had walked from Dinas Mawddwy today and even more amazed that I had started off from Cardiff two weeks ago.
The hotel was a large one with lots of holidaymakers, which was why nobody seemed concerned about my late arrival. The bar was still open until about 11.00 or later, so I went up to my room on the second floor where I found I had a bath again. I was able to have a good soak for a while to ease my aching feet, eat my pasty and Doritos and then go down for a drink. I had to go down the stairs one step at a time because of my bad knee and then got a pint of Abbot Ale in the bar, which was still quite busy. By this time I was feeling weary and quite full from rushing down my pasty, so I didn't even bother with another pint and just went back to bed to try to get some sleep, though my feet were aching all night which didn't help.
This final day's walk is not to be recommended, but it was going to be very difficult to fit in schedule without adding an extra day to the walk, thus adding another night's accommodation in an expensive area. This in turn would have made me have to travel back home on the Sunday when there are very limited transport services and I would have had very little rest before going back to work on the Monday (though I may not have been so tired had I split the walk into two days).
Day 15 - Saturday 18th June 2016 - 0.5 miles to Barmouth Railway Station then Barmouth to Home by Train
After a rather fitful night's sleep caused mainly by the tenderness of my feet, I got up and started getting my feet accustomed to bearing my weight again. This had been happening progressively throughout the walk, whereby initial footsteps were taken with a degree of trepidation, but then I would gradually get used to walking and much of the aching and soreness would go away until the next time they had had chance of a long rest. This morning, however, they were in a much more delicate state and this was compounded by my knee problem. All in all, I was very glad that I didn't have to face much walking today and that I would have the whole weekend to take it easy and help things recover.
My train was not until about 11.00 and the railway station was less than half a mile away, so I was in no rush to get going, just taking it easy and, for once, not trying to get an early breakfast. Being on the second floor, I had a lot of steps to negotiate each time I went up or down, but by putting quite a bit of weight on the handrails, I was able to make it easier on my knee, avoiding the need to edge down one step at a time. It was quite busy with holidaymakers, though many leave it until as late as possible to get breakfast when on holiday, so there were still plenty of tables. Once finished, I made my way steadily back up to the second floor only to realise that I had left my room key on the breakfast table, so had to go all the way down again to retrieve it.
There was no need to pack things carefully, so I just bundled everything into my rucksack just making sure I had my tickets and money to hand. After checking out, I ambled down the road to the station, calling in the Coop again to get a couple of things for lunch on my journey. The railway line going north from Barmouth only goes to Pwllheli on the Llyn Peninsula so to get to the North Wales coast, it is necessary to go east to Shrewsbury, then change to go via Chester on the Holyhead train, thus making it a longer journey than the direct line distance would suggest at almost four hours.
The train was a few minutes late and quite busy, but I managed to get a seat and settled down with my newspaper and crossword to pass the time. The train seemed not to be going very fast, but I didn't think much about until there was an announcement apologising for the delay due to a fault which would need everyone to change trains at Machynlleth. This seemed like Déjà vu, as the same thing had happened on my way down to Cardiff at the start of the walk. Again,the change went very smoothly, with the new train already waiting in the station immediately in front of us, and the changeover effected in a short time. This train then picked up a lot more speed but was making some horrible screeching noises whereas the faulty train sounded fine. No wonder so many people complain about the railways if they have so many faulty trains.
Despite travelling at quite high speed, time was progressing and I started to worry that I may be late for my connection in Shrewsbury. We didn't actually arrive there until after my connection was supposed to depart, but I should not have worried because they were holding the other train back until we arrived, and it was waiting there on the platform just in front of us so there was no rushing around wondering where to go as can happen in larger stations. My daughter had offered to pick me up from Rhyl station, so told me to text her when I reached Chester so she would know when to set off.
Once back home, everything went into the washing machine, as the things that I had washed by hand were never very well washed anyway. When she was looking through all the washing, my wife said ?What happened to the shirts you bought for the walk??. I had spent some time looking for polo shirts that would be light and easy to wash and dry, buying three of them online, only to forget all about them in my last minute rush to pack everything. I had taken some others that were heavier and less easy to dry.
When I returned to work on the Monday morning there were cheers from the window of the office upstairs and 'Welcome Back' display in the main entrance.
Welcome back to Work
After Thoughts
There were a few good things to come out of the walk, one of which was that I was still capable of this rather demanding schedule despite being over 70. Because of a few different locations for accommodation, some days were actually longer or involved more ascent than I had done in previous walks, yet I didn't find it any more difficult than I had done in the past. Part of this was helped by doing regular day walks around the hills and mountains of North Wales, part was helped by now having a part time job where I spend most of the time on my feet, and part was helped by knowing what to expect and being mentally prepared for the challenges. The only real mistake was by taking on a bit too much on the final day, which could easily have been my downfall, but it all ended well apart from having to take things easy for several weeks to get my knee better. This didn't stop me from doing my job nor taking walks of a few miles along the sea front, but it did keep me away from the mountains for a while. I generally find that a state of lethargy sets in following a demanding walk and this is best dispelled by doing a good day walk over mountains, perhaps a week later, as this seems to kickstart the body's energy levels back into action. However, my knee problem prevented me from doing this, so it took me longer than usual to get back my normal feeling of wellbeing.
The weather was rather disappointing, but this was only to be expected in a year when the Jet Stream was stuck in an unfavourable position for most of the time. To start with it was too hot and my biggest problem was carrying enough water to keep me hydrated. It then turned wetter and cooler making the walking easier in many ways, but resulting in rather disappointing views, though there was only one day when I spent most of the time in rain and mist. On mountain walks periods of bad weather have to be expected, so it is something that you just have to put up with and keep pressing on.
The walk managed to raise over £600 between two charities, so that was a bonus, though it was not the prime motive for doing the walk.
One thing I did find for the first time on this walk is how much easier it is to follow a previously plotted route on a GPS than it is using conventional map reading methods. It doesn't mean maps can be dispensed with altogether, but they tend to be used mainly to identify landmarks and to check progress rather than for actual route finding. Of course, there are now more expensive GPSs with the ability to download full maps as well, but mine is only a basic model. I prefer to spend my time enjoying the walking and the scenery, so the less time I have to spend working out where I am and which way I should be going the better, though some people do actually enjoy the challenges of the orienteering itself.
Photography and Technology
Over the years that I have been doing long distance walks, camera technology, Internet technology and display technology have developed by giant leaps from 35mm colour slides that had to be scanned to produce low quality digital images for the website up to the present day with high quality digital photography, almost unlimited memory and super fast broadband,
The article in the 'Other Items' section chronacles all of this throughout my walks.
