I didn't have my usual problem of not setting off at a
reasonable time today (Saturday), because I'd arranged that
my friend Mike would come and pick me up from home - thus
forcing me to get out of bed and get ready.
Drove to the little car park on the hairpin bend at SO
235229, north of Crickhowell and Llanbedr. It was already
full, but we managed to squeeze in on the end.
As we pulled on our boots a couple in another car arrived;
they had to make do with parking on the roadside on the
other side of the bridge. They walked past us looking for a
path so I directed them up the permissive path which heads
up the hill north from this point. (We saw them later, going
the opposite direction to us on the ridge, and my guess is
that they did the same route as us but in reverse.)
Mike and I then headed up the other permissive path, next to
their car on the south side of the bridge. A short pull up
fields until we got onto the open hillside, then turned left
underneath Pen Cerrig-calch towards Table Mountain.
Following our noses, we arrived at the col between Table
Mountain and Pen Cerrig-calch. Then on to have a very short
and easy scramble up the rocks on that side of Table
Mountain (totally unnecessary, but hey, they were there).
We then inspected the earthworks of the fort. And also
admired our first good view of the day. It was really an
excellent day for a walk, with great visibility. For much of
the day we had views west towards Pen-y-Fan, east to Sugar
Loaf (and later on north to Waun Fach).
The only problem was the wind, so to get out of it we
dropped down over the earthworks on the eastern side of the
fort for a coffee break. Then retraced our steps to the col
and headed up Pen Cerrig- calch, following a couple of girls
who had passed us while we had our coffee.
Pen Cerrig-calch is one of those annoying hills where from
below you can see a false top above a steepish section. But
when you get to it the hill carries on for some distance
(nearly a kilometre) before you get to the real top. This
area is strewn with limestone and Mike remarked how the
stones were sparkling in the sunshine. We took a couple of
photos of the excellent views and had lunch out of the wind
in the shelter just beyond the trig point.
While we were there, we were joined by a party of four who'd
walked up from Crickhowell. It transpired that two of them
lived in the next street to Mike in Bristol.
Next it was on to Pen Allt-mawr, the highest point of the
day according to the map, but looking back Pen Cerrig-calch
seemed higher. The trig pillar here looked the worse for
wear, as frost had got into its base and its top was
definitely not level.
Then down the steep northern ridge and on to Pen Twyn Glas.
I'd earmarked this as a decision point, as it would have
been possible to short-cut back down the ridge to the south
east to get back to the car. But we decided that we were fit
to carry on and had plenty of time.
Continuing north, we passed the two boundary stones on a
subsidiary top, which the Nuttalls' book remarks look like
gravestones. John Nuttall has done drawing of them in the
book (page 207), which clearly shows the wording, but I
don't know how as they seemed practically illegible to us.
On to Mynydd Llysiau, which seemed to be never ending and
we continually had to deviate from the path to avoid
boggy patches. Then dropped down to the col at SO 204286
and turned right to take the well made grassy bridle path
back down the Grwyne Fechan valley. Much evidence of this
path being used by horse riders (horseshoe marks cut in
the grass).
We were careful with our navigation so as not to miss the
fork to the right at SO 218267. It would have been easy to
carry on the main bridle path, but this would have meant
some road walking further down the valley. The right hand
path contoured above the boundary wall of the fields, then
through some forestry (more mud!), before dropping down to
the permissive path back to the car park that I had directed
a couple up in the morning.
Distance: 19km. Ascent: 615m. Time: 6 1/2 hours.
--
Tim Jackson [email hidden] (Change
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