TR: Upper Doethie hills

What a wonderful cold and sunny day! I went up the mountain road east
of Llanddewi Brefi to near Blaendoethie. Getting there was a bit of an
adventure as there are some rather steep bits which were still frozen
over in the morning. Some photos are at
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/051119.html
The monitor on my camera broke, so I had to resort to automatic mode,
and some photographs didn't come out proper at all.

The bit from the road up to Llethr Llwyd took me ages - it is very boggy
and now the bog also had a bit of a crunchy frozen layer on it. In any
other weather this would have been a nasty slog (been there in a howling
gale and driving rain before...), but now it was really nice if slow:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/05111938bLlethrLlwydRocks.jpg

From Llethr Llwyd, I noticed the valley beyond the Doethie valley was
filled with cloud. I think this must have been mist rising up from the
Llyn Brianne reservoir. The plateau between the Doethie and Pysgotwr
rivers is pretty flat and consequently all bog apart from the summits.
Very slow progress most of the time! After some more bog hopping, I
reached Carn Pen Rhiw y Llwydog:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/05111940bCarnPenRhiwYLlwydog.jpg
which I think is the grassy mound in the foreground, not the actual
cairn beyond.

From here, I had meant to descend to Pysgotwr and then go along the
edge of the hill towards the confluence of the two rivers and back up
the Doethie valley. But I had spent so much time negotiating the boggy
bits that I wouldn't have made it back before sunset. So I decided
to spend the day hopping erratically across the plateau and see where
it can be crossed with a minimum of bog hopping for future use.

It turns out the RoW through the narrow strip of forest leading down into
the Doethie valley does actually exist on the ground. Now, that must be
a first! In the forest, there was a rack of four wooden poles with small
wooden plates attached at the end, a bit like makeshift signposts:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/05111943bpRackOfSignpostThingies.jpg
Does anybody know what they're really used for?

The path down to the Afon Doethie is very steep and towards the bottom
funnels into a muddy waist-high trench. From there, it's across a new
footbridge:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/05111947bpMaesYBetwsBridge.jpg
and then along the access track to Tyncornel YHA and back to the car
near Blaendoethie.

A short but cheerful day, and now I know how to do the big Pysgotwr-
Doethie circle!
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

In article <[email hidden]>, Rudi Winter
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

It turns out the RoW through the narrow strip of forest leading down into
the Doethie valley does actually exist on the ground. Now, that must be
a first! In the forest, there was a rack of four wooden poles with small
wooden plates attached at the end, a bit like makeshift signposts:

Are you sure they were wooden plates not frozen rubber ones. Use as
beaters to put out grass fires. They are normally made of rubber for
flexibility.
--
Bill Grey
http://www.billboy.co.uk

W. D. Grey said:

Are you sure they were wooden plates not frozen rubber ones. Use as
beaters to put out grass fires. They are normally made of rubber for
flexibility.

Must have been rubber ones. I just assumed that, didn't even read it too
carefully.

Paul

Paul Saunders said:

Rudi Winter said:

The monitor on my camera broke, so I had to resort to automatic mode,

Broke? How did that happen?

The monitor is just a small LCD screen at the rear of the camera - no
protective cover or the like. It looks as if I've dented it and shortened
the cicuitry when shifting my rucksack around. I can't recollect any
particularly violent treatment it suffered, though.

Quoted message said:

That Mid-Wales tussock grass can be a real bugger, frozen is definitely the
best time to cross it.

I agree, but it wasn't sufficiently frozen to support me. No good really!

The area illustrates what we're in for when agricultural subsidies will
phase out: If there are no sheep, the moorland turns very rough very quickly.
Maybe we shouldn't switch from overgrazing to no grazing at all too quickly
after all.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://users.aber.ac.uk/ruw/album/05111943bpRackOfSignpostThingies.jpg
Does anybody know what they're really used for?

For putting out grass fires. I've seen them in action, with the firemen
repeatedly hitting the ground with them.

Ah, that would explain them. Thanks!
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

W. D. Grey said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Rudi Winter
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

It turns out the RoW through the narrow strip of forest leading down into
the Doethie valley does actually exist on the ground. Now, that must be
a first! In the forest, there was a rack of four wooden poles with small
wooden plates attached at the end, a bit like makeshift signposts:

Are you sure they were wooden plates not frozen rubber ones. Use as
beaters to put out grass fires. They are normally made of rubber for
flexibility.

They may well have been rubber. It looked like laminated wood to me,
but I didn't check. Thanks for clarifying!
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales

Quoted message said:

The area illustrates what we're in for when agricultural subsidies will
phase out: If there are no sheep, the moorland turns very rough very quickly.
Maybe we shouldn't switch from overgrazing to no grazing at all too quickly
after all.

The moorland above the Doethie was pretty psycho when I was there
twenty years ago. Thats the kind of grass sheep dont eat.

Lovely trip, ended up in Tregaron having lunch with a local, who
called us in when we were hitching outside her house.

Richard Webb

Richard Webb said:

The moorland above the Doethie was pretty psycho when I was there

That describes it very well :-)
--
Rudi Winter, Aberystwyth, Wales