Arenig Fach (SH 82029 41595; 689m)
It was a couple of minutes before 7am as I set out up this hill and the temperature was zero degrees. This was a hastily researched trip and I only noticed as I was setting out that my route crossed two non-Access-Land fields. I wasn’t concerned, but even if I had been, it wouldn’t have lasted for long. Across the road was a stile, with a ‘Permissive Path’ sign, and a series of posts led me up to the gate that granted me access through the barbed-wire-topped wall and onto Access Land.
Summit selfie
I’d managed mainly to keep to trodden lines on the way up, although at some points it was a toss-up between two vague trods through heather, where occasionally I made the wrong choice. On the way back down I took a much more direct route, straight through whatever lay before me, to the gate in the wall (from where I followed the posts marking the permissive line).
Mick had reckoned I’d be back from this one in an hour (although I had missold it as only 4km). I reckoned 1.5hours, and I was only two minutes adrift in my estimate. It wasn’t fast-going terrain.
Whilst I’d been on my way down the hill, Mick had a car pull up next to him. With Erica-the-Campervan's tinted rear windows, the woman who got out didn’t see that Mick was inside and she was quite startled when Mick suddenly emerged just as she was about to put a note under the windscreen wiper. We were parked on private land, and she wanted to know why, explaining to Mick all the problems they have with people parking there and leaving litter. She was perfectly happy when Mick explained his purpose, and it was a genuine mistake on my part (I thought I’d seen on the map that the track was a byway, but when I checked again I saw that it was just a footpath. No defence, but we hadn’t passed any sign (not even a farm name sign) that indicated that it was private). It turns out that there was a layby on the other side of the road only a very short distance further E. Had I done any level of research, I would have known that!
Carnedd y Filiast (SH 87119 44599; 669m)
Until this had ceased to be a backpacking trip at about 7pm the previous evening, when I realised how close I was to Erica-the-Campervan, I had intended to approach Carnedd y Filiast by continuing N from Arenig Fach and walking the boundary line. I knew not whether there would be a trodden line there, or whether it would be a multi-kilometre yomp through heather, and it had occurred to me that ascending these hills separately from the road might be the easier option.
Given that it was no longer a backpacking trip (although I did still carry an almost-full pack up today’s hills too, just for the training benefit), I had no hesitation in making both of today’s hills out-and-backs, with Mick driving me between the two.
Initially we’d parked in the layby about 400m west of my ascent track, but when Mick suggested for the third time that he could just drive me the extra distance I conceded, and it was a good call as there’s plenty of room at the track-end for an Erica-sized vehicle.
This turned out to be my favourite hill of the trip. That it was also the easiest probably helped, but the track that made it so easy was an old one, grassy in places and not of the ‘sticks out like a sore thumb’ variety. It led me through extensive heather, dotted with the ruins of very old buildings.
The 100m dip in the track (that, of course, I had to negotiate in both directions) wouldn't have ordinarily bothered me, but by the time I was retracing the final few hundred metres of my steps back to my start point, my body was telling me quite clearly that five hills with a backpack after six months of not hauling any significant weight up (and more particularly, down) hills was enough. Fortunately I only had the five on the agenda for this trip, and I’m sure my shins will forgive me soon!
Nicely demonstrating the nature of the track, the 100m dip in the track and the ruined buildings all in one snap.
Excellent, Gayle. This had me searching my diaries and photos - diary for 12/5/05 reports on climbing '7 Welsh Pimples', but there's no sign of any photos. It was an energetic day! Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit envious. I know I keep going on about it but the drama of your photos when enlarged on my large screen iMac is so much enhanced. There is much more detail to see. I hope others take the trouble to click to enlarge.
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