Mynydd Llangorse & Mynydd Troed

16 July

Start Point: junction of A479 and minor road at Waun Fach (no parking - I got dropped off)

End Point: Dinas Castell Inn car park (£5)

Distance and Ascent: 11.1km, 630m

Weather: Warm and sunny 

The red dotted line is the route I'd plotted (taking in these two hills, plus Waun Fach). I opted to only do the west-most two today, and the blue route is what I did. 

 

Because I'm lazy at heart, I opted not to start at the layby slightly further S, but to cut a bit of distance by getting dropped off at the end of the minor road at Waun Fach (the settlement, not the nearby hill of the same name). On paper this should have worked nicely, using one of the various paths that head up Mynydd Llangorse from that minor road. 

 

Here's a closer look at that bit of my recorded route:

 

It looks like I just missed where the bridleway left the road end, but that wasn't the case. There was a finger-post, a waymark, and a clear line of the ground. The problem was that within a dozen paces that line disappeared into bracken. I pushed through it for a very short while, but when I got to the point that it was over my head height and I couldn't see where the path went anymore, and nor could I easily push through it, I wrote that route off as a bad job. 

The bridleway follows the fence line

 

So, I decided to see if I could pick up my intended route further S. As you can see, I got close to it, but between me and it lay a barbed wire fence, and over the fence I could see no sign of a feasible path through the bracken. Perhaps I should have continued the extra few hundred metres SE along the byway to the next path junction, but I was so pessimistic about finding any way through the bracken on this side of the hill, I decided to follow the path that would lead me N to the col between my two hills. From there I would decide whether to omit this first hill, or backtrack to it. 

 

Here's a photo and a 7-second video of how the next 2km went:

Pretty much 2km of a narrow line through tall bracken. Is the real name of this National Park the Bracken Beacons?!
 

The key deciding factor as to whether I backtracked to the first hill was whether I could contact Mick before I got to the road that runs between the two hills. He thought I'd set out on a 5km outing (turns out I'd read the wrong number and it was supposed to be 8km), and I'd spent so long fighting bracken that I was going to be a lot longer than he expected. He's very good at thinking "She's been delayed" rather than panicking that "She's dead in a ditch!", but surely if I was 3 hours on a 5km outing, even Mick would worry? 

 

Eventually, as I reached the road, I got a phone signal. I also got a view of the motorways that run up these hills from this location: 

There were quite a few school groups on this hill. You can see one of them (eight people, I think this one was) well ahead of me on this climb. They were going really slowly and before they'd made it another 100m I'd caught them, overtaken the rearmost, and had drawn level with the three lads (aged around 16, I'd say) who were at the front. Seeing me alongside, they apparently decided that it wasn't acceptable to be overtaken by a middle-aged woman, and didn't half put a sprint on. Clearly, I wasn't having that, so as we hit the steepest bit of the climb, we found ourselves in a race.

I take my hat off to them for how long they managed to stay pretty close to me, but: 1) they eventually conceded defeat; and 2) goodness, it was hard work doing that pace up that incline! (Incidentally the rearmost pair of that group were not having fun. I passed them again on my way down at which point is covered around 2.4k since I'd first passed them and they'd covered about 500m.)

 

Once I'd recovered and the ridge had flattened, I jogged along to my objective, visited both apparent high points, then jogged back to the steep bit, that I descended much more steadily and in a slalom manner.   

I managed to pause and snap the view on the way up, even though I was being chased

The unofficial race continued all along this section and up that next climb

Summit view  

Clear path up Mynydd Troed
 

Mynydd Troed was a much quieter hill. A runner set out up the path just ahead of me and he eventually disappeared from my sight, then there was a chap at the top just setting a camera up on the trig point before disappearing off to sit some distance away. That was rather inconvenient from my point of view, so whilst he no doubt has footage of me walking in front of his camera, I didn't take my usual trig point selfie.

Don't know why it's so washed out behind me, but you can see the camera...

...and off he goes, abandoning what appears to be an expensive bit of kit
 

Mick would have seen me coming down the spur, if it hadn't been for an aberration convinced him that I was on the other side of the valley and thus hidden by trees. The car park he was in was by now full and he explained that every single other person had headed up the hill behind him, so he'd assumed, without thought, that's where I was too. I was almost down before he noticed that the sun was in the wrong place and re-orientated himself.  

  

That hill behind the car park is Waun Fach, which I also need to visit. I had time to do it today too, however, with my left shin still only just forgiving me for my 24 hour race 3.5 weeks ago, I didn't want to push my luck with a 500m descent and set it back in its recovery. I've got other hills nearby, so I can pick it up on a return visit.  

Tor y Foel & Allt yr Esgair

15 July

 

Tor y Foel (SO 11458 19498; 551m)

Start Point: public car park at Village Hall in Talybont-on-Usk (honesty box for donations)

Distance and ascent: 8.5km, 470m

Weather: Mainly overcast, a tiny bit of sunshine and three showers. Windy (forecast said gusting 40mph in Talybont, felt like 50mph on the summit)

 I followed the road out of Talybont-on-Usk; I should have used the canal tow-path. 

In view of the forecast for heavy rain (95% chance said the Met Office) and strong winds between 11am and 7pm today, I decided I'd just do two hills - one early, and one late. Tor y Foel wasn't the one I'd intended for my early one, but it got substituted for logistical reasons. With the late substitution I hadn't found somewhere to park Bertie, but that proved not to be a problem, with road signs pointing us towards the Village Hall.   

It was a matter of laziness that caused me to walk the road, rather than taking the Taff Trail, to access the hill, and after a few minutes of rain immediately after setting off, it stayed dry until just about the moment I needed to leave the road and push my way through some tall bracken. 

 A tiny dead-end lane took me to the hill. It was more like a track if I stuck to the middle.

Fortunately the bracken patch wasn't large and I was soon making my way up a trodden line through grass. I also felt fortunate that the (westerly) wind was sideways on, although thinking about it now had it been a southerly wind, I would have been sheltered by the hill and thus now blown around so much. 

 Summit selfie

In between showers the view was good! 

The wind on the way up was stiff. On the summit it was of the level where you can lean right into it and it will support your weight. I contemplated not visiting the ground 130m away from the high point that's apparently 1.5m lower, but having been caught out enough times by summits moving, I made the effort. Getting there was no effort; getting back against the wind was. 

Back down at the road, if I'd simply retraced my steps, I would have been back at Bertie in half an hour, but as there was an obvious circuit to be made (the aforementioned Taff Trail) I crossed straight over the road, fought my way through another patch of bracken and found myself at a fence. I knew the path down here wasn't a Public Right of Way, but the fence was easily step-overable and after only a few seconds of scouting around I squeezed through a gap into some woodland and found a good trodden line. 

If the path hadn't been steeply downhill, then when I reached the first patch of tangled bracken laced with brambles I probably would have turned back to take the road after all. As it was I convinced myself that all would be well and I picked my way slowly through, trying not to catch my waterproofs on the brambles. After about a week and a half of slowly picking my way down (and there were good sections without any impediment) I thought I must be nearly at the PRoW, but found that I was less than half way. And the whole way was only 400m! The only good thing I can say about this route choice was that whilst I was fully sheltered by the tree canopy, it was pouring down outside. 

I'd like to say that things got better when I got to the tramway (Taff Trail), and I suppose that they did, but I was expecting easy going from there, whereas I found an uneven surface and a narrow, overgrown line. Then I came upon this:

Obviously I checked the closure notice carefully, but it was all valid and in date.

At least the diversion didn't look outrageously long (unlike the time when I came across a 14km diversion due to a 100m path closure), even if it was initially going to send me off in the opposite direction from where I wanted to go. Arriving at the turn I thought I needed to take, I went to look at the photo I'd taken of the diversion route, only to find that I had failed to take any such photo. I took the turn, and all was well until I reached a gate, topped with barbed wire and with a clear and polite notice telling me I could proceed no further. It was at this point that I zoomed in on my map and realised I'd seen/imagined a PRoW where there was in fact none. There was, however, a gate to my left and there seemed to be a trodden line across that field and I thought I could see a stile in the bottom corner, even though it's not on a Right of Way. Thankfully that all worked out and I didn't have to backtrack and add another 1.5km onto my outing.

The onward path along the river was quite pleasant and with just a little tarmac I was deposited back in the middle of Talybont.  

Allt yr Esgair (SO 12615 24361; 393m) 

Start Point: large layby S of hill at SO130266

Distance and ascent: 4.1km, 230m 

Weather: one brief shower, a bit of sunshine, otherwise overcast and windy 

The forecast of a 95% chance of heavy rain continuously from 11am to 7pm didn't match the reality of a few light and relatively brief showers, so at 3.30pm I thought I may as well head off up my second hill ... just as another shower hit. Like those that came before it, it was light and short-lived. 

A nice series of old green lanes took me up onto the ridge, from where I had a choice - to follow a path along the ridge or one lower down that would join the ridge further along. Despite the wind, I opted for the former. On the plus side the bracken that had collapsed across my choice of path wasn't laced with brambles nor studded with gorse. On the down side, it was sodden. Even so, it was a relatively pleasant walk along to the summit, where I had no doubt there would be stunning views on a clear day. 

I've corrected the selfies in this post, but it was as I looked at the original of this snap that I realised that I'd not changed the 'mirror selfie' setting when I got a new phone in April, so every selfie I've posted since has been flipped horizontally.

Same view but without my head in the way

This sign told me about the view above, and I could see most of the key features, even if not clearly

The second hill back on the right hand side is the one I went up this morning

At the junction of the ridge/lower path, I hesitated. Given this morning's experience of taking a different path on the return leg, there was merit in sticking with the devil I knew. It turned out there was even more merit in trying something new: the lower path had not a single stalk of bracken on it and all gorse was off to the side. Other than that minor deviation, it was a simple retracing of steps. 

Just one other observation about this route: every single gate I went through had the same style of latch (one of those with a stalk going up to the top of the gate, with a ring shape at the top). It really does make things easier when you don't have to go through a new 'how does this gate open' exercise at every gate! 

Myarth (SO 17100 20840; 293m)

14 July

Start Point: Glanusk Estate Caravan Park

Distance and Ascent: 8.5km; 270m

Weather: sunny intervals and windy 

 

A tricky hill this one, as it features neither Access Land nor Public Rights of Way, it also rather lacks somewhere for a Bertie-sized vehicle to park. I'd therefore put it on the list of 'hills I will just not bother visiting' (I'm never going to visit all of the Marilyns, so missing out ones with access issues isn't a problem). Then I noticed that Glanusk Estate, on which the hill lies also has a campsite. Thus the plan: stay at the campsite, request permission to visit the hill, and solve both issues in one go.

 

I'd originally thought I'd nip up it tomorrow morning, but the location of the camping field, combined with the inconvenience of a river lying between me and my objective, meant that this 'short outing' measured a surprising 8.5km. Added to that, this trip is going to get cut short by a few days (for good reasons - some paperwork we've been waiting for and that we didn't expect to arrive until next week at the earliest was delivered today). Those factors combined made me think that a late afternoon excursion was the best bet - even though the wind rocking Bertie wasn't entirely enticing (as it turned out, I didn't notice it at all once I was out - either there was a lull that entirely coincided with my outing or, more likely, I was well sheltered the whole way). 

 

A permissive path most of the way through the Estate, followed by a bit of trespass, took me to the road, then up a series of tracks, of varying quality, I went. 

 

In the final approach to the top I passed an area of felled forest and thought perhaps my objective lay within that, but no, it was within a stand of natural forest beyond. For the second time today, I concluded that this was a hill best visited in winter, when the undergrowth is less of an impediment, and it took me a while of back and forth along tracks to decide on the best route (i.e. least bracken and brambles) into the trees. Once in, the going wasn't too bad (as in 'it could have been a whole lot worse'. I had flashbacks to Mount Eagle on the Black Isle ).

 

Happily, I found a clear summit marker on this one:

 

I managed to exit the summit to the SE, despite not having been able to find a way in that way, from where it was a simple retracing of my steps. 
 

Bryn Arw (SO 30157 20703; 385m) & Sugar Loaf (596m)

14 July

Start Point: Pentyclawdd (SE of Bryn Arw)

End Point: Linden Ave, Abergavenny

Distance and Ascent: 12.2km, 640m 

Weather: Fine start, but clouding over. A couple of shower passed by but I only caught the very edge of one. Breezy.

 

The temperature as I set out up Bryn Arw this morning was a full 10 degrees lower than when I'd tackled yesterday's hill, but it felt every bit as warm. I attributed this to how much more humid it felt today, combined with a lack of air movement as I ascended between high bracken. The lack of air flow could have been seen as a positive, given how Bertie had been getting blown around by the wind in last night's car park.

That's yesterday afternoon's hill over there. 

This hill has two summits, 500m apart. According to hill-bagging.co.uk, the southernmost is 1m lower, but as I emerged onto the ridge so close to it, and by way of insurance against future surveys turning up different stats, I took the small detour to what appeared to me to be the highest ground. An easy stroll along the ridge then took me to within 20m of the summit, which, it turns out, is within a tangled mass of shoulder-high bracken, and gorse. I explored the bracken first (easy enough to get in; tricky to get back out with all the leaves getting caught on each other when pushing on them in that direction), before conceding that the top lay within a dense patch of gorse. Shorts were not the best leg wear for either of these off-path excursions.

My face sums up my feeling about standing in a patch of gorse, having picked my way through other gorse to get there. 

Looking towards my next objective

My descent path was (would you believe it?) also through bracken, and this side of the hill seemed to be less trodden, with a narrower line between the greenery that was, in turn, collapsing over the path. It was a relief to get to a track.

Sugar Loaf was a breeze in comparison - it's a popular hill that's covered in paths and none of the ones I used had any foliage obstructing the way.

The forecast had suggested that there was the chance of rain between 11 and noon, and as I ascended, it was apparent that there weren't just dark clouds around, but showers too. I felt a bit of moisture in the air at one point, but was happy to see the shower pass a short distance away.

A couple of runners had joined my path shortly before the summit and I seemed to be gaining on them up the final stretch, yet when I got to the top they were nowhere to be seen - presumably they took one of the side paths back down before reaching the trig point. Thus I only shared the summit with a couple who were trying to use the trig point as a wind break. 

My hat illustrates that it was windy up there. Still warm, mind.

The views would have been better in yesterday's sunny conditions.  

A bit of poor navigation saw me take paths on two sides of a triangle on my descent route, despite having used my compass at the top to check where I was aiming for on the Abergavenny side of the hill. Not sure how I didn't see, despite looking, the path I actually wanted to take. Putting a positive spin on it, I gave myself a gentler descent!

Some gorgeous woodland lower down

After dropping me off at my start point, Mick had spent the previous two and a half hours sitting in a side road on the edge of Abergavenny, and that's where I found him.  

 

Ysgyryd Fawr (SO 33118 18283; 486m)

13 July

Start Point: National Trust car park on S side of hill

Distance and Ascent: 4.6km, 290m

Weather: sunny and hot (30 degrees), but with some fluffy clouds appearing as I reached the ridge (none blocked the sun). 

I'd read that the car park for this hill - a sizeable one, suggesting that this is a popular hill - can get full by mid-morning on a sunny weekend. That there are double yellow lines on the road outside also suggests that parking can be an issue. The saving factor today was that few people want to haul themselves up a hill in 30+ degree heat, so we arrived at 2pm to find just a handful of other vehicles. 

I considered leaving the hill until evening, but the weather forecast suggested that it was going to stay warm for so long, that going immediately was the better option. 

The first part of the climb is shaded in the trees and once out of the trees, I caught a breeze up on the ridge, so it wasn't uncomfortable. It was also an easy climb, with an engineered path on the lower reaches, and a solid trodden line higher up. 

Even so, I didn't speed along, happy to take it at a steady pace and take in the extensive views. 

According to my plan, this was the third hill of my first day of bagging on this trip. However, having arrived here on such a warm afternoon, I opted to just do an easy out-and-back today, saving the other two for a linear walk tomorrow, when the forecast is cooler. So, having reached the summit, I turned around and came back down again.  

As I've mentioned before, Mick only joins me on Marilyns when he considers the hill has merit. I have high hopes that all (maybe bar 1) of those pencilled in for this week meet his definition of 'merit', making it rather a shame that his poorly back is precluding him from doing anything beyond gentle ambling (not that he would have been able to join me on all of the tops, if he's also to facilitate me doing some linear routes, but I had also planned the logistics so that there would be plenty of opportunity).