Tarrenhendre (SH 682 041; 634m) & Tarren y Gesail (SH 710 059; 667m)
Start Point: where the track to 'Quarry Siding Halt' leaves the B4405 (no parking - I was dropped off)
End Point: Abergynolwyn
Distance and Ascent: 16.2km, 930m
Weather: Overcast but dry. Disappointing, against a forecast of wall-to-wall sunshine. 10 degrees in the valley.
Had I been by myself, I would have done this as a circuit from Abergynolwyn, going through the forest from Abergynolwyn Station. My other plotted route was from where I did actually start, but taking the more direct route using the track that ends W of the summit. In the event I decided I fancied the option that was a little further, but gentler and on a good track all the way to the ridge path.
If I'd visited these hills yesterday (when the views would have been so much better), I might have been thwarted on my chosen route by two fords that were still swollen, with evidence that the streams had flooded very recently. As it was, I was able to cross a few paces upstream (I would say 'without getting my shoes wet', except the grass alongside was waterlogged in both cases).
Reaching a cairn on Tarrenhendre, I snapped my usual summit selfie, took a snap of the view (which turned out to be one of the clearest of the day, before the murk descended again), and sent a message to Mick telling him I was at the top. Fortunately, I then noticed that I had two waypoints marked on my map and thus came to realise that where I was standing was not the top - it was a spurious waypoint. Glad I noticed that when I did!
With the actual top duly visited, onwards to my next objective, via a rather pleasing walk along the ridge (albeit there was a bit where I went around a small lump rather than over it).
At the final dip before heading up Tarren y Gesail, I was surprised to see a newly laid track, terminating at a turning circle, off the end of which was a newly laid footpath. That wasn't marked on my map, but I had a good phone signal, so I paused to look at aerial maps to work out where it went. Up my hill was the answer, albeit it looked to take a rather indirect zig-zagging route. Given that I was 180m below the summit, and less than 1km away, I decided to stick to Plan A, which was to go straight up the fenceline.
It turned out that: a) the path was newly surfaced at the bottom, rather than being a new installation - further up it looked like it had been there for some time; and b) it zig-zagged to almost touch the fenceline so I could have hopped onto it at various points; and c) straight up the fence was the right choice for me - as much as I'd enjoyed the easier but less-direct route up my first hill, this path did seem to have taken the zig-zags to the extreme when it wasn't that steep (and not at all eroded) going straight up.
This is one of those 'find the patch of ground that's maybe an inch higher than all the other ground nearby' jobs, so I did the best I could with finding the unmarked highpoint, before continuing on to the trig point (which has seen better days).
The first bit of the descent was soggy indeed, before I got onto nice firm grass again. I then took a short cut that was quite possibly both harder and slower than my intended route, but having picked my way down the edge of a felled area of forest, then down a field of long grass hiding some boulders and holes, I made it to the footpath through a large area of quarry remains (buildings and slag heaps, not just a hole with a pond at the bottom). That footpath was both overgrown and running with water, making me slower than I would have liked (knowing that Mick was waiting for me once again in the local cafe); the track onto which it deposited me was even wetter still, overtopping my socks before I finally got onto solid ground.
A gentle jog along the road saw me back to Abergynolwyn only a short while after Mick had been ejected from the cafe as they'd decided to close early (I asked whether it was the only way they could get rid of him, but he had been the only customer, so probably an economic decision). I apologised for my slowness, before looking at my watch and discovering that I'd only been 10 minutes longer than expected.
Photos in a random order today:
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