Tuesday 13 January - Rhiw Gwraidd & Gwastedyn Hill

Rhiw Gwraidd (SO 01610 63437; 441m)

Start Point: By end of track to the north - good parking available a very short way E along road. 

Distance and Ascent: 6.75km, 300m

Weather: Light rain for most of ascent, then dry and increasing hints of brightness.

 

 

 

The weather conditions were probably ideal for this sort of hill, which is to say that if you're going to have miserable weather with curtailed views, you may as well have them on an unspectacular hill.  

 

The initial walk-in was on a track, and at the point that I've marked as '1' on the map snippet above, there was a clear trodden line heading off into the forest, on the line of the public footpath shown on the map, and I gave a few moments thought as to following it. However, I wanted to see if I could head up the west side of the forest, so I continued along the track to the first switchback (marked as '2'), ducking under a few fallen trees on my way. Once there, I waded through some standing water, only to conclude that whilst it looked feasible to get out of the forest, it wouldn't be easy, and thus back to the track I went.  

 

Approaching the E side of the forest (via more fallen trees, one of which was mildly troublesome), it was clear that I could exit the forest to head up the outside edge, as had been my 'if the W side doesn't go' plan. However, just before that point I saw what looked decidedly like a mountain bike trail coming down the hill and decided that if bikes could go that way then so could I. It soon became apparent that it was a dirt bike (as in motorbike) that had been that way, and I followed its tyre line until it suddenly disappeared. Then I just headed up a break, which worked out nicely, and I popped out of the trees not far from the summit. 

 

The two summits of this hill are apparently only 7cm different in height, so clearly I had to visit the other one, which was a simple walk (via one open gate and one easily-crossed fence), out of pasture and onto heather-clad ground. 

 

Contemplating now the retracing of my steps around three sides of a square, I decided it would be worth the 50m bash through the forest in order to go the short route. Despite appearances from the map, I only had to negotiate one fence crossing (the top one) with gateways being visible aiming points, and the gates open, on the other two. Getting back into the forest was easy too, with a tree having fallen across the fence, lowering it to 'step over' level. 

 

Predictably, even knowing that I needed to avoid a small waterfall just before I rejoined the forest track, I managed to come out on the wrong side of the stream, but negotiated my way to a point where the drop was only 3 feet or so. I lowered myself down the drop with remarkable inelegance, then with just a repeat of the ducking under fallen trees, it was plain sailing back to my start point. 

 

(I've got quite a track record of 'short cuts make for long delays' and dodgy descent route decisions, but would like to point out, to my future self as much as anything, that they don't always go badly, and this one was definitely worthwhile.) 

 

 

The official summit (the brown lump peaking over the green field on the right of shot is the second summit) 

The lower top (ish. I think I decided it might be a few paces in front and to the right of me, so took a wander around before heading down)

View, with weather improving

A convenient fallen branch lowering the final fence obstacle to 'step over' level. 

 

Gwastedyn Hill (SN 98683 66150; 477m)

Start Point: Where public right of way leaves the road by Pen-y-Ffynnon (no room to park, but Mick stayed in the car and was ready to move if access was needed (which it wasn't))

Distance and Ascent: 2.75km, 220m

Weather: A bit of sunshine and no rain!

 

The dead-end minor road that leads only to the farm at Pen-y-Ffynnon is gated and newly surfaced, giving Mick the feeling that he was driving up someone's driveway. I reassured him that wasn't the case, and also forewarned him that I didn't expect to find anywhere to park, but that I had identified somewhere reasonably local that he could wait. As it went, he decided to wait blocking the track at the start of the path I was taking, and (unusually, I would say, when he's blocking an access) no-one came along needing to go that way. 

Up one field I went, at the top of which a pedestrian gate had me onto access land, where theoretically I could head straight up the hillside, but I was put off by it being a mass of dead bracken, so I headed NE until I found a trod heading uphill. After a stiff pull up, the ground levelled out and the top proved to be unexpectedly pleasant. 

The difference in height between the two tops on this one is 1.4m, and the distance between them such that I thought it worth the effort to visit both - particularly as the lower top looked more striking than the true summit, being home to a large cairn and a fallen beacon. 

A bog was waded on the way there, a fence easily stepped over (a handy tussock on each side combined with a saggy strand of barbed wire), then it was the final up, past the last remaining dregs of last week's snow. 

Once back through the bog that lays between the two tops, to retrace my steps would have required the reascent of the first top, and whilst it was a pretty negligible climb, I thought I may as well take a more direct route. With the help of gravity and the bracken having fallen towards my direction of travel, I didn't have regrets, although my ankles came to protest about so much traversing of a steep slope. 

Google has decided to put the photos for this one in reverse order, and who am I to argue about the sense of this... 

If Mick hadn't been waiting for me on the other side of the hill, it would have made sense to have just walked down to our accommodation in Rhayader, just down yonder. 

The lower, but more interesting top, with the better views.

Last remaining bit of snow after three days of positive temperatures (forecast to be -3 tonight - will it be enough to freeze the ground on tomorrow's hill?)

The actual summit, with the lower summit visible in middle of shot. You can't see the bog separating them from here. 

When I took this snap at the outset to show how the hill was comprehensively covered in bracken, I didn't know that I would return on a line I could draw onto this snap (my ascent route was behind me as I took this).