hike | camp | paint
...I emerged from the cafe blinking in the afternoon sunlight. Ahead of me lay a lot of work. A climb up to the main road from the village of Dinas Mawddwy, along that a short way and then I was heading up steeply into the woods of Coed Foeldinas. And it carried on steeply, a … Continue reading Cambrian Way #10: Dinas Mawddwy to Barmouth (Days 22-24)
The euphoria of knocking off 15 miles and nearly 1000m of ascent on a day when I was feeling sluggish soon wore off. The wind picked up in the night and was really pressing on the tent. Again I had bits of cheap Chinese inner in my face. I was glad to get up, but … Continue reading Cambrian Way #9: Bryn y Fedwen to Mallwyd (Days 20-21)
The need to get in some serious backpacking practice before the Big One in Scotland in May saw me heading back to Ponterwyd a bit sooner than I'd expected. I'd decided that the Cambrian Way would be a suitable training ground for the TGO. Furthermore, in a moment of madness I had the idea of … Continue reading Cambrian Way #8: Ponterwyd to Bryn y Fedwen (Days 18-19)
Ice cream and tea consumed I got on my way, leaving sleepy Strata Florida behind and heading along a lane that would take me to the Teifi Pools. Climbing up gently over grass, I gained a trackway and soon saw the first of the lakes - Llyn Egnant. I stopped to refill my water from … Continue reading Cambrian Way #7: Strata Florida to Ponterwyd (Days 16-17)
It probably wasn't a great idea to begin a 4 day backpack through remote mid Wales with a night of virtually no sleep. Even less a good idea to do so with a newly hurt knee obtained in an ill-advised game of garden volleyball at a gathering with the in-laws a few hours before. And it's probably … Continue reading Cambrian Way #6: Llandovery to Strata Florida (Days 14-15)
Day 12: Storey Arms to Llyn y Fan Fawr - Making up lost ground That "night in" did me a power of good, especially as I'd arrived at camp fully laden with water and early enough to simply chill out and enjoy being at camp, with none of the pressures of the previous night's desperate … Continue reading Cambrian Way #5: Storey Arms to Llandovery (Days 12-13)
Day 10: Friday 11 July 2014 - Filling in the Blanks I woke early to a gloomy and rainy world. Thankful that I'd all but completed the packing the night before, it didn't take me long to get the last few bits together and be on my way, walking to the station in a light … Continue reading Cambrian Way #4: Merthyr to Storey Arms (Days 10 – 11)
It's been over a year, but finally I'm getting back to the Cambrian Way. In a little over 10 days I've gone from not even considering doing it to impatience to get out there on the trail. The Lakes has had most of my attention for the last year, but happily now the balance is … Continue reading Back on the Cambrian Way
What with work commitments and leaving it late to make the final arrangements, the original intention to do the Cambrian Way in one 3 week (ish) adventure had to be reconsidered, and I planned a shorter trip to do as much of the southern section in a week to 10 days as I could. Here's … Continue reading Cambrian Way Phase 1
It will be clear from the last post that the trip didn't go quite to plan, as I stopped short of my intended end point of Llandovery. But that's not to say it was a failure, and I'm looking at it as simply having altered the plan further as I went. Nevertheless, there were some … Continue reading Cambrian Way Phase 1 – Post Mortem
Day 9: Monday 6 May The best night's sleep so far, and in a dorm to myself, following a half-rest day and a decent feed should have all meant that I would feel up to today's walk. With today's walk one of the toughest days for a while, I deliberately managed the preceding couple of … Continue reading Cambrian Way #3: Talybont to Storey Arms (Day 9)
I've now reached Talybont which marks approximately 2/3 of the walk for this southern section of the Cambrian Way. Replanning this stage as a 4 day rather than 3 day walk was the right thing to do, with the result that I arrived at the youth hostel in much better shape than I arrived in … Continue reading Cambrian Way #2: Abergavenny to Talybont (Days 5 – 8)
I'm writing this at the end of a chilled out day whilst waiting for my curry to arrive. I've only walked around Abergavenny town today, certainly not set foot on a hill. And that's actually a good thing... If I hadn't taken a day out I reckon I could have jeopardised the rest of the … Continue reading Cambrian Way #1: Cardiff to Abergavenny (Days 1 – 4)
It was just as well I delayed setting off for the walk by a day, caused by a final flurry of work issues, as it took most of yesterday to get it all together. This was going to be a post on the final preparations for the walk, but in truth apart from booking the … Continue reading Kitting up for the Cambrian Way
Those who had the stamina to endure my recent succession of Cambrian Way planning posts may have been wondering why it suddenly seemed to go a bit quiet. Â The truth is I've had to alter my plans. But unlike several other people recently who've had to change their walking or running plans, it's thankfully not … Continue reading A Cambrian Way Rethink