hike | camp | paint
In need of a weekend in the hills, after much tossing up between an attempt to move my Cambrian Way marker forward by a couple of days and the idea of going somewhere new, I eventually fixed on a visit to the Arans. This came out of my research for the optimal way to get … Continue reading The Arans
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)
Cath (@wellycath), being the incredibly juvenile middle-aged person that she is, could not let the opportunity to visit a comically-named mountain go, and so the Tuesday of Easter week saw Cath, Andy and I set off on the quest. To where I hear you ask ? To here of course.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlRrdbkyV8w A route having already … Continue reading Three for his Knob
After a long drive, I parked up by the Cornewall-Lewis memorial in New Radnor and met up with Stuart who’d parked just up the road. Stuart dumped his recently acquired Mariposa by my car while he did his pre-walk faff, and I took the opportunity to have a good look at it. I really should … Continue reading 24 Hours in the Radnor Forest
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)
Day 1 After four hours in the car, we pulled up by the Cornewall-Lewis memorial in New Radnor, and I couldn't wait to get out of the car and escape David's not very satisfactory attempts at navigation. Not that that was an end to it - with his final geography GCSE paper in a few … Continue reading The geography field trip
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
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)
Beddgelert disappears behind me as I tackle the steepest part of the walk and head for the climax of this trip. This is a time to enjoy the finest mountains in Wales, but also to get used to seeing people again, for soon I have to re-enter civilisation. This is also familiar territory and very … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 9: Beddgelert to Conwy
And now things get serious with the most controversial section of the Cambrian Way. Rough walking over demanding terrain, nowhere to stay overnight, but in the eyes of Tony Drake the most rewarding part of the whole route. Except in my case, I don't have the accommodation issue... I know from reading George Tod's accounts … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 8: Barmouth to Beddgelert