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Thread: Beautiful mystery

  1. #11
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    A great three days in the Black Mountains camping near Abergavenny. All part of my quest to walk all the 2000ft hills in Wales. Shame that for 2 1/2 of the days I was in cloud and drizzle, but all improves the compass skills.
    However on the last day as I got to the Northern escarpment the cloud broke and the sun came out. Fantastic views ranging round to the Beacons to the west, Mid Wales and the Shropshire hills. Bredon Hill (where I lived as a child)appearing over the Malverns with the Cotswold ridge in the background. South to the Bristol Channel. Loved it as I walked down the Long ridge of Offa's Dyke path and then dropped down to Llanthony Priory. Still laughing about a hill named Lord Hereford's Knob.
    Now only 14 hills to do for my completion. 4 in the Radnor forest, 6 in the Moelwyns and 4 obscure ones in Snowdonia.

  2. #12
    Master Dave_Mole's Avatar
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    There's a Half Man Half Biscuit song about Lord Herefords Knob.

  3. #13
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    I wonder why Lord Hereford left his knob in Wales. I prefer the more civilised name of Twmpa, which means Hump.

    Now that opens another avenue. Perhaps Lord Hereford liked sheep!
    Last edited by Llani Boy; 11-09-2020 at 09:09 PM.
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  4. #14
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    Fantastic walk yesterday into The Great Welsh Desert. Wents south from the end of a very minor road just west of Llangurig and over to the Ystwyth valley. Miles of nothing and great views to The Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains, Drygarn Fawr in the foreground. Saw a snipe up on the tops.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Llani Boy View Post
    I wonder why Lord Hereford left his knob in Wales. I prefer the more civilised name of Twmpa, which means Hump.

    Now that opens another avenue. Perhaps Lord Hereford liked sheep!
    But did he leave the pub before last orders, after all who wants to be late to the party and end up with an ugly one.
    What did her Mum say?
    Baa.

  6. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheeze View Post
    Between the majestic summits of Snowdonia and the well trodden uplands of the Brecon beacons lies a huge tract of folded land, seldom visited and little raced upon apart from intrepid Dragons Backers. The Cambrian Mountains hide their glory from the casual passer by. They truly are a hinterland. And if you want to get a sense of what they feel like, watch the series of the same name. The programmes add up to a long form essay of love to this unique and mysterious environment. Deeply fabulous. How did I miss this first time around!
    Sounds like a mysterious sweet escape! I'd love to be in this place without the internet for like a month.

  7. #17
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    Following on from previous threads on this (now archived); As part of my attempt to walk all the 2000ft hills in Wales I parked up in New Radnor and set off at a gentle run for Harley Dingle and on to Great Rhos in sub optimal conditions. I followed the OS marked path and got to the entry to the exclusion zone. Bollox to this I thought and carried on through it to the trackless moor. No problems and no unexploded ordinance seen. As it was claggy, I had to follow my compass to the top - tricky trig to find. So on round through the felled forest to Black Mixen, a top spoiled by the mast and associated buildings. So on towards Great Creigiau. At the obvious gate from the path again I entered the forbidden zone. Only a dedicated bagger would take this on as it is a trackless waste of heather and tussocks to get to what may be the top. I could find no sign of the highest point, but wandered around for a bit to make sure I had crossed it.

    From there to Bache Hill was easy, once I had regained the path - met the first other people seen all day in the rain. So back down to New Radnor and off for greasy food.

    Such a shame that we can be denied access to lovely country and rarely visited tops.

  8. #18
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Ah...you went to the mysterious 660. Trig in the middle of bloody nowhere. Epic! I was last there in 1991 when I ran the old County tops of Wales...highest point in each of the old 14 Shire counties of Wales. 660 is the highest point of Radnorshire.
    Simon Blease
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  9. #19
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    All this talk about the wonderful Mid Wales hills inspired me to re-visit a couple of them for the first time since the 26th April 1983 when I ticked them whilst doing the Bridges Tables.

    Having parked up near Llannerch Y Cawr Longhouse in the Claerwen Valley rather than walk up Nant Paradwys I decided to take a more direct route up the ridge/nose to its east. I should have known better as once I had got above the grazed steeper slopes the ground became less of a gradient but was the most tussocky terrain I have been on for many years. Not a path or trod in sight for a mile and a half. Fortunately it was pretty dry with only the occasional bog as I slogged my way up. Eventually I reached the trod on the highest ground and turned left and followed it and the boundary markers to the summit of Gorllwyn. A traditionally shaped TP but built with rocks and further along the ridge a large cairn topped with quartz.

    I then retraced my steps along the trod and boundary for the 3 miles or so to my second summit Drygarn Fawr. The trod kept disappearing in the middle mile and I found myself floundering in bog and tussocks on numerous occasions until the trod re-appeared. The last section to the the large cairn at the start of the ridge and on to the the even larger cairn at the summit was a lovely grassy path. The TP was around 12 feet lower than the cairn and about 50 yards away. The summit cairn is spectacular, around 15 feet in height and dome shaped like a traditional beehive and built with care.

    The views were fantastic and save for the cairns and Claerwen Dam in the distance hardly a manmade structure in sight. I retraced my steps down the grassy path and found that it veered to my left over a ridge named Dalrhiw, not marked on the map, and took me all the way back to the valley floor.

    In total, a warm and sunny, 11 miles and 1,600 feet in 3hrs of wonderful wilderness. I flushed out a beautiful Red Fox from almost under my feet in the bracken but did not see another person from leaving to returning to my car. However someone must have been in the area as I found two £10 notes in the road!
    Last edited by Llani Boy; 24-08-2021 at 11:51 PM.
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  10. #20
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    I did that Gorllwyn ridge a few times in the old days - not a lot of foot traffic over it I recall till you hit the Drygarn Fawr paths! Winter (dry weather) is the best time really once the tussock grass is back down.
    The path you took from the Drygarn Fawr cairns down over Dalrhiw to the hard track at the bottom of the valley was my favourite bit of running; soft, springy and gently downhill for a couple of miles, I used to love just blasting down there. Back in the days when I could "blast" 😎.
    This Sunday on my bike ride I was in the forestry above the Irfon valley (above the Devils staircase) looking across at Drygarn which was very close, reminding me of many happy times spent in those hills and some events we used to put on there.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

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