The Tarren Hills and Pen y Garn - Nov 2014

Fri 31 October 2014

Another weekend of hillwalking in Wales, but we are not at The Goat. Having found a weekend that suited all, we then found that our usual hostelry was fully booked! Vince researched some alternatives and we settled on The Bluebell Inn in Llangurig in mid-Wales. First impressions are that its a friendly place, and it also offers a couple of real ales – Brain’s The Rev. James and Wye Valley Brewery’s Butty Bach. 

We arrived late afternoon, so once settled in our room we headed to the bar for an evening meal and to try out the ale on offer (not Jack of course, he drank lemonade and lime!). Unfortunately the Butty Bach barrel run out as the landlord was pulling our second pints, so we had to switch to The Rev. James. After some tasty food we settled down to look at maps and guide books to decide on the routes for the weekend. The obvious choice for Saturday would be to do the five summits on nearby Pumlumon, but as this is quite a long route, we decided to leave this for the longer days of summer. We opted to travel a bit further over towards Cadair Idris and do the two summits of the Tarren Hills near Abergynolwen. The weather forecast did not look too bad, though it looked like there may be a wet period in the early afternoon. For Sunday’s route we had more-or-less decided in advance that we would do the single peak of Pen y Garn near Devil’s Bridge.

Sat 1 November 2014

The day’s walk began in the car park in the village of Abergynolwen, an hour’s drive from The Blubell Inn. After sorting out all our kit and booting-up we set off at 9:55. The first 150m climbed steeply on a metalled road, then turned off onto a footpath signposted to Nant Gwernol station. The path continued in the trees beside the Nant Gwernol as it tumbled down in a picturesque series of small waterfalls. A footbridge took us over the stream to the station and then upwards past the restored drum-house of the former slate quarry, continuing to ascend with the stream now below on our left. We could hear plenty of bird life in the woodland. Coal tit, nuthatch, blue tit, long-tailed tit, chaffinch, wren, robin and goldcrest were all calling or singing.

The path turned right to follow the Nant Moelfre for 300m, then swung almost 180° to ascend in a short distance to a forest road skirting around the small, wooded hill of Foel Fawr. An easy walk of 2km on this track brought us to the base of the the cliffs of our first objective, Tarrenhendre. A couple of parties of Adventure Scouts met on this track were the only people we encountered all day. A steep, grassy pull-up of 90m brought us onto the north-west ridge of Tarrenhendre and a welcome stop for a banana break.

It was now a simple matter of following the fence south-east to the summit, though this did involve 200m of ascent, so it was a bit of a slog, and the increasing wind was beginning to make it feel quite cold. At the top we had to cross the fence to attain the small cairn that marked the summit. 

 

A further 200m of walking across the small summit plateau brought us to another cairn at a fence corner. The route then followed another fence down the grassy east ridge of Tarrenhendre, continuing on another ridge over Pant Gwyn to Foel y Geifr. Here our route crossed into the trees, though there was an evident track continuing beside the wood. We opted to follow the track through the forest. At first it was easy enough to follow, but it soon became overgrown and progress became more difficult. We fought our way through until we came to an area clear of trees. It began to rain, and as it threatened to become quite heavy, we stopped to put on waterproofs. A couple more minutes and we arrived at the forest corner where another fence lead uphill towards the summit. Time for a chocolate biscuit break before commencing the ascent.

Another steep pull up lead to the eastern end of of Tarren y Gesail’s summit ridge (180m of ascent in 600m). The threatened rain thankfully did not amount to much, but the wind was getting quite severe. On the exposed summit it was probably blowing at about Force 6, so settling down on the top to eat our sandwiches was out of the question. Just a quick pause to take the obligatory summit photos.

We headed west to the forest edge (much of which had been clear-felled), which we then followed down hill to pick up the path near Pont Llaeron. Here we removed our waterproofs and ate (a very late) lunch. 

The next kilometre or so was horrendous. The track and surrounding field had been churned up by cows, and the ground was thoroughly sodden from the small streams running down through it. Solid ground was difficult to find, and often we would sink calf-deep into oozing mud. A thoroughly miserable 20 minutes spent trying to pick our way through.

It was a relief to gain the more solid track at the disused Bryn-Eglwys quarry, from where it was an easy twenty-minute walk back to the car. Arrived back at around 16:10, six and a quarter hours after setting off. 

A pleasant evening in the pub, with good food and a new barrel of Butty Bach.

	Summit	Height (M)	Status
	Tarrenhendre	634	Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall
	Tarren y Gesail	667	Hewitt, Nuttall

 

Sun 2 November 2014

After breakfast at 7:30 we settled our bill, loaded all our gear into the car and set off on the short 30 minute journey to the start of today’s walk at the car park by The Arch in the Ystwyth Forest. The first 4km or so were on a gently ascending forest track. As there were limited views through the trees it was an opportunity to look out for birds instead. Our list consisted of nuthatch, blue tit, coal tit, blackbird, robin, wren, chaffinch, goldcrest, bullfinch, starling and mistle thrush. As we got higher up the trees became more open, with a splendid view across the Nant Rhuddnant valley. Once we reached the edge of the forest we stopped for our coffee/banana break, and added a jay to our list of birds.

We were now only 400m distant from the summit of Pen y Garn, but as we could not see it, and for some navigation practice, Jack took a bearing for us to follow. We set off uphill, heading for a large fence post on the horizon which indicated the direction according to the bearing. Although we were on access land there were numerous fences without stiles to negotiate, so some tricky clambering over (and under) barbed wire ensued. The summit was now in view and easily attained after one last fence crossing next to it. We made use of the substantial and well made summit shelter for a twenty-minute coffee and food break. 

In the vicinity of the top a few more more birds were added to our list - red kite, buzzard, raven and  meadow pipit. As we were preparing to leave the summit a small flock of twittering birds flew over. We did not recognise the call, and we did not actually see them. Crossbill possibly?

Our descent route followed an easy track twisting its way back down to the forest. A couple of snipe flushed and zig-zagged away as we neared the trees again. We continued on the track through the woods for a three-quarters of a kilometre before turning off onto a path that led through the trees to another track that took us past Gelmast farm. Greenfinch, carrion crow, woodpigeon and magpie were added to our day’s bag of birds here. From here we were soon back at the car and getting all sorted out for the drive back home.

	Summit	Height (M)	Status
	Pen y Garn	610	Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttal

 

               

Jack’s Snowdon Challenge - March 2014

Fri 7 March 2014

9.40pm. We arrive at The Goat at Maerdy for a weekend of hillwalking in Snowdonia. Since our last visit in July 2013 the pub has changed ownership again. Bottled Brains SA is our chosen tipple whilst we plan the weekend’s walks. There was not much planning to do, as Vince’s son Jack had come with us with the intention of climbing Snowdon in aid of Sport Relief. After summiting Snowdon last year via the Miners’ Track, Jack wanted to go up by the more challenging route of Crib Goch. We already knew this may be a doubtful route as the mountain forecast from mid-week said that there was snow and ice above 850m and that ice-axe and crampons would be essential for getting to the summit. Checking the latest forecast as we supped our beers only confirmed this, as although the snow/ice level had risen to 900m, the wind was expected to be gusting to 50-70mph. These conditions would be far too dangerous for the narrow ridge of Crib Goch, so we elected to ascend on the Pyg Track and come back down on the Miners’ Track. An alternative descent contemplated was to use the Llanberis Path and then catch a bus back to the Pen-y-pass car park. For Sunday we wanted just a short route and we had already thought about doing Moel Fferna in the Berwyns, as this was conveniently placed on the homeward journey. We both well remember climbing this mountain in the rain back in October 2005.

Sat 8 March 2014

After a full English breakfast at 7.30am we dashed off to the Pen-y-pass car park, arriving just in time to nab one of  the last few spaces. We set off along the Pyg Track in fine weather at 9.15am. The summits were shrouded in cloud, but encouragingly the forecast predicted that they would  clear by the afternoon. We were sheltered from the worst of the wind as we made our way up to Bwlch y Moch, but once there we felt its full force, dispelling any thoughts we may have had of still doing Crib Goch. A short stop here for Jack to put on a windproof jacket and all three of us to eat a few energy giving jelly babies.

The Pyg Track rises fairly gently on the southern slopes of Crib Goch, but the strong wind in our faces made walking more difficult and tiring. The occasional ferocious gust almost blowing us off our feet. The path became much busier when we got to the point where the Pyg Track meets the top of the Miner’s Track. We stopped here for ten minutes for our banana/coffee break.

Pressing on, we found the first patches of snow, and soon the path was completely covered. As we got higher, walkers who had earlier overtaken us were already descending. They told us that Mountain Rescue were at the bottom of the zig-zags advising those without ice-axe/crampons that they should not proceed any further. We thought for a minute and decided we would get to the start of the zig-zags and then re-assess. So we plodded on, but we saw no sign of anybody turning people back and just continued up without too much difficulty, with Jack learning how to kick steps in the snow. We were quite surprised when we topped out at Bwlch Glas, as it seemed to take us no time at all to ascend the zig-zags.

Once on the plateau the going was much easier, so it was a straightforward walk from here to the summit, which we attained at about 11.55. The tops were still shrouded in mist so no nice views. After the obligatory photographs we headed back down as it was quite cold in the wind. As we neared Bwlch Glas again the clouds parted to give a brief view westwards.

Getting down onto the path was more tricky than ascending, and a slip could have meant a long slide down the mountain. Vince went first and when he had a firm stance passed his ice-axe to Jack to use as he followed. I went last, with the shaft of my axe driven deep in the snow to give me something solid to hold on to. Progress was much slower going down the zig-zags because of the difficulty getting good foot holds, and the strong wind did not help matters. At one point a severe gust blew me off my feet onto Jack, who was now using my ice-axe.

It took about half-an-hour to get down to the wall that marks the start of the zig-zags, and this is where we stopped for our lunch break, relatively shielded from the wind. The weather was clearing and we had splendid views across Glaslyn and Y Gribau (which Vince and I hope to climb one day) to Llyn Llydaw and beyond as we munched our sandwiches. A pair of ravens displayed over Glaslyn and we watched a few intrepid climbers ascending in the snow covered gullies of Clogwyn y Garnedd.

After sitting for half an hour we were beginning to feel cold, prompting us to get moving again. After about twenty minutes we arrived at the post marking the start of the Miners’ Track. A steep descent of 150m or so brought us to the shore of Glaslyn from where the track descends gently for about 4km as it takes us back to Pen-y-pass. As we skirted around Llyn Teyrn a couple of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Landrovers passed us driving up the track.

I think it was about 3.15pm when we got back to the car, the whole walk had taken us about 6 hours. Well done Jack for completing your Snowdon Challenge. Check out Jack’s Sport Relief page here  to see how much he raised (or to add your sponsorship).

The bird list for today was very modest, consisting of just carrion crow, herring gull, meadow pipit, raven and wren.

Sun 9 March 2014

As we forgot to arrange a time for breakfast last night, we had to wait till after 8 o’clock before they were ready for us. So by the time we had breakfasted and paid the bill, we left The Goat about half an hour later than we intended. As we only had five miles to drive along the A5 to get to the start of our planned walk this was not a major problem. As we had discussed on Friday night, we had decided to walk to Moel Fferna, starting in the lay-by on the A5 at Glyndyfrdwy. The weather was fine as we put on our boots, unlike the last time Vince and I did this mountain when there was torrential rain as we prepared to set off. We had chosen a route from John Gillham’s Pictorial Guide to the Mountains of Snowdonia which began slightly differently from our previous route.

After walking nearly a kilometre back through the village of Glyndyfrdwy, we turned left into a lane beside a stream (Nant y Pandy). The route followed this stream in a picturesque wooded valley for about a kilometre, passing an old slate mill and a waterfall. Vince and I commented that the stream was ideal habitat for dipper, and it was not long before we spotted one. A bit further along we found another.

The path eventually emerged from the trees and continued on a track which began to rise slowly above the stream. The track ended and the route continued on a grassy path ascending diagonally up the hillside to meet the metalled road that Vince and I had used on our previous ascent of this hill (see 30 October 2005). A short break here for a drink (it was quite warm) and admire the views of the surrounding countryside.

In 500m we reached the edge of Ceiriog Forest and turned right to follow the fence that would lead almost all the way to the summit of Moel Fferna. As we passed the end of the forest a solitary red grouse flew off from the track in front of us. About a kilometre further on the track turned to the right slightly, and at this point we broke off for a ten-minute banana/coffee break.

Only 1.25km and 70m of ascent to reach the summit from here, which took us a further 25 minutes. The final approach to the summit was through heather and rather wet underfoot (it had been the wettest winter for over 100 years!). We took lunch in the sunshine, seated on the rocks of the summit shelter.

We decided to make the return route as quick as possible by making use of the access land. Initially we descended north-east on a well defined path through the heather. Then, rather than following the footpath leading north to Carrog Plantation, we cut across the moorland making use of the tracks cut through the heather for the grouse shooters. We aimed for the end of the access land at the corner SJ131408, and then across a field on a public right-of-way, emerging onto a narrow metalled road that lead back to Glyndyfrdwy.

It was about 2.00pm when we arrived back at the lay-by where we had left the car.

A much better bird list today -

Blackbird	Blue Tit	Buzzard
Carrion Crow	Chaffinch	Coal Tit
Dipper	Dunnock	Goldcrest
Great Tit	House Sparrow	Magpie
Nuthatch	Pheasant	Pied Wagtail
Red Grouse	Robin	Skylark
Song Thrush	Starling	Woodpigeon
Wren