Glyndŵr's Way - Day 10, Thursday 26th January, 2017

Day 10 - Machynlleth to Glantwymyn (Cemmaes Road)

We have had a few false starts to get day 10 under our belts, mostly due to the weather as we haven't wanted to travel in early morning when fog or ice have been possible. So the forecast looked promising for today and whilst it wasn't quite as brilliant as the last walk, it was a lovely day.

We left the car at Cemmaes Road and Mach Taxis duly returned us to Machynlleth once more. We "posed" at Glyyndŵr's Parliament House where he had himself crowned as King of free Wales in 1404.

 It was quite a chilly East breeze and a little misty as we set off leaving the town and crossing its golf course,

but the sun was never quite out of sight and the breeze had more or less stopped - for now at least.

We soon passed through the village of Forge, in a little steep valley, a small river, Afon Dulas running through its middle and therefore in its industrial times it was home to 5 fulling mills - or as they are known in Wales, Pandys! The last mill closed in 1937 and it is now a peaceful but quite large hamlet. With the village behind us, we soon left the road to turn onto one of our lovely tracks - it's wonderful to imagine all those footsteps before us! And to accompany us a lot of the walk again were many Kerry Hill sheep,

a popular breed in these mid Wales hills...The morning's walk was always much closer to civilisation today, often just walking on the slopes of the Dyfi valley with the road passing through it too. We passed a ruined farmstead, Pen-rhos-bâch, lost amongst the fields

and then dropped down to the next village, Penegoes, a village on the busy A489. More signs of former industrial times here too with its now restored 17th century water mill - really impressive.

It was restored in 1984 along with its adjoining granary building.

No doubt this too was later used for fulling. Leaving Penegoes, heading uphill, we followed a pretty little valley, all in the throes of being refreshed with much old tree pruning, new trees being planted and new chestnut fences installed.

 It was lovely views all around after the steep climb though. Back to the Dyfi valley, and to the hills around Llyn Clywedog; Cadair Idris and his friends though were hiding in the mist today. Really spectacular though.

We headed off then with the Dyfi valley beneath us on another old track, looking across the valley to the village of Llanwrin -

Originally the church was set up here by Saints Ust and Dyfrig who arrived from Brittany in around AD 516! And a rector from this village compiled the first Welsh dictionary in 1903!

Soon we dropped down to the village of Abercegir, now following an old miners' track.

These former mill villages now look so picturesque nestling in steep valleys between streams. Another stunning mill has also been restored here - Factory Isaf, another mill which was a fulling mill in more industrial times, now a private home but still with its 20 foot mill wheel in place. Hope you can see it..

And in a tree along the track was - you would never guess....an elephant! It's strange what you see on these walks!

Abercegir is another lovely now peaceful village and in its middle is another old mill, its water wheel not at all in tact but it is an impressive building still, now a B & B, Yr Hen Felin.

Then up we went again onto more old tracks...climbing to the tops.

And it was here that the wind got up making it a bit hard going with an oncoming Easterly! We walked on still looking down on the Dyfi valley passing another ruined farmstead and it was here that we slightly lost our way......had to retrace steps a little, some of which were uphill on the return....oh dear!!

We found the required old, wide, green track and headed off. Had to cross some bogginess in parts but it could have been worse on a wet day. The afternoon walk had been a little more remote than the morning's. There were also lots of old stone walls up here which had fallen in parts as the slate is not quite up to limestone for wall making. Wonder if it has been better value in the end than fencing? Soon we saw the Cemmaes Ridge ahead with its wind farm on top - only 1 going round today...

We could also see the valley stretching ahead with its village of Dinas Mawddy heading to the north. Then the downward walk began. Down another old track - a second coffee stop was enjoyed here and the blue sky behind the winter tree looked so lovely....

Unfortunately we missed seeing an old standing stone in a filed here - Maen Llwyd...a reason to go back! And to the south of this track is the village of Darowen where there is a nearby farm, Pwlliwrch, where it is reputed Owain Glyndŵr may have died....

We crossed fields descending to Cemmaes Road, disturbing a small flock of fieldfares as we walked and with Cemmaes Ridge shining ahead of us in the sinking sunlight.

Before long we could see the village before us - and our car in the car park....

We passed a group of old tractors making a bit of a sorry sight ....

...and here we put up a merlin in front of us....maybe he had been sitting in the last of today's sunshine.

That was a lovely day - 9 and a half miles more (maybe a mile more that it should have been....). Today was a walk we dedicated to our friend, Gerlinde who died peacefully on Tuesday. Another reason why we are raising money to help at least a little in the fight against cancer.

Glyndŵr's Way - Day 9, Thursday 5th January, 2017

First of all - Happy New Year! Bit disappointed that we didn't complete the end of this walk in 2016 - but not to worry, the end is almost in sight.....

Good news is that Esco's Stores in the village - a great shop! - kindly donated the money raised from the Christmas raffle to this walk and so to our great cause: Velindre Fundraising. Another £160 went to the Justgiving page - thank you very much Esco's!

So our new year walks begin....we were going to do this next section, Aberhosan to Machynlleth yesterday but the taxi advised me that Thursday looked the better day - and he was quite right.......

We left home around 8am, it had been a lovely sunrise and stunning scenery all around as we left, white frost on the grass against the blue sky! It was -3˚ at our house but went up and down on the journey, the minimum being -6˚

We arrived in Mach(ynlleth) and were duly picked up by the driver - a very pleasant lady who even took us right up to the farm at Aberhosan saving us a little extra mileage!

We had a pleasant "Bore Da" greeting with the farmers there - and their friendly dogs!

What a view they have from their home - clear across the valleys to Cadair Idris sitting further north, today with the clear blue sky as a backdrop - remember, we hadn't seen any views at the end of our last walk!

We certainly were going to make up for that today!

Off we set along the icy track

and today was not all up and then down as we were mostly walking along the tops which was so lovely with  such fantastic, panoramic views!

At one point on an uphill section just past a pretty farm, we disturbed a group of sandpipers. At first I thought they were snipe, certainly too small and quiet for curlews, but on reflection, I think they were sandpipers or even dunlins - we weren't so far from the sea today really.

The Dovey estuary was clear to see down below us later on....We also had kites

and buzzards to accompany us as well as stonechat, blackbirds and the ubiquitous robin; often one was showing us which way to go! There were also plenty of sheep today - mostly Kerry Hill sheep with their black noses and black eyes....it was a bit difficult for them to find non crunchy grass but often we smelt the fresh, sweet smell of the hay in their feeders. But, you may note, I didn't mention cows! This time of year they are all indoors so no worries about bulls today! We headed now and then along mountain bike territory but not a bike in sight today either. A few of the tracks were through dark, deep forestry

 - and some other tracks were described in our old, original guide book (2002 when this path opened..) as going through high, dark conifers whereas in fact these are now deforested - which we were glad of with the marvellous views to be had! We could see for a while in the distance the hill we later found was Rhiw Goch (red hill).

It is a very discernibly pointed shape with a treeline on its top and is alongside other smaller hills with "dimples" on the top.

Ultimately, Chris was right in his assumption that we would have to go up this hill.....we did! There was an alternative route on its approach which we assumed would go on a lower route (strange being offered alternative routes ....except on the coast for high water and low water, we haven't seen that before), but we decided to go up!

And what a good idea! The views were amazing. And icicles were hanging in a small quarry -

and the ground heave looked spectacular - like mini columns of ice!

Along the pass leaving Rhiw Goch behind, all the skyline was covered in dimples - we guessed they must be old mine/quarry workings - although I felt sure one at least was a hillfort....

We stayed on the tops then for most of the rest of the walk.

We had seen - well mostly heard - Provost jets streaking overhead quite often today and even saw a Typhoon (apparently it goes faster that a Provost but not at full speed today - he was probably enjoying the views too). And then the Hercules made its appearance!

From these uplands we could see the sea down at Aberdyfi

and across the estuary ....

....we retraced our footsteps in our minds of the coastal walk - it is now almost
3 years since we walked it! Before long we were looking down on Machynlleth

and crossing icy marshland (glad of the ice here to save us from mud) we soon joined the finger post for both Glyndŵr's Way and the Coast Path as they both drop down into the town.

Another circle completed! Just before we dropped down to the so called roman steps into the town, we had a chat with a local chap who had been up to Pwllheli today and he said it had been beautiful along the coast today and a young couple were enjoying a coffee after a walk on the hills. We all agreed how lucky we were to have had such a wonderful day! A perfect walk in a beautiful place....

Another 10 miles along the way....

Glyndŵr's Way - Days 5-8, 6th-9th November, 2016

It has been a busy Autumn but also really colourful for the last 2-3 weeks - glorious! We had selected this week some time ago for our next foray along Glyndŵr's Way as it looked as though the weather would be "settled" - hmmmm! We had booked a hire car for these few days as some of the parking looked a bit remote so we wanted to have some flexibility and the cost was probably the same as taxis would have been - can't recommend Smart cars as a result though.

Day 5: Abbey-Cwm-Hir FROM Llidiartywaen - Sunday 6th November
We decided that it would be better today to "walk the other way", south to north or more like west to east on this day in fact. As I said Glyndŵr's Way is quite confusing as you're never entirely sure which direction you're heading. It doesn't seem so important on an inland walk to continue on the same direction, as long as we cover the distance that's fine. We knew we could leave a car safely though at Abbey-Cwm-Hir village hall, so we did that and drove off to look for a suitable parking place to set off from. Sure enough we found the community hall as shown on the map but we weren't sure if the gate there would be closed in the evening so we parked at the side of the road - these roads are really in the middle of nowhere so it wasn't a problem. It had been a beautiful, sunny morning as we set off - even though the temperature was only 3 degrees....but as we left Abbey-Cwm-Hir, the dark clouds were gathering and as we parked at Llidiartywaen, the heavens opened and the wind blew very cold!

We donned our gear and set off staunchly and easily found the path. The wind turbines above us on the hill (which we could barely see now through the mist and the clouds and our muffled up hats), were droning away, really quite loud even above the wind as we strode off. Once in the valley, of course we had to go up - and it was really steeply up believe me!

A very hard start after a few weeks' rest! The first 3 miles were really tough and heavy going, made worse by the fact that we could still see the car across the other side of the valley for those 3 miles!

Plenty of red berries in the hedgerows, being enjoyed here and there by fieldfare and chaffinch. I do believe it may well be a hard winter this year...

We felt we had hardly made an impact on the distance we had to travel and now the clocks have gone back, we knew we were a little bit limited to walking in daylight! At one point we missed a sign too and were struggling uphill again when we didn't need to - that was a relief at any rate, to be able to go down for a change!

Again there were many interesting things to find out. In an old quarry near Blaentrinant, a new farmhouse is being built where the remaining old barns looked like old quarry buildings. From here we were mostly walking on little lanes so the going was much easier and before long we were walking at the edge of a larch wood with fabulous colours ....

overlooking a wide, open "plateau" like valley - not unlike our Walton Basin at home, where glaciers had dug out an open space. We rejoined the small B road which we had driven up earlier for a short distance and then joine a forestry track, walking through pretty deciduous woods to reach Bwlch-y-Sarnau, a pretty, tiny village with its old phone box - have seen so many phone boxes in these tiny hamlets in varying stated of disrepair.

We had caught sight of more turbines through the mist, they occupy a lot of these hilltops, and also so many old quarries, some quite small, others quite large, some still in use to a limited extent. I guess these hills weren't always so peaceful. Today we could often hear the plaintive cry of buzzards overhead.

And so up we went again - here with lovely views now the clouds had lifted; some of the bigger hills to the north and west trying to make an appearance. We were now striking back to Abbey-Cwm-Hir, at one point missing another sign and so mistakenly going through a farmyard. This path does seem to like going through farmyards - not really one of my favourite pastimes...We headed back along the small road before turning into the woods around a little hill called Sugar Loaf. Very pretty and lovely to scrunch through the autumn leaves

- but then it was steeply uphill again for a short while and before long we could see the Hall and the church coming into view.

We were very pleased we had made it - and in the daylight!
11 more wonderful miles in mid Wales!

Day 6:  Llidiartywaen to Llanidloes AND Clywedog to Llanidloes - Monday 7th November
This walk is kind of developing according to the weather  - and our fitness levels....

We set off today with lesser expectation of distance to cover and so planned to get to Llanidloes - and then review the situation. As it's been quite wet and especially so overnight last night, we thought we should have less pressure in case the going was too muddy and therefore tiring. It was though a beautiful morning, even though it was zero degrees as we drove to Llanidloes and as we left the lead car once more at Llidiartywaen, the turbines on the hills across from us were clear to see - only 2 actually going round though...And so we were off once more, heading for the car now in Llanidloes where parking was of course not a problem. Uphill of course to set off ...

.....and over really muddy fields but with fabulous views to the Severn valley and even to the Breidden hills at Welshpool.

Some of the field walking here was squelchy in the extreme and made much worse by a recent herd of cattle it seemed... We passed more small quarries along our route today,

saw the edge of the Pumlumon range of hills - the source of the rivers Wye and Severn - and some Jacobs sheep with really big horns!

And then it rained for a while - a couple of showers found us this morning. There was plenty of field walking today and many colourful woodlands to walk through and around and some pretty little dells with waterfalls. In one little wood we found shelter under the huge oak trees as the rain beat down.

And then we could see Llanidloes ahead - a plume of smoke from an Autumn fire streaking into the sky above it.

It was a pleasant walk down a little lane, crossing the busier A470 on a footbridge..

to get into the really pretty little town.

Quite like the other mid Wales towns in its layout but with its fantastic 17th century market hall in the middle. It had been a 5 mile walk and by now the sun was really shining and we felt fine so we decided to head up now to the Clywedog reservoir and do a reverse walk again - back into Llanidloes for a second time today!
The reservoir looked stunning on the sunshine....

....with the ruined 19th century Bryntail mine in the valley below.

The mines in this area were successful in their search for lead ore and we were to pass another before the day finished too.  We left the reservoir above and followed the road down to the old ruined mine, crossing the river Clywedog.

The dam here is huge - and a little bit scary to imagine the water being held back here! The reservoir was built in 1967 to hold back the head waters of the river Severn. It was quite a climb to leave the reservoir behind,

crossing a farmyard, we soon joined a path parallel to the road where we heard quite a lot of people watching a nearby hunt. And the hill fort here is majestic - Pen-y- Clun.

There are many forts,standing stones and barrows around here - the old people were much in evidence even before the industrial mining began. as we walked along this field, there were quite a lot of red admiral butterflies - I was struck to think that I don't seem to have seen so many butterflies this year. And as always at this time of year - some wonderful fungi...

We crossed the road into a field - and promptly got lost! He! he!

Didn't take too long to find the error of our way though and then had a lovely walk along an old track, quite possibly linked to the old mining tracks as were now looking across to the village of Fan - still with its old chimneys from the 19th century lead mine there.

In the 1860's there were 700 men working there! So much industry in these Cambrian hills. This track also seemed to be a Rhiannon track

- well I called it that, think it's just a nature trail as we passed this sign quite a lot today and the following day. And there were some magnificent tress - oaks, beech and birch....some with few leaves, some with still quite a lot...

We crossed another road and got lost again as we headed steeply up through a field.

By now the sun was sinking and the colours were just marvellous...

Soon though we passed Penrallt farm with dogs in their kennels and passed the golf course to head through  the pretty wood, Allt Coch, into the town once more, crossing the river Severn at last.

By now it was indeed dropping dark, the moon riding high and the lights on in the town as we wound our way back to the car park.

We were pleased that we had managed to achieve another 6 and a half miles - a lovely day!

Day 7:  Clywedog to Penffordd-las (Staylittle) - Tuesday 8th November
It was a cloudy, dull start to the day and still on the chilly side but really still. We had decided that we would make it to Aberhosan tomorrow - our last day this walk and not to Machynlleth - that idea had been too ambitious for us. So having studied the map, Chris realised that we could make Penffordd-las the destination today. We asked permission to park in the outdoor centre in the village which was given freely - thank you! and so we drove back to start at the reservoir.

Not quite as spectacular without the reflections in the sunshine which we had seen yesterday but looked very impressive as we looked down from the top of the hill we had to climb to begin!

This hill is another hillfort - Pen-y-Gaer. And from here we could look across to the turbines once more which have looked down on us for 3 days now - we would be leaving them behind today, although I have a feeling there will be more. Crossing fields and heading alongside the water was so pretty - and so peaceful.

We passed the sailing club, plenty of boats, all now wrapped up for the winter. And here too was a fish farm - the automatic feeder obviously working as we could see and hear the fish thrashing about to devour their delicacies - even though we were so high above them.

As we walked along and above the water, it was so peaceful, at one point I could hear a sycamore leaves falling - magic!

As we were turning away inland from the waterside, I fell in a gateway by a cattle grid - oh dear, I was in trouble for being so clumsy. Then we headed over fields and across a wide common, rich in sphagnum moss to reach the bridge crossing at Afon Biga with the Hafren forest behind.

It was a pretty walk at the edge of trees and even a little robin came to say hello..

And there are Christmas trees galore here - very seasonal...

We then joined the road, crossing another river, the Lwyd, and had decided to continue on this to get to Staylittle - but a bull ahead kind of influenced me to stay on the path which just runs parallel with the road in adjacent fields...However, this path passed very closely to a farm where the dogs (sounded to be a veritable pack of them) went mad that we were causing them some disturbance...for quite a long time. Ironic, don't you think?...A fearless traveller I'm not..We rejoined the road a little further along and walked through the tiny hamlet of Llwynygog making our way back to the outdoor centre....

and as we did so it began to rain and then poured all evening - we had had a great walk - and stayed dry! 7 more miles along the Way! Buzzards, kites and pheasants a-plenty accompanying us today....

Day 8:  Penffordd-las (Staylittle) to Aberhosan - Tuesday 8th November
Well - that was a hard 4 days - and arguable (but not very) today had been the hardest! Forecast had said that it would be clouds and sun today...some showers...so we set off with happy hearts hoping for the best although last night we had wondered if we would be better going in an ark - and Donald Trump is now president elect... However all that taken into account, we parked finally in Aberhosan - not that easy a task but felt it safe enough - and headed back to begin at Staylittle - let the day, or was it rain?, begin. We walked back through Llwynygog and up to the path once more and for a short while it was sunny, if very cold.

We crossed fields and the river Clywedog and then headed up following an old sunken path to join an old drovers road on the tops where the rain started and the wind began to blow.....bbbrrr!

It was though fascinating once more to be following an old track ...yes, that really is me below....

.....and before long we passed an old Roman fort too, Pen-y-crocben which looks down on Dylife.

Dylife has substantial old mine workings - lead again where the Romans had mined too, hence the fort. The village also has an old pub, the Star, still open with its advertisement on the footpath signs up here! It was an original 17th century drovers pub...or their equivalent.

Sadly as we looked down on it today, I feared it would be closed even if we had time to wander down there! The fort here was also a place where there had been a gibbet until the 1930's and a man, a blacksmith I believe, had been hung here having killed his wife and daughter. Quite a gruesome story...Shortly we turned off the drovers' road and followed an old Dyke for quite a stretch....don't know whose Dyke this was but there was also signs of a ruined building of some sort along it, now just greened over.

And then it began to rain heavier and the wind blew...we could barely hear the waterfall ahead, as we dropped down to cross the river Clywedog once more -

or the sound of the chainsaw in the forest across the valley. We dropped down and then up again onto the tops of this Cambrian mountain following a forestry path which in all likelihood had been a former miners' track. How did people live up here like this on a daily basis and having to do such heavy work before trudging home to the valley below?

We headed along the tops - and now I picked up speed as the wind stopped for a while, in the hope that we would soon drop down out of the cloud and be able to dry off a bit. A tumble dryer might be needed....We passed Llyn Glaslyn which we could barely make out through the mist and soon began to go down and as we did so, the rain eased and some colour came back into the hills and fields below us!

We made our way carefully down the scree like slate strewn pathway - probably much safer that it would have been with its bare rock which would have been like ice I should think.

Soon we were back to green fields and paths, making our way to Aberhosan.

We left the "way" and wandered down the road into the village. I have to say today's walk was a bit of a toil of a pleasure - kind of enjoyable in a masochistic kind of way, me against the elements....and certainly will remain more enjoyable in hindsight!

It was though with a great sense of achievement ( and dampness) that we made it to the car - 9 more very wet miles - plenty more waiting I'm sure. Maybe I've earned a lot of sponsorship today??? I can hope so!...Justgiving page here if you click.....