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Neath Port Talbot,
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Jim's work situation meant that he couldn't spare any days off to go walking the South West Coast Path this autumn; we decided that a couple of days bagging county tops in South Wales would fill the gap, and astonishingly Justin agreed to accompany us! As the weekend approached the weather forecasts got steadily worse, with torrential rain and gales forecast for the Sunday. This did not deter us (though it scared the hell out of Justin), but it did make us revise our plans slightly. One of our previous aims had been to tackle the 781m high bulk of Fan Foel, but we decided to give that a miss. Instead we would first head to Craig y Llyn, which is a cracking hill in county tops terms - it would account for five from our list in one go! No other hill comes close to this tally - the next best is Billinge Hill, with three. I had debated whether it was wise to use our "joker" so early on in the campaign - perhaps it would have been better to have save it as a boost for when we were getting demoralised later on. But hey, it was close to our route and it would have been rude not to. Apart from the county tops, the OS map had little to recommend the hill - it looked heavily forested and I guessed any views would be fairly restricted. However, it had a trig point, so I knew Jim would be a happy hiker! It was also to be our first Marilyn of the campaign. Coming up the M4 into Wales, we'd passed through a series of heavy showers. Our spirits were not dampened however - the scenery grew steadily more impressive as we headed up the A4061. Plus we were delighted to discover that Welsh policemen are known by the vaguely threatening name of "heddlu". At Nant-y-moel (as with many Welsh villages we immediately renamed it "Pant-y-Girdl") we described a big circle through the village before finding ourselves heading back from whence we came. On our second attempt we found that we'd been fooled by a roundabout which pointed the A4061 in three different directions!
Soon after we parked in a car park for the "Waterfalls Walk" - we could see some of the falls in question on the hillside opposite. We started walking along the A4061, and soon came to a track off to the left leading up Craig y Llyn. I suggested that we could come back down that way and instead ascend by a path a little further on, thus making a more interesting round walk of it. Justin and Jim readily agreed. BAD mistake! The path in question had transmogrified into a river. We decided to try and find a parallel route on higher ground. Said higher ground turned out to be waist-high tussocky grass growing from a peat bog, with scattered bright green hummocks of some breed of moss. Lifting our feet up over the grass and then placing the foot down where it immediately twisted sideways and slipped a boggy hole was a recipe for exhaustion, especially for people with shorter legs (me!). Just to add to our woes it started to rain. Jim made a brave solo expedition to a lower part of the field to see if the shorter grass we could see there signified better walking conditions, but swiftly reported back that it just signified deeper bog. He also laid down a challenge that was to rebound badly on him later in the day - the first person to sink over their boots would buy the first round of drinks that evening. I came close to losing the bet straight away but narrowly avoided falling flat on my face in a particularly acrid puddle. As the rain intensified we headed for the little shelter afforded by a pylon in the middle of the field. Here at last we had a welcome sight - the footpath was now passable (although still submerged in places) and was marked by a line of posts that we hadn't seen from the edge of the field. Now we could make better (although still very slow) progress, and eventually climbed a steep bank to leave the cursed field (the sheep obviously hated it too - they were all clustered at the very top of the bank!). We were pretty hacked off though - it had taken us the best part of half an hour to cover just a few hundred yards. The rain ceased for a bit, and in between the swirling cloud we got occasional glimpses of the view off the edge of the escarpment and down into a broad valley - in better weather I can imagine it would be stunning here. All too soon though we plunged into forestry land and all views were blocked by dreary conifers. The hill was never more than a gentle slope and we were able to put the memory of the terrible field well behind us and march on at a fair old pace. We quickly came to a barrier across the path, which we guessed probably marked the county boundary. This meant we'd already notched up two of the five tops - Mid Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taff (a unitary authority whose name I hope is more meaningful to its inhabitants than it is to me). We didn't stop to celebrate, but headed swiftly on to the true top of the hill, with a ten minute pause crouching under the pines as a particularly heavy bout of rain passed over. The trig point marking the summit is actually slightly "inland" from the edge of the escarpment, but fortunately we picked the correct left turning. It's not a great summit really. It doesn't feel like a summit, being just a small clearing surrounded by trees - there's no view, the clearing is dominated by a radio mast, and it's just the highest point on a ridge rather than a proper peak in its own right. But for county toppers like us, it's five points in the bag and with the rain ceasing for a short while, we felt justifiably jubilant!
We started to descend the hill on a nearby cycle track and were more than a little surprised to see three cyclists - obviously there were people around as mad as us! The weather closed back in, a strong and chilly wind started to pick up and - unbelievably - we were pelted with sleet! Though this turned back to rain as we got lower, it was still cold, and heavy enough for us to be soaked to the skin. Frankly, if the sun shines on the righteous, we were going straight to hell (if we weren't there already!). By the time we reached the car (and in the circumstances, that was not much time at all!) we were drenched right through, one of my boots had sprung a bad leak, and we were all thoroughly miserable. Even Jim, who normally revels in others misery, seemed content to wallow in his own. With the heaters full on, there was serious consideration of whether we should just turn tail and run (or preferably drive) for home - especially given the forecast of rain and gales for tomorrow. Surprisingly it was Justin who suggested that seeing as we'd come all this way, we might as well drive to the next hill and see if the weather improved. Given that the "next hill" was Foel Cwncerwyn at the far end of Pembrokeshire, this wasn't as simple as it might have been, but the heaters had started to cheer me up and I suggested that the weather might be better further west. Without further ado we headed off. Frankly, aside from standing on top of a trig point for the first time,
Craig y Llyn had been a bit of a bugger all round. I'm not sure if it
would be that much better in good weather, as it's heavily forested, but
I'm sure that where you do manage to get a view from the escarpment it
would be spectacular. However, I think there's many far better hills to
climb before I come back to this one!
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Choosing
the right one this time, we ascended a wonderful series of switchback
curves to the junction with the A4107. The clouds cleared at just the
right moment and we were treated to such a good view that I immediately
pulled the car over and wound down the window to take a picture. Obviously
many people did this whilst carrying food, for a sheep immediately bounded
across and stuck its head in the car!
We were happy enough for Jim and I to take it in
turns to haul ourselves to a standing position on top of the trig point
(surprisingly difficult given the height and the very small top!) for
the obligatory summit photos. As I was standing with my arms aloft, Olympic
gold medallist style, the clouds briefly parted and allowed a rare sunbeam
to alight on my face. They say that the sun shines on the righteous; I
felt a nascent halo start to spout above me… it wasn't to last!