The Wye Valley and Symonds Yat Rock

Friday 23rd December 2011 

After great weather for my walk around the Forest of Dean the day before I was disappointed to wake up the next day to rain for my last walk in the area. I’d planned to take a long walk beside the River Wye all the way into Highmeadow Woods, not far from the Forest of Dean, but in the end after walking all morning in the pouring rain I quickly returned to my car in time for lunch. I had spent the night at the isolated youth hostel of Welsh Bicknor beside the River Wye not far from the Welsh border (but despite the name it is not actually in Wales). Although my walk was in the area of the hostel I decided not to leave my car there but drove over the headland into the village of Goodrich. There is a (by all accounts spectacular) castle in Goodrich and I could have parked there, but instead I chose to park by the side of the road in the village. 

From Goodrich I dropped down to Kerne Bridge and walked beside the river through Thomas Wood around the wide meander that eventually brought me back to Welsh Bicknor Youth Hostel. Soon after passing the hostel and the old church next door I reached a disused railway line which comes out of a tunnel at this point and crossed the River Wye. The bridge is still intact so I was able to use it as a footbridge. Standing in the middle of the bridge was an awe-inspiring feeling as the fast moving river swirled past the huge supports of the old girder bridge. I was in an eerie setting with mist-shrouded woodland upon the hillside on one side of the bridge and seemingly derelict factories on the other side, and all the while the river was gushing rapidly under my feet. 

Resuming my walk beside the river I soon rejoined the railway for a pleasant walk along the rutted track heading inexorably towards a great towering mass of rock and trees. I was approaching Symonds Yat Rock, a huge wedge of hill that forces the Wye into a sharp turn through a narrow gorge before turning once again to pass the western side of the rock. Despite the misty conditions, the sight of this tall bastion of rock was still an awesome sight. Passing below the rock I eventually found a path that led me steeply up the hillside onto the road that passes over the top. A further short climb took me up to the top of Symonds Yat Rock itself at the viewing station that the Forestry Commission has built for the benefit of tourists. The views from either side of the hill of the sharp meanders of the River Wye were amazing. In better weather I’m sure this place is packed with tourists, and deservedly so. I was disappointed to be there in such poor weather when visibility was so poor, but at least I was able to enjoy what views there were without the noise and bustle of other people. After a steep drop down the steep western slopes of Symonds Yat Rock I emerged beside the hotels and public houses of Symonds Yat East, which was strangely devoid of people. For this walk I was following Walk 9 of the July 2011 issue of TGO magazine, which directed me at this point to continue alongside the River Wye to the Biblins Bridge, but by now I had gotten fed up with the rain so I decided to head back to Goodrich. By river this is more than ten miles away, but due to the severe meanders on the river it is only two miles by road, so under heavy wind and rain I walked along the road all the way back to Goodrich. This was a very disappointing walk as the terrain promises so much and what I saw only whetted my appetite but ultimately it was just too wet.

The Forest of Dean

Thursday 22nd December 2011 

After a couple of days in Brecon I left and headed back into England, but just as I reached the border I nipped into the Forest of Dean. This is an area that I'd never been to before so when I realised that I drive past it every time I go to Brecon I decided to stop and enjoy the delights of this large area of woodland. I was possibly not seeing the forest at its best, but nevertheless this was still a grand walk with a much wider variation in colour than I would maybe get at other times of the year. Just like the day before I was following a walk that I’d found in the pages of TGO magazine. This time I was following the directions to walk 8 in the October 2011 issue. I parked near the Speech House Hotel in the centre of the forest and struck out along the broad Spruce Ride soon reaching the picturesque Speech House Lake. The weather for this walk was fantastic and  the sun shone along the length of the water lighting the northern end in a multitude of colours that you simply wouldn’t get in the middle of the summer. Returning to the Spruce Ride I followed the straight-as-an-arrow lane until it deteriorated into an abominably muddy track, which after the relaxing stroll along Spruce Ride was a huge crash back down to Earth. Somehow I managed to get through the slippery mud and up to the small hill-top settlement of Staple-edge where I turned right and slowly descended the ridge all the way down to Mallards Pike Lake which could be glimpsed through the trees. 

I crossed a road and continued along forest tracks into an open area which afforded me with good views of the surrounding area. I was finding that the problem with walking in woodland is that views are poor unless a gap can be found in the trees. At this point I could see over bracken and scrub to the undulating landscape of trees arrayed in their many colours, from the dark greens of the conifers to the light browns of the bare deciduous trees. After passing the Rising Sun Inn I joined a cycle track that took me all the way down to the Cannop Ponds. From the dam of the northern pond I climbed steeply through dark coniferous woodland to the edge of Broadwell, and turning north I took a weaving route along the western edge of the forest above the steep valley of Wimberry Slade until I got to Edge End where I turned back into the forest and wearily made my way back into the heart of the forest at Speech House. 

Walking though woodland is always invigorating but after a while it started to get a bit tedious for me. By the time I reached my car I was relieved to be back as towards the end the never-ending miles were beginning to drag. The lack of views is a real killer for woods but in small doses there is nothing better. If I was in the Forest of Dean in the spring maybe things would be have been different, as there would then be more to look at than just bare trees. I do have one reservation though in that none of the trees looked particularly old, probably because this is a working forest where mature trees are felled in favour of new ones. Still a return at a better time of the year would not be a bad idea to fully appreciate the appeal of the Forest of Dean.

Mynydd Llangorse and Mynydd Troed

Wednesday 21st December 2011 

I got this walk from the Wild Walks section of the TGO magazine which I have been subscribed to, but it’s taken me until now to actually do one of the walks from the magazine. This one is number ten from the Autumn 2011 issue and starts in the village of Bwlch which as the name suggests lies on a pass. Starting from there I climbed onto the moorland north of the village and soon I was plunging into clouds. Despite the miserable weather this was an enjoyable walk along a clear track beside a wall, with heather and bracken on the ground, and cairns and burial mounds dotted around the hillside, which added interest to the walk. After a while I left the path and tried to look for the trig point, but I had no idea where I was going in the misty conditions. The path to the summit does leave the track I had been on, but it is a clear path that cannot be missed. In my impatience I took the first narrow sheep-trod I could see and ended up way too far south. Eventually I found the right path and reached the trig point on Mynydd Llangorse. 

Descending north from the top brought me down to a terrific ridge dropping below the clouds to views left towards Llangors Lake and right down Cwm Sorgwm, but also to very strong winds. At the bottom of the pass the wind wasn't so bad but from there I had to climb the steep unrelenting slopes of Mynydd Troed. Over the last ten or more years I have been all over the Black Mountains, except for these two hills on the western edge. My first mountain walks were in this area, but these two hills got left out, and there was no reason for it. Mynydd Troed is just like all the rest with steep sides and a broad moorland ridge on top. One rarely meets another soul in the Black Mountains as one strides along the broad ridges and that is just the way I like it. After an age that never seemed to end I eventually reached the trig point at the top of Mynydd Troed and there I had my lunch. Setting off from the summit along the south-western ridge I followed a faint path to near the end of the ridge and then I went it alone as I tried to find a way down the southern slopes. 

The description of this walk in TGO magazine wasn’t clear on the route at this point but a closer look at the attached map reveals that it doesn’t take the same route that I took. The ridge of Mynydd Troed narrows quite markedly at its south-western tip and the route on the map follows this down until the ridge broadens again. If the weather had been better I would have probably taken this route but while still in the clouds I dropped down the steep southern slopes west of this terminating ridge. This was a tricky descent on a very steep slope that only led me to more trouble in a very boggy gathering ground of waters. My map indicates that a bridlepath starts at this point but aside from a dilapidated stile there was no sign of the path. The enclosed lane that the path once followed was completely overgrown so I ended up descending the water-logged field alongside. Eventually I reached the road at the bottom of Cwm Sorgwm and then I had to find a way across the valley. Once again the path seemed to be overgrown so I walked up a steep road, past Blaenau-draw farm, onto the hillside above where I climbed a well-graded path that led me back onto the hilltop near Pen Tir. I didn't bother going to the top of Pen Tir but settled with visiting a cairn near the col before venturing back towards Mynydd Llangorse until I picked up my outward path, which I followed all the way back down to Bwlch. This was a pleasant descent with the clouds now having lifted slightly to afford me with views that I hadn’t been able to see during my ascent as I followed the track back to Bwlch. Despite the grotty weather this was a nice walk in an area of the Black Mountains that I hadn't been in before. Mynydd Troed felt as if it had been tagged onto the middle of the walk, but the southern slopes of Mynydd Llangorse more than made up for any problems that I encountered elsewhere in the walk; it was a pleasure to walk those slopes in both ascent and descent.

The Brecon Beacons

Tuesday 20th December 2011 

With Christmas finally here I whisked myself off to Wales for the week before, but the weather didn't look good. After a satisfyingly big dollop of snow Sunday morning it all quickly melted away so that by Monday morning I was driving to Wales in heavy rain. Given the weather I decided to spend the day walking around the bookshops of Hay-on-Wye. Tuesday was forecast to be dry and sunny so I set off up to the Storey Arms at the top of the A470 road between Brecon and Cardiff. This was the point where I’d started my first ever ascent of the Brecon Beacons, back in 2000, but it has been an astonishing five years since I’d last been up the Brecon Beacons so I was eager for a return climb. It had been too long since I’d been up any mountain. 

Climbing the heavily manufactured path was quite easy until I was half way up when I reached snow that had survived from the weekend. The snow had gone from most places, but the path still clung to some quite deep stretches. Walking through the snow proved to be very tiring so eventually I succumbed to walking on the edges of the path where there was no snow. Finally I reached the ridge at Bwlch Duwynt and turned south, away from the Beacons. I had come so close in such a short time, due to the 435m start at the Storey Arms, that I wouldn't have felt like I’d deserved the climb to the top of the Brecon Beacons if I'd gone straight up to the highest point from there. Instead I headed along the ridge above Craig Gwaun Taf, initially battling against strong winds that soon died down and left me with a pleasant walk and good views behind me of the snow-spattered Beacons. Unfortunately the sunny weather forecast failed to appear.

This walk was similar to the one that I did in 2000 on my first visit to the Beacons, but on that occasion I had gone in the opposite direction. The route that I took to get onto the ridge then was up a steep gully around a stream that tops at a cairn that is marked on maps, but when I got there now I found a lot of snow packed into the gully that made a descent at that point inadvisable. Instead I proceeded to the trig point on Twyn Mwyalchod, and across to the top of a badly eroded path near a pile of stones that is also marked on maps. I have taken this path several times before and it has always been in a poor condition. Given the heavily constructed nature of the paths over the Beacons you'd have thought the National Trust would have turned their attention to this path. Carefully I made my way down the crumbly path into the horribly boggy ground below where careful route-picking took me safely to the dam of Lower Neuadd Reservoir. 

On previous visits to the area this reservoir has always been empty, even my map showed it as being empty, but now it was full and overflowing (unlike the reservoirs I saw in the Pennines last September); it’s amazing how things change. On the other side of the dam I climbed up to the old track that goes up to Bwlch ar y Big. In 2000 I had taken this track but now I felt like extending the walk a little so I climbed the hillside opposite beside the Nant y Gloesydd. After stopping for lunch half way up the hill I eventually reached a cairn and pile of stones that is marked on the map; at that point I turned left onto the route of the Beacons Way. A bleak traverse of Gwaun Cerrig Llewydion took me to the northern edge of the Beacons looking out over Cwm Oergwm. Turning left along the edge path took me round to the top of Fan y Big, overlooking Bwlch ar y Big. 

After a steep drop down to the pass I climbed the hill opposite, Cribyn. In 2000 I went around Cribyn, but I had no such luck this time as I wearily climbed up to the wind swept summit. Another steep descent brought me to the start of the climb up the highest of the Brecon Beacons, Pen y Fan. After what seemed like ages, and with snow becoming more plentiful the higher I climbed, I eventually reached the top. By taking this circuitous route I felt like I’d finally earned this summit having done a lot of climbing in order to get there. The last time I was on Pen y Fan, in 2006, the summit was packed with people, now, due to the poor weather, I had the top all to myself. The traverse to Pen y Fan's twin, Corn Du, is usually relatively easy but on this occasion there was a lot of snow lying between the two tops, more than I had encountered all day. Fortunately it was very soft so with the help of my two walking poles that I had been using all day I was able to safely traverse the col. 

From the top of Corn Du I took the regular tourist path that led me all the way down to the Storey Arms. In descent the snow that once again filled only the path was no problem for me and I was able to waltz down the path as if walking on sand, until, in fading light, I eventually reached the Storey Arms and returned to my car. This was a fabulous walk in weather that was at times cold, windy and wet, but I enjoyed the whole thing as I had finally been able to satisfy my mountain-lust.