Friday 23rd May 2025
I hate camping, so it is frustrating that the best way to do certain trails is with a tent. I don’t like the weight of camping gear on my back as walking would be so much easier if I had a lighter rucksack. I struggle to sleep at the best of times and I really struggle when in a tent, so on this trail I was always getting a much better night’s sleep when on a bed, but never in a tent. After that rant, I can say I had a lovely, warm and sunny evening in Llandovery before this walk, until failing to sleep overnight. The ninth stage of the Cambrian Way starts from Market Square in Llandovery, however, since I was coming from the Erwlon Campsite into the town and I thought it would be easier for me to take a shortcut beside the Afon Brân that soon led me onto the A483 New Road. This was not the first time I had attempted to do the Cambrian Way as I had set off along the trail in August last year until bad weather intervened and this stage was particularly affected with rain most of the day and heavily in the afternoon. One reason I wanted to do the Cambrian Way again was so I could see what I had missed the first time, especially on this stage which passes through the spectacular scenery of the Doethie Valley which I hadn’t seen last year despite walking through it. The weather this time was almost overcompensating as it was hot and sunny, so I was already sweating as I climbed up the road past Llanfair Church while carrying a particularly heavy rucksack. Soon I was walking up a quiet country lane that sees little traffic, cruelly uphill, while high hedges deprived me of a view, which had not been a problem last year, but now I felt like I was missing out.
After the gradient mercifully eased the view east was revealed, across the Brân valley, with the Black Mountain and rest of the Bannau Brycheiniog further south, but I had left that national park the day before and now I was heading into the Elenydd, the Cambrian Mountains, which is a little regarded upland range lying between the Bannau Brycheiniog and Eryri/Snowdonia. The scenery was spectacular and not deserving of its long neglect as my route finally took me off the road to follow a track, back onto a road, then a byway and then finally a road again where a stunning view was soon revealed to me across Dyffryn Tywi, the Towy Valley. This view had left an impression on me last year even though I could hardly see anything, so it was great to now see the full panorama looking gorgeous in the warm sunshine. A delightful wood followed whose banks were decorated with bluebells, but this was woefully short and led me to a gate with a clear path beyond and was the way I had gone last year, however, the Cambrian Way takes a surreptitious sharp right turn at this point to pass through a dull field to the buildings of Gwernpool. This is a very confusing route and a poor substitute to the way I discovered last year which soon reaches the river and follows that on a beautiful, enjoyable path, lined with wild flowers, while the Cambrian Way, after successfully negotiating the many twists and turns around the buildings finally joins this riverside path to reach a campsite just outside the village of Rhandirmwyn.
After lunch, I crossed the river and followed a very different riverside path that was greatly marred by fallen trees so it was a mercy when I finally climbed up onto the road to continue my dull trudge along that, past the Towy Bridge Inn. The valley now closed in as the scenery became increasingly exciting, though dense undergrowth prevented me from getting a good vantage point. The road walking continued interspersed with a narrow path until I reached a waterfall in fabulous, craggy surroundings that was also difficult to see, despite a view high above the valley, or from beside the river, with neither giving me a satisfying viewpoint without being suicidal. Back on the road, I continued along the bottom of the valley, over the river and steeply up to Troed-rhiw-ruddwen farm, which was the last farm on the trail. Soon after, I took a path that led me into the Doethie Valley, which I had been looking forward to seeing ever since I had hardly seen anything last year due to the rain. Now, I had sunshine, though with a strong headwind, as I excitedly headed up the path through an awesome vee-shaped valley with steep slopes either side down to the Afon Doethie. The walking was at first relatively easy and I stopped frequently to take pictures of the spell-binding scenery, but later after entering a wood I had difficulty following the path as the clear path on the ground disagreed with my Ordnance Survey map, which was eventually revealed to be wrong or out of date. The complexities of the trail continued which had caused me many problems last year so I was trying to be careful and not go wrong again, but this was not easy and proved to be very challenging.
After several hours of walking through tremendous, though difficult terrain, it eventually eased again and I was left with a relaxing walk through the narrow valley that led me to a heavily eroded track and finally I reached Ty’n Cornel, the Elenydd Wilderness Hostel where I was going to spend the next two nights. One of the lessons I had learnt after my first attempt of the Cambrian Way was to take full days off the trail to rest and my first of those was spent here enjoying the quiet and solitude of the stunning scenery around Ty’n Cornel. This may have appeared to be an easy stage of the Cambrian Way, but the Doethie Valley is not easy, even in the best of weather, as it has some very challenging sections, so I was glad to have done it in good weather and been able to see the awesome scenery that is in this tragically neglected part of Wales.
No comments:
Post a Comment