Adam Evans - 1586972

logs 77

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Details

Date : 07/01/2024

Duration : 5-8 hours

Style : Leader / Supervisor

Type : Quality Mountain Day (QMD)

Weather : Partially Cloudy

Wind : Moderate Wind

Camping Type : N/A

Nights Camping : 0

Mountains : Cefn yr Ystrad

Flagged :

Description

As it was a weekend with reasonable weather, I opted to avoid Pen-y-fan due to previous experiences of crowding at the summit and surrounding hillside in much worse conditions. An explore of a new area to me around the eastern hills of Pontsticill Reservoir provided a nice route with plenty of micro nav challenges around quarry workings and contour lines. With the wind providing a chilly NE 19mph, the feels like temperature sat around -10C all day, with actual temperatures consistent at -3C. As there was no snow on the frozen ground, I opted for general walking kit, with the addition of a stove, flasks of tea, and big down jackets.
The route started with a section along the old railway footpath, and an opportunity to discuss some of the mining history of the area, which was immediately evident from the stone arches and matching building colours surrounding the old station. Soon, the route picked its way east into access land, where sphagnum mosses dominated the waterlogged lowlands. Luckily the below-freezing temperatures allowed easier going across this difficult terrain, however caution was still required to avoid losing a foot into the deeper areas of boggy peat.
We climbed out of the mosses up to the hillside sheepfold, and contoured along to join the old quary track, now reclaimed with cottongrass and deergrass, as well as matgrass and varied mosses. This area proved relatively featureless, with bearings, triangulation and pacing practiced to confirm location. We continued to contour above the quarry workings, until stumbling upon a small contour feature providing perfect protection from the NE biting wind. I suggested we stopped for fuel and hot fluids, and sheltered from the chill, with down jackets deployed. With discussion, we decided it was likely we were having lunch in an old blast shelter from when the quarry was active, evidenced by a small drystone barrier built to the quarry side, and evidence of an old rusted through sign warning of blasting when the red flags are flying.
From here we ventured once again away from paths, navigating around featureless dips and sink holes to arrive at the summit of Cefn yr Ystrad (617 m). We quickly descended to the north through the moraines, and rounded the corner of the quarry boundary, and joining a gravelled track which now formed part of the main infrastructure of the quarry access. We continued until this met the main footpath joining to the Brecon Way, and took a perpendicular routing across the access land to the north east corner of the Cwm Callan woodland. It was necessary to pace on a bearing across this exposed area in order to maintain good understanding of location. I chose a higher route to avoid the waterlogged areas we had experienced earlier in the day. Once rejoining the main footpath, we quickly descended through the woods past Dolygaer Activity Centre and their new glamping pods (!), before crossing the road bridge of the reservoir and returning to the car.
This was a nice route exploring a lesser known section of the Brecon Beacons. It was satisfying to start linking together the Brecons with various routes!

Area : Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park

Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons) is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of Old Red Sandstone peaks popular with walkers which lie to the south of Brecon. Sometimes referred to as "the central Beacons" they include South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan. The range forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog), a designation which also encompasses ranges both to the east and the west of "the central Beacons". This much wider area is also commonly referred to as "the Brecon Beacons".

Map

MarkerMarker
Leaflet Tiles © Esri — Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, TomTom, Intermap, iPC, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), and the GIS User Community
Distance : 11.4 km

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