Adam Evans - 1586972

With cold temperatures forecast but an otherwise clear dry day, we wrapped up and headed out for a test of navigation skills. Right from the car park, it became apparent that the rabbit warren of footpaths would provide a challenge, only overcome by being strict with barings and handrailing the contour features around the hillocks and dips to pick up the footpath around the base of the crags. We couldn't curb the curiosity and poked our heads into the entrance chamber of the cave Eglwys Faen, prompting a plan to return with caving kit. We continued around the traverse, past Agen Allwedd cave entrance, again enticing a peek through the entrance, before selecting an approach onto the plateau.
Without any marked route up over the crags, I planned to make the most of the only re-entrant feature, and pick our way up over the lip. This was a very steep ascent with areas of scrambling and others of kicking steps into the damp ground. Definitely a route to avoid with a group, but one that could be made safe in a pair, with appropriate spotting and route selection advice when required. Once breaking the lip and successfully on the plateau, I circumnavigated the small water feature, and large swallow hole to gain references for an exact location, knowing very well that, in this totally featureless landscape, avoiding becoming disorientated was going to prove a challenge. Due to its flat nature, even very clear map features were not visible amongst the shin to knee-height purple moor grass. Taking a baring across this area was the only option. However, the various waterways which run across the plateau meant that keeping to a baring was very challenging, with deviations required to find appropriate crossing points, and no horizon features to assist with maintaining that baring beyond obstacles. After two water crossings, the target swallow hole became visible 200m to the north. Consultation with the map reassured me that the route taken was likely the only sensible option given the web of waterworks over the plateau, and so we re-gained overall awareness at the swallow hole and continued to climb to the observation tower and dryer ground at 530m.
During our exploration, a group of Marines were visible training on the plateau - it was reassuring to think that if I could navigate and manage a group in an area used for training by one of the world's elite military units, then hopefully it should stand me in good stead for other terrains! This being said, the waterlogged navigational challenges had been draining on the pair of us, and I decided that seeking higher ground and drier terrain was sensible. After a brief stop for hot tea at the observation tower, we routed north west to a series of brick buildings used by the military to practice raids and drills. A brief nose around and we continued, keen to keep moving in the bitter chill now sweeping across the hillside. We descended north through the shake holes, until we met with the B road towards Llangattock. This tactically avoided the potential of descending above the crags and finding ourselves above very steep ground, or so I thought. After a couple of hundred meters, we picked up a sheep track contouring the hillside, and I decided this would be a safer and more enjoyable walk than staying on the road. This quickly petered out, but it was still possible to pick a safe route easterly, contouring below the crags towards the Waun Ddu woodland. Here a tempting track drew us higher, and once again disappeared, leaving us on steep ground above brambles and below a nasty looking crag face. I decided to retrace my steps and located a safer route around the lower ground, which then re-joined the main path back to the original route on which we had started the day, and onwards to the parking area.
This was a challenging day, with lots of lessons learnt around challenges to effective navigation, and some reflections on some good decision making made during the route. Some areas of the route had the potential to pose significant consequence if a foot was misplaced or group participant was tired - I felt we were able to manage this risk safely, and appropriately decide when the safest option was to chose another way. A great day of learning on tricky terrain.