Dragon’s Back
In spring, we talked about which walks we would like to do this year and this one was tops for me, but the summer was so hot that we saved it for the autumn. The Dragon’s Back is named after the shape of the hills which rise and fall like the spines on a Dragon’s Back and from a distance it looks like a sleeping dragon.
There is another ‘Dragon’s Back’ which runs from north to south Wales following the mountainous spine of the country. And people have been racing the route since 1992, taking about 5-6 days to cover 236 miles and ascents which would add up to twice the height of Everest!
Our walk was in the Black Mountains and more modest but still a demanding walk. We arrived at the car park on the A479, next to a pub to take the last parking spaces (there is an honesty box for payment). Unusually we were tackling the route anticlockwise to enjoy ‘an exhilarating finale on a switchback route along the crest of a long narrow ridge on Y Grib’.
We took a track towards Cwmfforest farm where we started a gentle climb which soon got steeper. Most of us took regular short breaks ‘to look at the fantastic views’ which were unfolding around us. As we climbed, we could see beyond the ridge to the west to Pen y Fan in the distance. Reaching a cairn, we followed a section of the Cambrian Way and coming round a mountain spotted Sugar Loaf and England to the southeast.
Surrounded by the awe-inspiring Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons, we were crossing moorland and bog, but paths improved by the national park and the dry summer – meant that what was normally bog was now just damp. We came to a steep section which has been reinforced with huge stones making this section easier to climb and preserving the countryside around us.
The high point of the walk is Waun Fach, (small moor) the highest point in the Black Mountains at 810m, it is the second highest mountain in southern Britain (Pen y Fan being the highest) and we felt the keen wind as we reached it. We met a group of deaf people taking a group photo. Then it was time for our group photo, and after heading downhill slightly a well-earned lunch out of the wind and looking over the next stage of the walk.
We saw a few people walking in T shirts, apparently with no refreshments or waterproof gear. But we were impressed by a family: a woman, man and two very young children were steadily climbing with the children stopping now and again to examine something which had caught their attention. The woman carried a rucksack, presumably so that the man could carry the children if it became necessary.
We continued, taking in the views of the Dragon’s Back and the distant hills. It was a perfect day for walking, not too warm but sunny with occasional cloud and the visibility was incredible; we could see the Bristol Channel, rolls of mountains to Pen y Fan and beyond to the west and the flattish landscape of the north stretching into the far distance. Gliders were being lifted by planes from a nearby airfield and then soaring on the up draughts. They mirrored a red kite which flew below us displaying its divided tail and distinctive colouring.
Now we approached the promised finale as we took in the crest of Y Grib and then dipped and climbed along the mounds of the Dragon’s Back keeping the 360O views. All too soon we were facing the last climb to Castell Dinas Hill fort. A few people opted to skirt around it but the rest of us struggled to the top. At 450 metres it is the highest castle in England and Wales and is positioned to defend Rhiangoll pass, between the market towns of Crickhowell and Talgarth. Standing there you get a sense of Welsh history and of the many people who have been there before you over hundreds of years The original Iron Age defence is reduced to stone wall ruins, outlines of ditches and ramparts. One piece of wall has an arch which it was decided was the ‘Dragon’s eye’.
A stroll downhill over a rickety stile, passing some beautiful oaks and lush grassland and we stopped briefly to look back at where we had been. A brief walk along the original track and there was the carpark with the Dragon’s Back Hotel beckoning us for a drink.
The weather had been great with no rain and the word I used on the day, for the walk and views was splendiferous – what more could you ask for? Walk 7.4miles 2100ft Map OL13
A map of any of the walks featured in ‘Footsteps’ can be obtained from ianmood029@gmail.com
