July Walks

 

Circumnavigation of Partrishow Hill

We started in Llanbedr on a sunny and humid morning, parking near the church and walking a short stretch of road to turn right onto a river side footpath . We climbed in a south easterly direction and followed a path across the road at Gudder, travelling east parallel to the road through Dyffryn which we could see below us. After reaching Llwyn-on we turned left onto a road towards Pen-y-bair. At this point many of us realised that we had been lulled into false expectations by the walk description thinking that circumnavigating a hill would be easier than climbing it. True we were going around the hill but places en route were higher than Partrishow hill!

At Pen-y-bair we turned north towards Partrishow crossing a small stream. We came upon a holy well where people had left offerings and soon after arrived at the remote mountain church of St Issui, Partrishow. Knowing that we had a climb ahead of us we took a short stop here and found a Duke of Edinburgh group with the same idea.

St Issui was a 6th C saint and this church was dedicated to him in about1060.The inscription on the font(circa 1050) reads ‘Menhir made me in the time of Genillin’. A figure of ‘Time’ on the wall is a skeleton bearing an hourglass, scythe and spade. There is also a beautiful oak Catholic rood screen dating from 16thC, one of the finest in Britain.

After some light refreshments we set out to tackle the hill which would take us to the highest point of our day, taking a path that led us towards Crug Mawr(550m). After touching the trig point we relaxed over lunch admiring the 360o views. It was amazing, the day was so sunny and clear it was as if we could see forever. Lunch was slightly longer than usual to allow us to enjoy peace and quiet of this special place.

Now we headed along Blaen-yr-Henbant continuing in a south westerly direction and skirted the next hill at 498m before starting to lose height quite quickly as we turned south towards Hen Blant. From here we followed a stream for a while and descended to Llanbedr village. Here we crossed the Grwynne Fechan river and returned to our starting point.

A lovely walk, with good paths, on a glorious day we had enjoyed fantastic views of the surrounding hills, including Sugarloaf, almost all day and walked 8.2miles and 1550ft. Map OL13

 

 

The Llanfrynach Horseshoe – a Wenvoe walkers sponsored walk in aid of prostate cancer

As this was a sponsored walk we were promised sponsorship and paying to participate. Five people set out from Llanfrynach but a 6th person joined us later after watching the Lions play the All Blacks. We parked as recommended outside the public toilets, provided by the local community they were spotlessly clean, supplying not just soap and water but also hairspray and air freshener in the Ladies. The village itself is very pretty – full of small terraced cottages with pretty front gardens.

From the off the route was uphill, south along the along a lane then after crossing a stream we headed up the hillside in a south easterly direction, at this stage it was pretty steep! We crossed Clawdd Coch, followed a path which kept us below the top of Bryn, and proceeded along Gist Wen in a south westerly direction.

Luckily the weather was excellent for walking – warm (about18oC) but with a good breeze to keep us cool as we climbed. Once we reached the ridge we could see cloud clinging to the tops of the mountains, Pen y fan occasionally coming into partial view as the clouds shifted.

Continuing to climb we came to a junction of paths, Gist Wen meets 3 other paths – Graig Fan Las ahead, and 2 others heading east and south west. All of a sudden we were amidst several groups of people and then as we proceeded south west, we came across a sign ‘Brutal Events’ and saw many more people going in the opposite direction to us, including one man who looked as if he was on his last legs. Talking to some of them we discovered they were on a 50 mile walk!

Passing along Craig Gwareu we crossed the Beacons way and our path gradually turned to a northerly direction past Craig Cwm Oergwm and on to Fan y Big (719m).

At times we were surrounded by cloud which wafted away to give beautiful blue skies and then came back, occasionally shielding us from the sight of a steep drop. The paths were excellent, having been reinforced with stone to protect the surrounding land.

Continuing Northeast the route took in Cefn Cyff, the going was easier as we started to descend. Clouds dispersed and the views were clearer but still extensive. As the gradient increased across grassland at least one person (me!) adopted a zigzag route to save their knees. We used a short stretch of road at Rhiwiau and then resumed our north easterly progress back to Llanfrynach via Tynllwyn and Maesderwen, walking through fields of long grass. We thoroughly enjoyed our refreshment at the local hostelry and sat for longer than usual recovering from quite a hard walk. At the end we had completed 10.5 miles and 2200ft. Map OL13.

A big Thank you to everyone that sponsored us £500 was raised for prostate cancer.