Waun Fach – Black Mountains and motorcycles

We took a trip over to the Black Mountains last weekend, the first for months, to explore an area we haven’t walked in before.

We parked up in a village just below Talgarth called Pengenffordd, dropped the landlord of The Castle Inn a pound for all day parking and promised we’d be back for a pint later in the day.

A well signposted but evil little climb across fields to the remains of a Norman castle (most of it now seems to make up the dry stone walls on surrounding farm land) led us to a spectacular ridge walk along the ‘Dragons Back’ to the summit of Y Grib (SO193310).

Dragons Back from the remains of the castle

Sadly, there was plenty of evidence of motorcycle erosion everywhere. The National Park is suffering badly – the damage these bastards are doing makes me want to weep. We saw a group of around six on the climb up to Waun Fach. They had stopped, but as we approached, they sped off, ripping up the paths, wheels spinning, with no respect for the mountain or other mountain users. You could see they ruts they had made for miles.

Brecon Beacons National Park Authority seem to be struggling with the situation.

I walked with the Ramblers a couple of years ago and we encountered a large group of bikes around Talybont, ripping Torpantau to shreds. The Ramblers were pretty confrontational, taking photographs and blocking paths – it all got a bit dangerous as the bikes started to buzz us – and I am talking mere inches at 20 or 30 mph. I don’t know what the answer is – but it has to stop. I have never seen evidence of motorbikes in the Lakes or the Peak District - has anyone else? Is it a problem where you walk?. They are ruining the Brecon Beacons and tourism will suffer. When they are all dressed up like something out of the X-Games and hurtling past you at speed, they are pretty intimidating. The BBNPA started to fight back last May, so hopefully, they will continue fighting these idiots.

Looking west from Waun Fach

The climb up to Waun Fach (SO215299) (the highest point of the Black Mountains) gave fantastic views west and although the sun was bright, the temperature dropped considerably and the Montane Featherlite smocks went on for the descent. The area below the summit skirts a stunning valley that is crisscrossed with superb bridle paths for riding and mountain biking. The route could easily be extended along the valley side to the summit of Pen Twyn Glas and on to Pen Allt-mawr (SO206243).

We dropped down into the greenest of valleys (Wales in springtime – it’s so oversaturated, soooooo green!) and through ancient green lanes and farm tracks back to the car and a perfect pint of Reverend James.

Dropping down from the summit – the highest point in the Black Mountains at around 2650 feet

The Caste Inn has a bunkhouse and camping if you fancy exploring this region of the Beacons. It is beautiful and empty, even in the height of summer.

If you would like to report an incident involving illegal off-roading in the National Park, contact Dyfed Powys Police on 0845 330 2000.

 

Grab the Memory Map .MMO file here. Here is the .GPX for Martin! Not sure about the quality as it was an automatic conversion.

Matt Hazley has a new walking buddy

Just had a 'Happy Christmas' email from Matt and he sent some pic's of his little son Jack.

He is now 8 1/2 months old and has been walking since 7 months. For those of you without kids, that's about 6 months earlier than normal.

 

But then again, his dad is far from normal :)

I've got my camera back

After four long weeks I have finally had my Canon 40D back from Jessops/Canon after a mystery Err 99 message appeared when booting up.

During that time I have been on a camping trip, my baby has started crawling and has grown a head of hair, my eldest has learnt to ride a bike and lost a front tooth (non related incidents) and lots of moments that I would love to have captured have passed.

My family have enjoyed the break though.

Look out kids, daddy's locked and loaded again.

Aaaaaggghh

I hate this weather sooooo much. It's bloody August for Crissakes.

Dear God (or the Met office)

I have 2 weeks off and just want to take my boys camping. How about some sunny days with the odd shower, not rainy days with the odd spell of sun? Please? Please?

Chris

xxx

This time last year

On the 1st of July 2007, Alan, myself and Pete started the last leg of our Cambrian Way adventure, leaving Maentwrog and crossing the Moelwyns via Cnicht and dropping into the fleshpots of Beddgelert for the night.

This last week was about the same time a Sheffield went under water along with most of the UK. Pretty wet.

 

Here is how the day went...

Had an absolutely filthy day crossing the Moelwyns today. We had planned to camp wild a few miles short of Cnicht and tomorrow, climb Cnicht and then drop down to Beddgelert.
We had pretty heavy rain and gusting winds that actually knocked poor (skinny) Pete off his feet a couple of times. We decided to skirt Moelwym Mawr and drop down the pass just north of the 770m peak.
I haven't seen weather like that since Cairngorm about 20 years ago!
Once we dropped out of the cloud the waterproofs came off and we have not had rain since.
We are in the fantastic FE campsite in Beddgelert and my tuna spog' is in the cozy, we have tumble driers on site and the world is a better place.
We are now a day ahead of schedule, so we are going to explore the Aberglaslyn Pass tomorrow and have a day hiking around the area around the town.
Pete had a bit of a tough 1st day - I had totally forgotten about aching shoulders!

You can take a look at our trip here. I have now started getting the photos together and will slowly start popping them into the blog entries. May be useful for others who are panning to walk the Cambrian Way.

Well here we are...

...half way into May and there is a distinct lack of hill action here.

 

Alan and I are planning to walk the Beacons Way this summer, a couple of days at a time as we are seriously lacking brownie points after last years escapades.

We just can't seem to get it kicked - we are both busy with our prospective businesses and Al is particularly hopeless at answering emails! We'll get the walking kicked off soon and a couple of overnighters this summer. I have a Jungle Hammock to try out!

I have been spending the last month or two re-learning photography and have been bribing my kids with the rare delights of chocolate to pose for me... it's actually starting to come together. I used to illustrate for a living and it's been years since I picked up a pencil or paint brush, but I hooked up with a dear old buddy (Hi Dai), who has turned into an amazing pro photog since we last spoke several years ago. I think I may have found my art again - what a bloody relief, I thought I was destined to spend the rest of my life running a creative business and not doing anything creative.

Have a look at my Flickr folio - just the kids at the moment and screaming 'newbie', but it is keeping me out of trouble!

It's been a while...

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted. Work is crazy, the garden is going crazy (big veggie plans this year - tom's, sweetcorn, carrots, runner, French and broad beans, red onions, various salad crops and asparagus), the kids are filling loads of time (brilliant fun!) and I am having fun with my new camera.

This is my eldest, taken this evening.

So what's been happening?

Cookie has started his trip, that'll be worth keeping an eye on.

It's finally getting warm enough to do stuff outdoors (we had our first BBQ this weekend)

I can see that the outdoor bloggers are starting to plan trips.

Pablo's doing loads of cool stuff as usual.

Bob's got loads of new kit including the brilliant toasting forks from Light My Fire. These got loads of use in the Cowell household last year.

Go and buy one for each of your family now if you want them to love the outdoors as much as you do.

Summer's coming :)

Cheers!

What a lovely day.

Managed to get loads done in the garden (as well as a glass of good Sauv' Blanc). A day in the Beacons was on the cards as Sarah and the boys are in Yorkshire with mum and dad for the Easter holidays, but Alan had a party with his biker buddies out West, so I stayed here, dug my vegetable patch and played with my new camera.

I am now the proud owner of a Canon 40D and some serious glass to go with it. I haven't used an SLR since I put my T70 in the attic when I got my first digital compact, and Duncan has been making me very jealous with his photography exploits.

I am really looking forward to getting out in the hills with this beast.

The only thing is, it adds about 6lbs to my day pack plus a tripod. I think I read somewhere that they do a camera mount for Pacer Poles... I'm off to Google it.

Matt Hazley update...

I had an email from Matt last night, his partner gave birth to a whopping 9lb 15oz baby boy, Jack, on Sunday morning.

Now Matt has someone to carry his pack too.

I'll give him a couple of months to settle (hah!) and give him a call to see what his plans are. He was talking about rowing to the moon in under a month ;)

Well done mate! All the best!

Photo courtesy of Andrew Kornylak www.akornphoto.com

Justifying my Katadyn filter

Now that drinking bottled water is immoral and the eco-backlash gathers momentum (and not a moment too soon), did you know that it takes seven litres of water and 162g of oil to create a one litre plastic bottle [Observer].

It takes the same energy to drive half a km as it does to produce about a pint of bottled water. Ouch.

This is only the tip of the statistical iceberg.

Carry a filter and dip into a puddle to quench that thirst.

That petition

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the petition that most of the outdoor bloggers seem so preoccupied with at the moment.

Sure, I understand that it would be nice to be able to wildcamp 'legally', so I have put my name to it, but...

1. I have never been arrested
2. I doubt if any other wildcamping backpackers have either (0% research done here)
3. 'If it ain't broke'...
4. If you own land, why the hell should you let people camp on it?
5. Now the whole world will know that people like us do actually wildcamp. The scallies will hit the hills in their droves to rob us of our ridiculously expensive titanium cooking gear and down puffa jackets at knife point to buy crack and bass tubes. Ignorance was bliss.

I promise I'll never mention this again.

Anyway, look at these cool sandals from Reef with a bottle opener built into the sole [from The Goat].

iPoddled

How come that I have only just discovered The Wedding Present?

Because I was listening to everything fifties in the mid eighties.

Kennedy (Bizarro, 1989) is one of the best tracks that I have ever heard in my WHOLE LIFE!

Pop it on the iPod and power up the first climb of the day faster than Pacerpoles alone can manage.

While I am on the subject, check out Daddy's Home by Glasvegas on iTunes. Hell, I am off topic anyway (sorry) so here is a list of my top 5 on 18.11.07:

1. Kennedy by The Wedding Present
2. Daddy's Home by Glasvegas
3. Godstar (Tangiers mix) by Psychic TV
4. The Beep Beep Song by Simone White
5. Five Years Time by Noah & the Whale

Summer's here

I read somewhere very recently that the golden rule of blogging is post regularly but don't bother if you have nothing interesting to say.

So I am not going to post a load of off topic, inane crap just for the sake of getting something up, but here is a beautiful evening from our Cambrian Way trip this summer.

Best wild camp ever, ever, ever!

September

I love September - apart from the annual arachnid invasion of my house.

Here's something different for you to try... relaxing, educational, primal and just a little bit hippy.

Download one of these charts, sharpen your old penknife (or get one of these), buy the poor man's BushBuddy for a tenner and go and spend an hour or two in your local woods. Not the horrible coniferised F.E. forests, but a real woodland.

Spend some time getting away from the dog walking paths, find a nice quite spot, sit on your rucksack, make yourself a brew or two with your little woodburner (maybe even some lunch), whittle a stick and just chill.

Sit there long enough (and quiet enough) and it's a totally different outdoor experience to the hills we know and love. Wildlife comes and finds you. If you are brave enough and The Blair Witch Project is a distant memory, try camping in the woods.

Use the chart to learn some trees on the way.

I did this with my 5 year old son this weekend and he can now spot about 8 trees just from their leaves.

Smelling of woodsmoke reminded me of being 11 again :)

Biker sign

Spotted this sign on a particularly twisty section of moorland road when on holiday last week.

Thought it would make my biker pals laugh :)

Buffs...

...do not make you look Xtreme.

2988 ft high wart

It appears that Foinaven didn't make it onto the Munro Baggers list after all. Turns out that 'Wart Hill' (Gaelic translation, not mine!) is 12 feet under the magical 3000 feet it's required to be.

Check out Cameron McNeish's podcast here. He climbs Foinaven and Beinn Dearg and as ever, has some interesting thoughts on the matter of Munro status.

Our biggest mountain here in South Wales is 2907 feet - but are we bovvered?

The reality of 'The Pipe'

We have bumped into the pipeline a few times on our trip so far, we have had to cross it twice, once dodging trucks bigger than my house. I'll make no comment on the why's and wherefores, there are plenty of folk doing that already.

It breaks my heart to see this running through MY national park. How the bloody hell did that happen?

Happy Easter

Had a bit of a bug for a couple of weeks, so I've not been up to much.
I'm in the Peak District for a few days to get a few miles under my belt.

Happ Easter to you all - enjoy the sun!

UK National Outdoor Bloggers Society?

As the UK outdoors blogging scene starts to gather momentum, what with John's UOBC2007 Roadshow and the meet at the Outdoors Show, I propose a society, a forum, a place away from our blogs, 'comments' areas and OM where we can chat and discuss the future of outdoor blogging and podcasting. Somewhere to talk shop. Then our blogs can concentrate on the outdoors. That's what our readers want.

We need a hero to set up something like this and we need an acronym but maybe the UK National Outdoor Bloggers Society isn't the ideal name ;)

Whatever we call it, it could be a lot of fun. Does this have legs?

The Outdoor Show 2007

I am starting to look forward to the Outdoor Show. I didn’t go last year but have managed to visit every other year since its inception (Thanks Beth!). Alan and I are going up on the Friday so I hope to be able to meet up with all of the other UK outdoor bloggers for a pint and a chat.

Alan is after a rucksack for our trip and Paul from Hike-Lite has emailed to say that he will have some new ‘sacks on show. It will be good to meet him as I have always had such good service from him.

I am also looking forward to the launch of a HUGE project we have just finished for Visit Wales – it’s very exciting and involves £15,000 worth of Blacks vouchers and your best photos and videos of you having a laugh in Wales – have a look at www.wales1000things.com. Once it’s live, I’ll be able to say a bit more about it!

Other stuff I’m keen to see…

• It would be nice to meet the Alpkit team – again, sublime service
• The new Memory Map/Road Angel collaboration (look out Memory Map – I have a pile of questions and a wish list – I can’t believe you can’t split a route and I have some neat ideas for special waypoints - or maybe I should be talking to Anquet ;)
• The new Golite kit – can’t remember who, but someone sent me a PR saying they were showing it off
• The Girl Guides bush craft area (intriguing!)
• Blackwells stand

Stuff I couldn’t give a stuff about…

• What is this fashion show malarkey all about (and MC Thompson)?
• Paying a small fortune to park
• The 10 mile walk in from the car that has just cost a small fortune to park
• Lots of adventure travel stuff – get your own bloody show
• Stands that make you wonder if they have arrived on the right day

Just not good enough

Back in December, I ordered about 200 dollars worth of bits and bobs from Backcountry Gear in the US. A few days later I received an email saying some of the stuff was on back order - fair enough.

Some time after, I had an email to say that my stuff had been dispatched - oh good.

Some time after that, I had an email saying that I was to ignore the first email and that my stuff had not been dispatched - fair enough, no rush.

Some time after that I had an email asking if I had received anything from Backcountry Gear, "No" I replied, starting to get a little nervous.

I checked my credit card and they had taken the money earlier this month, so I sent a polite email saying that I had noticed that the money had been taken from my card and had my order been dispatched. This is what I got back...

+++++

Yes.

Don Woodard

Backcountry Gear Ltd.

www.backcountrygear.com

800-953-5499

541-485-4007

++++++

No apologies, no explanation, just one ignorant word.

If I dealt with and spoke to my customers like this, I would be out of business.

Don't you just hate rude people? Especially when you are paying their wages?

A very merry Christmas

Can I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a brilliant new year!

It's my 40th in 2007 and to celebrate, I'm planning a 3 week bimble from north Wales to south Wales, sort of following John Gilhams route. I'll be doing the route with my walking buddy, Alan, in June. It's around 210 miles, taking in a fair amount of peaks and we are planning to camp as often as possible.

Santa is bringing me a dehydrator this year. As a vegetarian, the variety of freeze dried meals available is very limited, so I am making my own, starting with dehydrated Christmas dinner leftovers tomorrow!

Enjoy the break :)

Sorry... it's been a while

I haven't been able to post for a couple of weeks for lots of different reasons. I have loads of bits'n'bobs to tell you about and hopefully will find the time over the next few days!

Thanks for visiting,
Chris

The road to lightweight

For me, it all started with a 20 mile sponsored walk for a breast cancer charity with my younger sister, herself a cancer victim who has just finished her treatment and has come out of the other end almost intact - just a little lighter in the chest area, but fully recovered :)

I had done a lot of 10 to 15 mile days, but had not hit the 20 mile mark since my 20's. I knew we had to train for it and I knew it was a lot of road walking - no way was I wearing my boots. I was visiting my sister and dropped into a running shop in Sheffield and they kitted me out with a pair of wonderfully comfy, lightweight off-road running shoes from New Balance (M781) for around £50.

The first 20 mile day was hard work (leg muscles not used to the distance), but I couldn't believe how well the shoes performed on and off road. After boots, it was like walking on air - my theory was if people can run 26 mile marathons in running shoes, walking should be fine.

The next 20 mile training session was a dream. Then two more (combining on and off road). This was easy! I couldn't believe it!


I did a few shorter walks leading up to the event and when the day came, we both made it in good time and I could actually run across the finish line with my four year old son on my shoulders. I have not used my boots at all this summer and have clocked up around 150 miles in the NB's so far. I have used them all over the western Beacons and in the Peak District with no problems at all (I have not used them in the wet yet due to the fantastic summer!)

They have great grip with a reasonably deep tread pattern, excellent shock absorption, they give perfectly adequate support for light hiking on decent paths, they are supremely comfortable and are only 768g per pair (with Superfeet green's in them).

This walk set me thinking about other ways I could lighten the load on my days (and nights) in the hills and after some research, I found quite a few other items and ideas that have made my life easier. So the journey started!

Welcome to Hiking in Wales

I have been hillwalking for around 22 years and noticed my pack seemed to get heavier and my knees a little more sore with every day in the hill. Lightweight came to the rescue.
I have spent the last few months researching lightweight kit and techniques and with this blog I hope to record my days in the hills and the gear that keeps me up there.
I don't get out there very often - I have a hectic job (creating things like this) and a young family, but when I do, it's normally in the wonderful Brecon Beacons National Park, just 30 minutes from my home.
Lightening up is still a little strange to me - changing my boots for running shoes was scary, but if it can get me out for longer, that's got to be a good thing!