Thursday, July 24, 2008

Brecon Beacons - the movie

Ben Fogle has teamed up with Iolo Williams for a new DVD produced by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.

ben   iolo

The DVD apparently looks at everything from wildlife to hang gliding. The DVD has a 'bonus feature' - a 26 minute film celebrating 50 years of the Park.

“When you travel around the Park you get to see its breathtaking beauty and diversity – and that’s what we’ve tried to capture in the DVD,” says Iolo. “As well as being one of Britain’s ‘breathing spaces’, this National Park really does have hidden depths – miles of caves and tunnels, created by underground rivers over millions of years!”

Next time I am in Libanus, I'll pick up a copy for review.

You can check out a trailer and buy it for £9.99 here.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Aaron's mountain

A couple more shots from Aaron's first big hill day, taken by Dave Griffin, a good friend and superb photographer working out of Swansea. Check out his work here and his Flickr stuff here.

Aaron and me, just about to cross from Corn Du to Pen y Fan.

pen y fan from corn du 

River crossing below Corn Du. The first wet foot of the day for kiddo!

river crossing below corn du

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Aaron's first big Welsh one

brecon beacons

Aaron, my eldest (6), had his first big mountain experience today. Well, big for South Wales anyway!

We met up with Alan and Dave this morning at about 8.00am, and dashed up to Storey Arms and climbed Corn Du and Pen y Fan via Y Gyrn. It was only a 5 mile jaunt, but we topped out at about 2900 feet.

Aaron even saw his first Red Kite - it flew straight over our heads and then off down towards the Swansea Valley.

brecon beacons brecon beacons brecon beacons

We had a great morning and it was good to catch up with Al and Dai, but the day belonged to Aaron and he had a fab time :)

Map image

It was a bit of a double whammy for Aaron - he learnt to ride a bike yesterday too.

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Out at last

A few weeks ago, we finally managed to get so hill time, exploring an area we don't visit too often.

We went back to Capel-y-ffin (Last visited February 2007) to walk a 13 mile circular route taking in a boring bit of Offa's Dyke Path, the fantastic views from Hay Bluff and the serious stomp up Lord Hereford's Knob (or 'Twmpa', but that isn't half as much fun).

Alan-Hike

From Twmpa, it was a pretty gentle stroll along the ridge of Tarren yr Esgob to the Blacksmiths Anvil, (which is disappointingly just a waymark stone that doesn't even look remotely like an anvil). Rain started picking and by the time we reached the steep drop down the Tarren yr Esgob cliffs, it was pouring heavily and we were immersed in a full blown thunder storm. The forecast had predicted it, so we were prepared, but they got the timing wrong.

We didn't bother with waterproofs as we were soaked anyway and it was a warm day, so soggily,  it was straight to The Skirrid Inn, the oldest pub in Wales in which more than 100 people were hanged in the stairwell. It's a favourite with ghosthunters and has been visited by Yvette Feilding and her team. As it was a Bank Holiday weekend, the place was teeming with people scaring the shite out of each other. Apparently, there was a group coming later that evening and they would spend the whole night sitting in the bar, drinking strong coffee and tweaking the dials on there monitoring equipment.

Anyway, a spookily good (but uneventful) meal and a pint or two later and we were aquaplaning back down the valley to Swansea, still a little moist but with that happy 'fresh air 'n' a pint' glow about us.

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Rinog Fach Wildcamp 2

Another test post - Alan about to filter from Llyn Hywel.

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Rhinog Fach Wildcamp

Picasa test post - posting to Blogger directly from Picasa

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Monday, October 22, 2007

The highest man in south Wales

Saturday saw me taking the tourist path to Pen-y-fan (pronounced 'pennavan' not penny fan!). I have never been up this way - up Y Gyrn to Corn Du, across to PyF and then straight back down to the Storey Arms car park. I was trying it out to see if my eldest son (5 yrs) could manage it.

Tourist paths are everything that is bad about letting twats onto mountains - beer cans, fag packets, urine soaked tissues tucked under stones, toddlers in tee shirts and plimsolls (in bloody October!). Out comes the sun, up go the twats.

Thing is, it's a beautiful mountain with stunning views of the whole park. Sit on the edge looking over towards Cribyn, put your fingers in your ears to block out the delighted exclamations of the masses... "Thassa view'n'arf, innit...f'kin lush that", and you have a world class mountain experience.



An hour up, a quick stand on the summit cairn (886m) and 30 mins back down.

There are much, much better ways of climbing PyF - the classic horseshoe from the Upper Neuadd Reservoir being my favourite. But I don't think my boy is ready for that yet. I want to take him up as there is a certain delight in saying "I'm the highest person in south Wales right at this moment" that he will love.

As usual, fungi is everywhere at the moment. I forgot my guide so I left everything where it was and tried out the macro button on my Canon. Can anyone help identify these?



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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Bushcraft fun

We had a day in the woods on Saturday with Dryad Bushcraft run by a fella called Andrew Price, here on Gower Peninsula.

They run several courses and we opted for the one day starter course, set in private woodland about 10 mins from home.

Alan, myself and Alans son, Robert, together with three other folk, were taught to light fires by friction (Al was the super hero at this - said his carpenters skills helped), make fire using a piece of flint, campfire cookery including some fantastic beer bread (flour and beer in a Dutch Oven), tarp'n'hammock set up and then a foraging expedition.

It was a slow paced, relaxing day with two instructors who lived for the outdoors and had an answer to every question. We got chatting to one of the guys who told us that when he has to go to London, he uses his hammock in Kew Gardens!

We had a great day - it was like being a boy scout again - we got to play with knives, fire and axes. We got to eat berries that you would have thought would give you the trots for a week and learned a lot about the green stuff all around us. I know it will add a new level of enjoyment to our walking and backpacking.

If you love spending time in the outdoors, find your local bushcraft course provider - you'll love it!

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Something for the weekend...

BBC1, Sunday night at 9.00pm. Climbing mountains with Griff Rhys Jones

OK, he does starts in Scotland... but give it a chance, he'll soon be in Wales.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Lots to do

Lots to do on the blog now we have finished our trip. Missing days to write, photos to upload, gaps to fill in.

I'll get round to updating over the next week or two.

This photo sums up the last week. I am standing on a footpath!

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Almost ready for the last leg

On Saturday morning, we'll be travelling back up to Porthmadog to finish the final leg of our Cambrian Way. Starting from Maentwrog, over the Moelwyns, up and over Cnicht into Beddgelert, then over Snowdon to the PYG hotel. Up onto the Glyders and a night in Idwal Cottage then onto the Carneddau for a couple of days and drop down into Conwy to the Quay Hotel to rest our weary limbs in shameful luxury.

This week has been all about getting work sorted out, cleaning, replacing and repairing kit and getting the food ready - all over again!

We are in pretty good shape now and will be killing Pete on the uphills! (he will be joining us again for this last week) . My feet are a bit tender and looking up the syptoms on the web, it looks like they are suffering from being damp for too long. I have invested in some Sealkins merino inner socks so I can wear my Sealskins more next week if its damp.

Last week, while the rest of the country was suffering with horrendous weather, we were very lucky. Hopefully, we'll have good fortune this week too as it's the best terrain of the walk.

I read the Rhinogs bit of the 'official guide book' when we got back and learnt a couple of things...
1. The reason the Cambrian Way didn't get national trail status was because the Rhinogs are too dangerous and mountain rescue crews did not relish the increased numbers in the range.

2. The way we came off Rhinog Fach is NOT recommended - come down the same way you went up!

Lessons learned? RTFM before you go!

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Friday, June 15, 2007

Off again...

Another week walking up Wales.

Saturday: 6.45am train to Machynlleth - then a day to Cadair Idris, couple of days on Cadair Idris, over to Barmouth, couple of days crossing Rhinogs then into the Vale of Ffestiniog and back to Porthmadog to catch a train back to Swansea.

Weather may not be as good as last week, but I can't wait to get back out there!

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Monday, May 28, 2007

Minus bloody two

It'll soon be June, we are leaving in a few days, my sleeping bag is rated zero (pretty safe for June you would think) and they are forecasting minus two tomorrow night.

June looked so good statistically!

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

C2C Days 4 & 5 - the first wild camp

Last weekend, we completed the first overnighter of our Welsh C2C trip. Saturday was a nine mile stretch (2300 feet of ascent) from Glanaman to a wild camp on Foel Fraith then an 8 mile haul (another 1100 feet upwards) to Llanddeusant (and a bit further to the pub).

It was the first time we had used all of the new kit in anger. Alan cheated and didn't bring everything he is going to take on the main trip and then boasted about how light his pack was. Bad man.

Saturday's walk was blustery with a few short showers around lunchtime, then the wind dropped developing into a beautiful still evening with clear skies (read cold). We found a great camp site big enough to hold 50 Akto's, let alone our three on the terraces of an old limestone quarry - the sort with immaculately manicured bowling green grass thanks to the local sheep population. The forecast had predicted a 3 degree night and by 9.00pm it was rapidly approaching 6 degrees, so after very succesful FBC meals (Fish Risotto - thanks Stef - aka BG!) and a Platypus of red wine, we snuck into our tents ready for a chilly evening.

My home-made Golite quilt was very warm if I could keep my ass under cover. As a sleeping bag, it was rated at 0 degrees and it coped very well with the temperatures as a quilt, but I am a fidgety sleeper and every time I turned over, I got a cold bum. I have two options - abandon the quilt and use my Mountain Hardwear Phantom bag, or persevere with the quilt and hope it gets warmer (this weekend was freak weather, nights are back to 10 degrees now).

During the night, the cloud dropped and saturated everything (Pete got up for a pee at 4.30am and experienced the zero visibility), but when we emerged at 6.30am for a brew, the sun was burning the dew from the flysheets. Obviously, the Akto's suffered badly with condensation and a lot of mopping was required before we packed the tents up. Does anyone have a method of dealing with the Akto's evident condensation problem? We would all love to hear about it!

Once we had had breakfast and pulled some more water from a rather dubious water source (full of newts and therefore newt crap), we fiddled with the kit for a bit - fashioning a washing line from walking poles and spectra - packed up and were walking by about 10.30am... straight into a half hour climb along a spiky, rocky ridge (Garreg Glas - complete with limestone pavement and nosey red kites), that would not have looked out of place in Snowdonia.

The day's route took us across unpathed land, free styling through heather, bog and bilberry to the rim of Bannau Sir Gaer - one of the best views in south Wales (IMHO) and one of my most favourite places on earth. We dropped down to the bothy and then took the track past a fish farm and then a long tedious lane slog past Llandeusant YH to the Cross Inn for a couple of excellent pints before Jackie (Al's better half) picked us up.

I learnt a few lessons and quite a bit about the gear...

The Z55 was awesome with about 30lbs in it. The caldera cone stove boiled a pint of water, in wind, in 4 minutes with 12ml of fuel. The OMM chest pack was worth it's weight in gold and will come with me on the trip. We took too much food, at least the lunches were too big. The new inflatable Insulmats were worth the extra grams. I am going to take earplugs to keep the sheep's nocturnal activities at bay. The Road Angel was perfect for checking our position. I bought a new Canon Ixus 850 as I was jealous of Alan's tiny camera. Don't forget to put on sunscreen - very burnt nose. Dr Bronners is fine for washing your teeth. Take more baby wipes (Pampers unscented) for washing when you can't face an icy wash in newt crap. Pacer poles rock. Merino does stink. The Black Mountain is wild, beautiful and very moist underfoot - but the Salomon shoes and Smartwool socks combo drained and dried very quickly. Newt crap blocks water filters very quickly. My Montane windshirt is the most versatile garment I have ever owned. Both Al and Pete were very jealous of my Knirps X1 during showers, despite taking the pee.

Did I mention that Alan cheated? I'm not bitter ;)

This weekend, we are doing a dayhike from Llanddeusant to Llandovery, then we are on the trail for a week and I can't wait!

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Friday, May 18, 2007

C2C days 4-5

We are going to spend and wet'n'windy weekend on the Black Mountain this weekend, knocking off two more days of the coast to coast. It's really a shake down of the kit (and us!).

Just checking the forecast and after weeks of balmy evenings, Saturday night is going to be 3 degrees, so our zero degree sleeping systems will be tested to the limits. A litre Platy full of a half decent red wine should solve that problem.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Wales 1000 Things update

The Wales 1000 Things website has almost hit 1000 entries!

If you haven't been over there yet, imagine a YouTube/Flickr just for the outdoors in Wales. There is some brilliant content to browse through.

If you have some photos or videos of you good times in Wales, get them up as there are 1000 Blacks vouchers being given away with no limit to the amount of vouchers you can snaffle.

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Sunday, May 13, 2007

C2C is underway!










Dipping our feet in










Rhossili Bay

We started our section hike a couple of weeks ago. We'll be travelling from our home in Gower in south Wales to Conwy in north Wales, using the Cambrian Way from the Beacons.

We dipped our feet in at Worms head and then spent 3 days walking the Gower Way up to the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Pete joined us for day 2 and 3 and he will also be joining us for the last (and best) week. Next weekend we do our first overnighter, then one last day hike before we start the first of three weeks on the trail.

The gear is all sorted, the food is nearly all dried and all trains, hotels, hostels and camp sites booked. The only thing I am waiting for is some TNF underwear after they came top in a TGO test.

My base weight is around 22lb. Here are the major items I'm taking:
  • Gregory Z55
  • Akto
  • Caldera Cone stove
  • Vargo 1.3 ltr ti' pot
  • Homemade GoLite quilt
  • Insulmat Ether 6
  • Montane Sportwool base layer
  • Terra Converts
  • Berghaus Infinity smock
  • Berghaus Paclite smock
  • Montane Atomic trousers
  • Knirps X1 umbrella
  • Salomon XA Comp 3's (Green Superfeet)
  • Smartwool running light socks
  • Pacerpoles
  • e-lite
  • MSR water filter
  • Road Angel 7000
  • Blackberry (in case I blog en-route)
  • Loads of Granite Gear Air space/pockets/bags
Al and Pete's kit is pretty much the same except they are using Atmos's, sleeping bags rather than quilts and cooking on gas.

As I'm a veggie, I'll be cooking 100% FBC style as I can make some great food, dry it and have no washing up! The prep for the food has been an enormous task, but more about that next post.










Day 2 in Parc le Breos










Day 3 and the end of the Gower Way

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

It's been a while

Sorry!

It's been a while since I lasted posted. We have been busy organising our Welsh C2C section hike which starts this week with the first 2/3 of the Gower Way. It's an early start on Saturday morning (we are off to see Simon Yates speaking on Saturday evening) and then another early start on Sunday.

Popped into Cotswolds Cardiff on the way back from London today to pick up some Smartwool running socks as my 'light hikers' were a bit warm last weekend when Al and I did about 13 miles around Fforest Fawr. We also tried out the Road Angel 7000, but more about that soon.

Bye for now,
Chris

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Sunday, March 18, 2007

C2C Route Planning

We have just about finalised our Welsh coast to coast route. I have painstakingly plotted the whole 25 days into Memory Map. We (Alan and I) plan to take it really easy with an average of 10 miles per day - more of a relaxed bimble rather than record breaking march.

We are section hiking the route a week at a time, with a week back in work in between each week. We start at Rhossili, right on the end of Gower and finish at Conwy Castle, taking in every major hill range on the way.

Stats: 242 miles, 387,200 steps, 56,019 feet of ascent and 56,204 of descent, about 18lb-20lb base weight.

The bulk of the walking will be done throughout June, finishing in North Wales with several pints on the 7th July.

BIG THANKS to Sarah and Jackie for letting us go - yes, we do know it's going to cost us dearly!

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Monday, February 05, 2007

Bal Mawr - 3rd February 2007

We took a drive over to the Black Mountains on Saturday, winding westward through the Beacons to Capel-y-ffin in the Vale of Ewyas, famous for the remains of Lanthony Priory. Alan was nursing a skiing injury, so we had planned a fairly easy 8 miles along the Bal Mawr ridge and then drop down to follow a path back to Capel-y ffin. The return leg traversed the hill, about half way between the ridge and the valley floor and gave a very different view of the surroundings.
It was my 40th a couple of days before, so I was trying out my birthday present, a new pair of Pacerpoles and giving the Z55 another outing.
It was a beautiful, sunny frosty morning and we set off out of Capel-y-ffin past a monastry and a half constructed chapel built by the rather eccentric Father Ignatius in the late 1800's. I found out later that Eric Gill, artist and type designer (famous for his typeface, Gill Sans) spent some time there in the 30's.
The path zig zagged up past a pony trekking centre then onto the hill proper. After a brief flat section (with acres of perfect wild camping spots), we crossed a stream and then slogged up to the ridge, arriving at the Blacksmiths Anvil stone.
The Pacerpoles were very impressive during the climbing, powering you upwards with noticably reduced effort. We tied the handles together and slung them over our shoulders straps when we were on the flat, drawing them like a pair of ninja swords for the descents. I read about this method of carrying the poles in the excellent instruction sheet from Pacer.
The views were amazing and I shot a panorama, swinging from East to West, out towards Hay Bluff and Lord Herefords Knob (how cool is it to have a mountain named after your old boy) and then West towards Pen Cerrig-calch. Sugar Loaf was also visible to the South, as you can see in the photo below.
We trundled along the ridge and stopped for a sandwich and brew-up, trying out our little alcohol stove. I don't take a flask in winter, but a brew-up is always a bit of fun if the conditions are favourable.
After lunch, we dropped back down into the valley, which was still in shadow and therefore still hard with frost - just as well as the path would have been pretty muddy.
We talked a lot about our coast to coast walk in June, planning routes across Snowdonia, discussing the food we will take and the gear that would be suitable for 200+ mile expedition. As I mentioned, I am 40 this year and Al hits the big half century, so we both have a lot to celebrate. Rather than having a typical mid life crisis involving Las Vegas and red sports cars, we decided to walk from Snowdonia to Gower over three weeks, sort of following the route I have mentioned in previous posts. Al and I don't see each other very often as we both have businesses and kids, so time is in short supply, so when we do get a chance to steal a Saturday or Sunday in the hills, it gives us a chance to discuss the details of the trip.
On the way back, we explored an old ruin of a farmhouse and found some regurgitated owl pellets containing fur, bones, claws and teeth - I have seen these in books but never broken one apart myself.
The poles and pack worked well, I still need to work out how I am going to carry water as the bladder/tube combo is pretty difficult to manage when backpacking. My Montane Sportwool experiment is still going well, lets just say that I am testing the limits of merino's anti odour properties (more next post).
We didn't have a chance to have a pint on the way back as Al had an evening out planned, which was a shame as we drove past the Skirrid Inn on the way home, which has featured in the TV show, Most Haunted. It's ancient and has a wonderful view of The Skirrid (Ysgyryd Fawr), or the Holy Mountain, one of the three decent hills that circle Abergavenny, the others being Blorenge and Sugar Loaf.

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Thursday, November 02, 2006

5 Star YHA Bunkhouse for the Beacons

The UK's first and only 5 Star YHA Bunkhouse (Visit Wales accreditation) has been opened. Wern Watkin is located in the Brecon Beacons National Park on Mynnedd Llangattock.
Wern Watkin is a stone built small holding and as member of the YHA Enterprise Scheme will operate as 'YHA Llangattock Mountain'. The bunkhouse sleeps up to 30 people in seven en-suite rooms.

"There is a massive dining room/seating area and a wonderful outdoor space opening out onto ancient woodlands. There is under-floor heating throughout, excellent drying facilities and ample hot water".

Check out the website here.

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Monday, October 16, 2006

Fan y Big - 15 October 2006

Had a great day out yesterday in the Brecon Beacons.
The forecast gave hill fog and high winds, but hey, what’s new!

We planned a route from the pass between Pontsticill and Talybont up to the summit of Fan y Big, with the obligatory ‘Diving Board’ photograph, descending via a gentle bimble along the Roman Road and then walking the last section back to the van through the old abandoned railway tunnel.

I picked up my walking buddy, Alan, and his son Rob and after an hour in the van we set off, straight into a staircase climb to the top of Craig y Fan Ddu. No gentle walk in and warm up - not a nice way to start the day. Almost 800 feet in half a mile.

They were not joking about the 45 MPH gusts along the top, but I stayed comfortable with a long sleeved Montane Sportwool tee (from Bob) and an Montane Windsmock. I was amazed how warm this incredibly lightweight combo was. Al had a 100 weight microfleece under his windsmock and he said that it easily matched his heavier and bulkier Windstopper garments.

We got blown along the ridge to the summit of Fan y Big and stood on the Diving Board for the summit photo. Some imbecile has defaced the Diving Board stone and the surrounding rocks by spraying graffiti in bright yellow and orange paint. It was heartbreaking.

We waded through a huge group of puffing kids (must be from Storey Arms) and made the toe killing decent down the Roman Road that cuts through the pass between Fan y Big and Cribyn. The road has been terribly damaged by 4WD vehicles; it won’t be long before it is un-drivable – bloody good too. The road follows the Taff Trail down to the pass and back to the van, but we had one last adventure planned before we hit the pub.

There is an old railway tunnel that you can enter at SO 050 170. It‘s one of the highest railway tunnels ever built in Britain and linked Merthyr Tydfil to Brecon. I believe it’s been closed since the early sixties and at 666 yards long, it oozes spookiness. We walked through it a couple of years ago, with only the tiniest Maglite between us. The tunnel curves so there is no light or sound at all, just a gentle dripping. When we walked it last, the walk in was a little damp, but the tunnel is bone dry.

When we arrived at the entrance yesterday, the walk in was flooded with a couple of feet of water and the only way down would be to abseil. We didn’t have rope with us and after a quick scout around we had to give up and save the experience for drier times.

It seems moto-cross bikes have taken a liking to this area and we saw several bikes riding illegally on the hills. I was walking here during the summer with the Tawe Trekkers and we were buzzed by dozens of bikes who tore up Torpantau, shredding the grassy paths to bits. BBNPA – Please do something about this – it is becoming dangerous and either a walker or rider will be killed (impaled on a Leki by an irate rambler!).

We had a great pint in front a log fire in the Red Cow, in the village of Pontsticill. Very walker friendly and well worth a visit.

You can download a Memory Map route of the walk here.

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Saturday, September 30, 2006

Welsh Bagging Lists

I have just come a cross an excellent list of all of the Welsh Hewitts (Hills over 2000 feet with at least 30 metres drop on all sides) and Marilyns (Hills of any height with at least 150 metres drop on all sides). The list, compiled by Alan Dawson, can be found at http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/tables/wales/.

For those of you who fancy reading about these hills before you set off, I can recommend Graham Uney's superb 'The High Summits of Wales - A guide to walking the Welsh Hewitts'.

Grahams book is divided into two sections. The first section is a complete guide to the Welsh Hewitts, range by range, hill by hill. The second section is the story of Grahams successful bid to walk them all in one go in the summer of '98. It's a helluva story. You can find a link to the book at Amazon on the right of this page.

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More free routes

Love it or hate it, Trail magazine publishes a decent selection of walking routes every month and their online library, trailroutes.com, has 30 free routes (8 in Wales) plus another 5 free routes for subscribers.

Most of the walks have GPS and Memory Map data (although the couple of GPS routes I have tried have been very poor quality - lots of unedited waypoints, looks like a converted 'track' file to me, poor show guys). They also give you detailed route description, a couple of photos, route card, gradient profile and OS mapping.

They have basically re-purposed all of the routes they have published over the years, so don't go expecting any new routes if you have a 4 foot pile of back issues in the attic.

The bad news is that they charge £2.00 for the routes that are not free, but subscribers get a 50% discount. As I mentioned, I have only tried a couple of the digital mapping files, not very representative, but if the files were tidied up and commented properly, I could stretch to a pound.

Anyway, get over there and snaffle the freebies and don't forget your 5 free credits if you are a subscriber. I would be interested in your comments on the GPS data ;)

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Planning a Preseli weekend

Before the weather gets too miserable, I really fancy a weekend in the Preseli Hills - maybe start at one end, wildcamp at the other and then back again. I have never walked in this part of Wales and it's only an hour or so from Swansea. If anyone has suggestions for a route or camp spots, they would be gratefully received!

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Backpacking with a 4 year old

A few weeks ago, I took my eldest son, Aaron (4) on his first backpacking trip. We only walked a couple of miles and spent the night on the shores of Llyn y Fan Fawr on the Black Mountain (Western Brecon Beacons).

It was my first backpacking trip for many years and all of the old kit was dusted off, most of it now twenty years old - my Vango Hurricane, Berghaus AB70GT pack and my trusty Trangia, now given a new lease of life with a gas conversion. Aaron carried his own sleeping bag, thermarest, comics and pyjamas and I carried the rest - 55lb's of it!

Aaron had a wonderful time. He has been car camping since he was one year old and is always being dragged up a hill or into the woods for some Ray Mears type adventure. The thing that really impressed him was that he was allowed to dig a hole to poop in. In fact, it impressed him so much we had about 5 false alarms, just so he could dig his cathole.

He helped with filtering the water and cooking his pasta and spent hours paddling in the shallow waters. I feel sorry for kiddies that will never experience the outdoors like this - children love the freedom, the mud, the cooking, the camping and the staying up late looking at the stars.

We had spooky stories and hot chocolate and retired on what was turning into a breezy night but we both slept warm and well.

After a huge breakfast, we packed up and walked back to the road and waited for our lift back to Swansea, whilst watching the mountain rescue teams training their dogs on the sunny mountainside.

I'm not quite sure what his teacher and classmates thought when they asked him what he did on the weekend.

I hope he mentioned the cathole.

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Sunday, September 24, 2006

Welsh mega-hike podcast

Outdoor podcasting superstar, Bob Cartwright, the man behind Backpackinglight.co.uk has just recorded an excellent interview with Darren Wooton, an Englishman who hiked from North to South Wales in this summer's glorious heatwave.
His story will make you green with envy - 203 miles of sunshine on some of the best hills in the world. The hike was based, I believe, on John Gillham's 'A Welsh Coast to Coast Walk', from Cicerone.
If you are Welsh or know Wales well, his pronunciations will bring a smile to your face, but Scotland gives me the same problems! Maybe a phonetic pronunciation guide to the hills of Wales (and Scotland) is called for - are there any out there?

You can get the podcast, plus loads of others by Bob from iTunes or directly from his website.

What do you mean you don't have an iPod? Apple have just released a micro iPod for around £50, ideal for lightweighters, take a look.

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Howies 'Go Wales'

Had an interesting parcel this morning containing the new autumn 06 catalogue from Welsh uber cool clothing company, Howies. Always a treat to receive, this issue charts their journey around Wales in an old 'Cargo Wales' van with the letters 'Car' peeled off.
David Hieatt's company, based in Cardigan Bay, produce a range of clothing for young actives that contains a few gems for the outdoorsperson, including a good range of merino and some stylish and technical jackets using Scholler and Ventile fabrics. Their organic cotton tee shirts are always entertaining.
You can download the catalogue from here and save a bit of a tree. David would like that.

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Friday, September 22, 2006

Free walking routes in Wales

Our lovely friends at Visit Wales have teamed up with www.walkingworld.com to give us a selection of free walking routes. Have a quick look at this microsite to download 27 routes from all over Wales in PDF format.

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