25 years ago today I set
off with a good friend; Mark, on the sixth day of our attempt to circumnavigate
by bicycle Wales’ largest county; Powys.
To add interest to the venture we planned on visiting the highest point
of each of the eight 2,000ft hill ranges within the county, which are all situated
around its periphery, bikes included. We
were backed up by Hazel and Barry; without whom our little adventure would not
have taken place. Prior to setting off
and during our trip we raised money for the British Heart Foundation and the
Ystradgynlais Mountain Rescue team.
The following is an
account of this ten day expedition with each day’s journey appearing on the
Mapping Mountains blog 25 years after it had taken place.
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| The county of Powys with the eight 2,000ft hill ranges positioned around its periphery |
Day 6
31.07.90 – Mynydd Du – Fforest Fawr – below the Brecon
Beacons
As we arrived at the
camp site yesterday the sun had broken through the blanket of cloud and gave us
a beautiful evening, the skies had remained clear overnight and when Mark
unzipped the door of the tent this morning the warmth of the sun greeted
us. We were soon up and having breakfast
and getting the bikes ready for another day on the hill. Today’s hill range was Mynydd Du with its
high point being Fan Brycheiniog.
After setting off we nearly
overshot our intended junction and almost ended up in a dingle as we headed
toward the hills, we stopped and examined the map and happy that we were on the
right route carried on toward the track that approaches Llyn y Fan Fach. This track would give us good access toward
our intended hill.
We rode as far as the
filter beds where a small fish hatchery is placed, the sun beat down which was
a welcome addition when compared to our crossing of the Berwyn and Pumlumon,
but the heat was unrelenting and slowed our progress.
We cycled as far up the
track as we could and then contoured around the hillside aiming for the small
path that climbs steeply up to Bwlch Blaen Twrch which is positioned between
Picws Du and Fan Brycheiniog. The slopes
ahead of us seemed never ending and the bikes were slung over our shoulders as
we edged our way up toward the bwlch.
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| Taking a rest below Picws Du |
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| The heat starts to take its toll |
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| Steep ground on the way up toward Bwlch Blaen Twrch |
Beyond the bwlch we
carried and pushed the bikes up the final slopes to the summit of Fan
Brycheiniog where we rested, ate some food and took a couple of photos next to the
trig pillar. We had now reached the
summit of four out of the eight hill ranges we planned on visiting and the next
three high points of Fforest Fawr, the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains
lay tantalisingly in view to our east.
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| Beyond the bwlch we pushed and carried the bikes to the summit of Fan Brycheiniog |
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| Beside the trig pillar on Fan Brycheiniog. Four down, four more to go |
Our onward route headed
south over Fan Hir and proved quite stunning as we cycled down from the summit
of Fan Brycheiniog, up the slopes of Fan Hir, over its high point and down its
extended southerly ridge. Except for occasionally
stopping to take photographs we cycled this entire route to within a couple of
hundred metres of the road where we were met by Barry.
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| Cycling over Fan Hir was exhilarating |
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| Open and free and all the way down to Glyntawe |
We met Barry just north
of Glyntawe and stopped off for a welcome drink in the local pub, before
cycling the four miles up the A 4067. At
the top of this road we found a quiet spot to have a late lunch before heading
east on a minor road toward Heol Senni.
This minor road skirts the northern flank of the Fforest Fawr hills and
reaches its high point at around 420m, it then plunges down to Heal Senni
loosing almost 180m in height as it does so.
Much of this section is on open land and has sheep wandering from their
hillside grazing onto and over the minor road to find juicy morsels of grass on
the opposing grass verge. This section
of road is almost 2km in length and has no significant corners on it, with much
of it being completely straight, we both put our heads down and our backsides
over the back of the seat and hurtled down the road with Mark overtaking a car
and me almost wiping out a sheep, having reached 52mph we pulled on the brakes
as we entered Heol Senni, this would prove the fastest time recorded during the
ten day expedition.
Arranging to meet the
back-up vehicle at the Storey Arms at the top of the A 470 we continued out of
Heol Senni and onto a short section of the A 4215 before turning right onto a
minor road that took us to the busy A road.
This road is the major north – south trunk road in Wales and thankfully
we were only cycling on it for about 3 miles.
Our fitness levels were now attuned to the rigours of each day and we
set a good pace cycling up the road, it was good to see Hazel and Barry pulled
up off the road opposite the Storey Arms and we rested for a few minutes happy
in the knowledge that our next hill; Fan Fawr, was straight above us and could
be tackled in the evening.
As Hazel and Barry drove
down the road to a large lay-by next to forestry which would be our camp for
the night, Mark and I sped up Fan Fawr.
It took us 30 minutes to get to the top from the Storey Arms, we only
stopped once and I quickly took a photo for posterity as we did so.
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| On our way up Fan Fawr |
The view from the top
was stunning with beautiful evening summer light, and Mark stood next to the
small summit cairn with his bike raised above his head. We spent a number of minutes on the summit
soaking in the view, another hill had been completed and it had only taken us
30 minutes to do so!
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| At the summit of Fan Fawr. Five down, three more to go |
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| Just before setting off on our 12 minute ride down Fan Fawr |
Looking out from the
summit of Fforest Fawr the days seemed to be merging into one another with Fan
Brycheiniog and Fan Fawr visited today, Pen y Fan planned for tomorrow and
Drygarn Fawr visited yesterday, we were making excellent progress and
celebrated by whizzing down from the summit of Fan Fawr back to the Storey Arms
in 12 minutes.
After cycling down the
road we joined Barry and Hazel in the back-up vehicle as the local midges
plagued us, they really were quite evil during the night. Tomorrow we were heading up to Pen y Fan, the
highest summit in the Brecon Beacons and also the highest point that we would
reach during our ten day adventure.
Tomorrow: Brecon
Beacons – Crickhowell – below the Black Mountains
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