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| From Coast 2 Coast with Ross and Graham |
With the wonderful weather around at the moment we decided on an ascent of Cadair Berwyn, from Pistyll Rhaeadr. Not only that but a ridge walk before descending into Llandrillo followed by another ascent to Cadair Berwyn before a final descent to the car. The weather was brilliant, you could count the clouds we saw on the fingers of one hand. It was, unfortunately, very hazy and the expectation of seeing the mountain ranges of Snowdon were not realised.
The initial climb was through the Nant y Llyn valley, before reaching Llyn Lluncaws and then climbing on to the ridge past Moel Sych before ascending to Cadair Berwyn. We had already taken two hours to reach this point (about 3 miles) due to yours truly getting his navigation all wrong and taking in the majesty of the waterfall. We ate some lunch, had a brew of coffee and took the photo above.
After that we walked along the ridge northwards over Cadair Bronwen before joining the green lane into Llandrillo. The underfoot conditions varied and we got our first experience of peat bogs (is this what the conditions are like over Nine Standards Rigg?).
A quick drink in the Dudley Arms in the village and back on the trail. This time we took a lane up, climbing out of the valley and back onto a permissive route to Cadair Berwyn. This was serious hard climbing, over boggy ground which sapped the strength from your legs. The climb seemed never ending and regular stops were a must. As we came over each brow of the hill in front of us another one was revealed. We won't experience anything as extreme as this on the Coast to Coast.
We peaked out on Moel Sych and then "suffered" a steep descent to Pistyll Rhaeadr. We had decided to practice using walking sticks from Llandrillo and both agree that they helped a lot. The outside of my left knee started to ache on the descent and only got worse as we walked down the final path from the top of the waterfall to the car park.
We had been out for almost 10 hours, completed 19 miles, climbed 2000 ft at the start and then 2500 ft from Llandrillo. Sitting at home later that night I checked the elevation profiles of the Coast to Coast and realised that we had experienced a walk today that would not need to be repeated.
What an epic day. I can honestly say that was the second hardest walk I have done, beaten only by the final day of the Staffordshire way.
ReplyDeleteHands up, I don’t mind admitting that there were times when I was in a lot of pain. This was a tough old walk.
It was nice the give the new Staffordshire flag a good airing (see photo) and it will be joining us on the C2C and I hope we will have plenty of pics to post. Graham seemed to think that the walk should have been 16 miles. I seem to think that I should add on approx 20% to his mileage! So, by Graham’s millage theory I reckon our C2C walk could end up being the thick end of 220 miles – gulp!
Today my legs are aching and my shoulders feel very tender – why did I pack so much?
Thoughts on the day: Unbelievable scenery – far better than following the crowds in the Snowdonia region. Weather was way too hot and I hope we don’t get 12 days of scorchio in May. Should have ditched the wet weather gear and believed the weather report. Would I do it again, after the pain, blisters, sweat, sun burn – yep!