Early start this morning, in the glorious April sunshine, to the hills again. Rufus and I were up before dawn and out of the house as the sun rose so that we could make the most of the cool morning. We headed up to the source of the River Tawe, our starting point for Llyn Y Fan Fawr and Fan Brecheiniog. I still wasn’t sure about my knee – although it’s a lot better I’m not foolish enough to push to far too soon. So the back pack was only 15lbs and I was prepared to vary the route according to circumstances.
We started out on the side of Moel Feity and we climbed steadily up, past the Liberator,( 38753) crash site and on to the summit. It was easy walking and the view at the top was worthy of a few minutes contemplation. Then we headed over and down towards the valley between Moel Feity and Fan Brecheiniog. The sun was getting warm now but the downhill part was easy. I felt the familiar burning sensation in my knee and took it a bit slowly; Rufus, with no such issues, raced ahead to cool his paws in the stream.
Heading up the other side of the valley was ok. I took an indirect path, probably worn smooth by sheep, and made long zig zags up until the ground levelled out. We walked along rough pathless moor until we finally crested a low hill to see Llyn y Fan Fawr stretching before us. Well, Rufus was there minutes before me and I looked out over a paddling, happy dog in the lake.
We walked around the lake shore and I was trying to decide whether to climb on to Fan Brecheiniog. Common sense got the better of me and I threw stones for Rufus to catch and dredge instead. Then it was time to head back to the car. We made a detour back up to Moel Feity again – this was meant to be a training walk after all – and we sat and watched the clouds go by in the sunshine.
Two tired boys made it back to the car after a little over three hours, and 5.5 miles. (The route)
franticsmurf 