On Saturday, Rufus and I decided to revisit an old friend – Garreg Lywd on the western end of the Black Mountain, near Brynamman. It’s a relatively easy hill to top, with the option to go on and on, potentially to Fan Brecheiniog if we have the time. We’ve never gone that far but the views to the east of Bannau Sir Gaer and beyond are gorgeous. We often mentally tick off the peaks we’ve done from here. Well, I do. Rufus just runs around, rolls in the grass and explores the rocks.
It was a beautiful morning with just enough of a breeze to keep things from being too hot. Even so, Rufus was drinking a lot but I’d anticipated that. On Garreg Lwyd, I took a 360 degree panoramic photo (which I can’t upload) as the views were so spectacular. We set off east towards Foel Fraith which meant dropping down to into a valley and climbing up the other side. It’s great exercise and relatively easy going.
At the top of Foel Fraith, we took a break and had a bit of a rough and tumble fight in the grass. I can tell when Rufus is enjoying as we play fight and he runs off and charges at me again. We moved on further east, dropping down into another valley and curving round to the north to reach the source of the river Clydach. Rufus has learnt to read the landscape and spots potential rivers by the dips and twists of the ground ahead. He quickly spotted the narrow cut of the fledgling river and was off down the hill like a shot. He stopped once to check I was following him before carrying on. By the time I reached the river, he was paddling up to the knees, grateful for the cooling water.
There then followed the usual battle of wills between me (trying to take photos of the waterfalls) and him (standing in front of the camera until I threw stones for him). He won, of course, but I managed to get some snapshots in too. After a short break, we followed the river down to the west and back towards the quarry where I’d parked the car.
The quarry at Foel Fawr was used to provide limestone but has long since ceased production. There are some ruined buildings and mining equipment. The view from the top of the quarry north is magnificent and there is a clear line between mountains and farm land. Today, there were hangliders launching themselves from the hills across the road.
The road north from here will be familiar to anyone who watches Top Gear as it features in several of their sports cars tests.
All too soon it was time to head back to the car and home. We’d had fun and some sun and that’s all you can ask for.
franticsmurf 