The wind
had blown all night, making the nearby trees groan and crash. But however,
we were well rested after spending the night in our Jack Wolfskin one man
tents and lying on our Thermorest mattresses. The only problem was our sleeping
bags, mine was rated at +7 degrees , but was to flimsy to spend a night on
a mountain! I had brought Nick’s old bag, which I used as a second layer
,this did the job , but carrying two bags is not the best idea. Nick had bought
a new bag, but it was not adequate, it looked like next year we would have
to look in to this, as these were the only bits of camping equipment that
let us down. I warmed up my tin of all day breakfast , while Nick warmed up
the biggest tin of stew I had ever seen ! After this, we set off up the mountain
on the forestry road . This year I had a E Trek GPS (satellite navigation),
I was determined we were not going to get lost ,as we did two years ago! The
weather was now brilliant , the forest track was hard but good going, it was
designed for trucks so it was wide but very dusty. Next to where we camped
was a very old narrow trail, it intersected the newer track we were on . This
was probably the old Monk’s way to Strata Florida, it was an ancient
road that connected the remote abbeys of Wales in olden times. Legend has
it, that the Holy Grail was brought along this route, from Glastonbury for
safe keeping in the Abbey of Strata Florida. There were no worries about traffic
up here, just one farmer and a forestry worker, we kept getting glimpses of
the old Monks way, near the summit, it headed off on it’s own course
in to the remoteness. There was an small lake here which looked strange almost
suspended on the marshy ground between the trees. The climbing had ended at
548metres, we then dropped down the other side, we quickly descended to the
surfaced road, that goes from Abergwesyn to Trergaron. There were a couple
of cars here with people wandering around, this is still quite a remote spot
but we felt we had reached some sort of civilization .We then cycled down
to the chapel of Soar y Myndd, which stands at the top of the lake caused
by the Llyn Brianne dam. We saw a few people here, but we quickly got on the
forest track that climbs steeply to 440 metres. After consulting the GPS a
few times we descended toward Llyn Brianne, with spectacular views of the
deep black water glinting in the afternoon sun. After directing a family on
mountain bikes to Soar y Myndd, we passed a solitary house in the forest overlooking
the reservoir, I remembered years ago this was an abandoned farm, which had
been used as a Forestry Commission store, but in recent years it had been
renovated to a nice dwelling. On arriving at the dam at 2.00pm, we ate some
food from Albo’s snack bar. A bolt from my rack had come loose and it
fell off, but Nick had a spare bolt and quickly fitted it, he expressed some
doubts on the strength of the rack and I had to agree with him. After this
we cycled along the public road to The Towy Bridge Inn, from here we strolled
gently along the west side of the river through the pleasant village of Cilycwm
to Llandovery. We stocked up with food and drink and then set off at 5.30pm
on the road that was to take us on to the Roman road to Trecastle. Llandovery
was busy and noisy as it was on the main A40, but only a100 yards out on the
lane it was quiet again. This surfaced road climbs steeply up the mountain,
then takes a straight line following the old Roman road’s course for
4 miles. We talked to a farmer on quad bike who informed us we were on the
right road, he then looked a bit perplexed when we said we were camping on
the mountain. The asphalt fizzled out by a farm, we climbed over a gate we
were now on the rough track that is the Roman road, evidence of the old paving
is clearly visible. We talked to an American gentleman who was out walking,
he had camped rough before in Scotland and said that by the old fort was the
best place to stop . As we climbed up Nick checked out a spot, yes he had
picked a good pitch for our tents in the middle of the Roman fort. We were
400 metres up and it was very windy, we cooked in a dip in the ground out
of the wind. Our idea of cooking at our camps had proved more favorable than
stopping for takeaways in the towns, as it gave us greater freedom on where
to stop. We settled down as the views to the north turned to darkness..28
miles.
Click the images for a larger photo !
