Had an absolutely awesome day out on the hills in South Wales recently. Weather perfect with very little wind and quiet.
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Stunning; the best footage I’ve seen of this place! My favourite hillwalk from back in the day before my knees gave out (I can climb mountains, slowly, but I can’t descend them!). My preferred route was directly up the hill from the Neaudd car park on to Fan Hir along the edge of the the forestry, and that’s the hard work done for the day! Along Fan Hir to Corn Ddu, Pen y Fan, & Cribyn, then back down along the Roman Road that you came up by.
Other favourites were from Cwm Llwch farm via Llyn Cwm Llwch (magical spot) and the Tommy Jones obelisk, and the ‘lunar landscape’ walk from Torpantau to Fan y Big.
When I started hillwalking back in the 70s, you could do Pen y Fan midweek and not see more walkers than you could count on one hand all day. Black Mountain to the west you would have to yourself most days. Then you could have a night out in town, 20 pints of beer, steak & chips, best girl in the brothel, taxi home, all for sixpence and still have change; yer tell kids that terday, they don’t berleeve yer…
The mountain stuff is true, though.
Thankyou so much form your praise! I so enjoyed filming this one, but I ran out of battery (3) just as I was starting the saddle on the last hour or two of walking. I really need 5 batteries I think, to be confident of having enough for these big days out. That first hour of light was so nice, but quite honestly it was just superb all the way and with so little wind I was able to push it out a bit.
Midweek, from what I hear, it is still very quiet up there. It was a Saturday when I went , so I was surprised how quiet it was, that is, at least on Cribyn. From a distance, I could see Pen Y Fan was very busy, at dawn. But that’s to be expected at the weekend and It’s that much closer to the carpark on the west side of the Craig Gwaun Taf. The last time I was up on Pen Y Fan was in the mid 1990s, so this was a real rediscovery for me. I’d read about the clockwise route but just felt, setting off in the dark, that steep start by the forestry plantation was a bit rude first thing!!! I came down that way though. It’s a bit of a knee grinder!! Do you get out on the hills still?
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Nah. sadly my knees are fucked, largely a result of doing it later in life when I was a bit overweight and not really fit enough! I’ve got some good memories, but I miss it, especially now I’m a droner. Not having a car doesn’t help either; you need a car to go walking… Last time I was out was 8 years ago and we did Llyn Cwm Cwnwyn on a glorious summer evening with the peaks catching the last of the sunlight, magnificent, but I was in real trouble coming back down even with a stick, completely exhausted when we got back to the car, and it’s not even all that steep from the Llyn. What a magical spot, though!
The lighter nights increase the viability of flying by bus (Welsh Assembly OAP bus pass), though, and I have several adventures planned, notably Pontsticill reservoir, with the plughole and the Brecon Mountain Railway, and there are some pretty good views of the horseshoe from there! Needs a bit of heavy rain to get the reservoir levels up so that the plughole is in operation; I have a plan to get vid from below reservoir water level, but i doubt I’ll have the nerve for that! An advantage of this trip would be the Red Cow, which I’ve always found to be a particularly friendly place!
If you want solulitude. it’s getting harder to find in the Bannau Brycheiniog, but it’s still there on the lesser peaks. One I can reccommend, having found it particularly satisfying and not too strenuous, is Fan Gyhirych, the westernmost of the Fforest Fawr summits. Park car at the summit of the Heol Senni pass road from Ystradfellte to Heol Senni, and walk west, a gentle rise to the saddle between Fans Nedd and Gyhirych, from which it is a fairly easy ascent to the summit. Views are stupendous, the entire Devonian Sandstone escarpemnt, but towards Swansea, the Gower, and Carmarthen as well, and clear vistas to the north including Pumlumon and Cadair Idris.
You won’t see more than a handful of other people, probably paraglider pilots, on weekends, and probably nobody midweek! An underrated experience!
Pontsticill reservoir looks really picturesque. I drove past it after my day out on Pen Y Fan, on my way up tp Plas Dolgaer, where there is a little cafe, to treat myself to a nice cup and a piece of oatcake! The Brecon railway route looks fun! The route you described up to Fan Gyhirych looks superb. It looks quite isolated and worth carrying a compass if there clouds descend! I shall definitely look into that, when I’m next up that way. My next sorti is going to be Cadair Idris. I camped up there 2 years ago and fancy going back, as it’s one of those peaks that doesn’t seem to get too busy.
Last time I did Cadair was in '06 on a fine but viciously cold winter Saturday, and there were about a dozen people at the summit. I like Cadair because I’ve never fallen off it and broken my ankle on scree. But my big sister has, and the fact that this was 62 years ago is no reason for me to let her forget it…
If it’s solitude you’re after, the Teifi Pools, high on the empty moorlands between the Elan Valley and Cwmystwyth will provide it. Did 5 days in this area back in '72, starting at Rhayader and culminating in Pumlumon by a zigzag sort of route planned by a mate; there was a group of 6 of us and it was bloody marvellous. For 3 days the only other human being we saw was a sheperd on a trail bike about a mile away just north of the pools.
As a viewpoint, Waun Fach, the highest point of the eastern Black Mountains, is underrated, and stupendous! Best route is probably leave the car at the Gospel Pass and walk it along the ridge eastwards, then cut south to the summit, but I’ve done it from Llanbedr village, which has an excellent pub. If you do it from the Gospel, drive back via Llanthony Abbey which has a pretty good restaurant on the premises!
There is not much of Wales you can’t see from up there (Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon cannot be seen from Pen y Fan because Cadair is in the way), with only the north coast being hidden by Yr Wyddfa and the Carneddau, as well as a good bit of England on the right day; taking it clockwise starting north, from Berwyn the limits are The Wrekin, Shropshire Hills, Malverns, and then across the the Cotswolds to the Chalk Ridge beyond, which you can follow around to Salisbury Plain. then it’s the Quantocks and Exmoor. Again, on a clear day, the added 400’ from a drone might open that out even more!
I’m planning on doing the Garth with the drone later today. The Garth is the 1,000footer to the north of Cardiff and is claimed to be the inspiration for the romcom ‘The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain’; certainly some of the filming was done there and in Taff’s Well at the foot of the mountain but there are similar stories about several similar protruberances in Wales. It is not especially high but happens to be in a position that affords excellent views in all directions, and I want to see what the extra 400’ a drone can provide will show me!
It’s about the limit of my hillwalking ability these days; bus to Pentyrch and a steady slope of about half a mile of paved road & trackway to the summit ridge.
I hope you have really good day! The forecast is good, so best of luck. Thank you for all the info, Its a lot to take in!
T’was lovely up there; not as clear as I’d hoped but lovely diffused late afternoon light. There were a couple of gorse fires and two firemen with beaters trying to stop them from spreading; everything’s tinder dry up there! Luckily they were on the side rather than the top! I’ll try & put some vid up tomoz!
If you don’t it didn’t happen
Rules of the Internet and all that
If it didn’t happen, why are my knees all stiff and hurty? Bit of exercise and I’m fucked deze daze…
So you say.
Where you’ve been on them 
‘ Only Bant’s John ‘
How did the knees hold up?
As expected, suffering a bit today, but they are functioning; I’ve had it a lot worse!. I can climb a hill all day, it’s coming down slopes that causes the trouble, I’m a bit (!) overweight and the knees take the brunt. Ankles are very stiff as well; I blame myself for that for not wearing boots!
No blisters though. And worth it; sitting on top of a tumulus (we call them ‘twmps’ in Wales) scoffing sarnies with Glamorgan at my feet made me feel like a god, and flying as well was the icing on the cake!
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Glad to hear it wasn’t too tortuous. Do you use walking poles? I recently bought a pair for the first time. I’m planning to go to Alsace in June and will probably use them there.
I used to use poles, and there is no doubt that they would relieve a lot of my suffering. The drawback is that I am Olympic Standard at leaving them in pubs, on buses, boats, and on one occasion the landing stage at Lundy Island. I may re-invest if I find the drone taking me on long walks from bus stops, though (I don’t have a car, impoverished pensioner and can’t afford to run one) and must rely on public transport for my adventures).
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Very good - had a few peeks before but just had the chance to watch it end to end for the first time. Very nice piece of work from a cinematic perspective, but also love the narrative.
Its been more than 10 years probably since i did the horseshoe but your video took me right back like it was yesterday.
Am looking forward to having a look at your other videos on your YT channel, particularly the very familiar Clench Common and Wilton locations
I do need to get my own YT channel up and running - i made several videos last year combining new drone footage splicing in some of my previous stills from the same locations i know well but done nothing with them other than friends and family viewing.You’ll recognise the locations - Wilton Windmill (my first flight and crop circle), Avebury, Devils Den & Valley of rocks and Roundway Hill/Olivers Castle plus ventures over the border to Dorset and one in Wales (Nash Point).
Will let you know if i get my finger out and get it out there
Andy
You’re very kind Andy! And I’m pleased it brought back nice memories for you. Feedback is really important for me. I have a sense of what feels right, but can’t be sure until someone else gives it the thumbs up or down! One area I definitely need to improve is my talking to camera. Filming wise, I have to say the mild conditions made it possible really. Had it been windier and colder, it would have been more challenging. One thing is clear, I need more batteries!! In real terms, 3 batteries gave me about 45 mins of flying time. Flying at distance and having the RC2 sounding the alarm to RTH at 22% is distracting at least. I was frustrated at running out of battery just as I started the saddle on the return. That said, in the process of learning to fly the drone, I’ve found that I absolutely love the editing and creating of a little film.
I took a year out, back in the late 1990s, and travelled around the world, taking a lot of stills for my portfolio and also documenting some of it using a Sony Hi8 video camera. I wish I had had then the digital quality we have today. I look at my digitised films and they are sort of ok on the big screen but on closer scrutiny, really noisy. Really only for personal memories.
As for YT, do it. It’s very easy and you can then share them much more easily. Who do you aim your films at? Are they purely for your own pleasure or intended for a wider audience? Either way,
Look forward to seeing them soon!