3.2.2019 - Pen Y Garn Goch 487m, Crugiau Merched 462m and Rhos Ymryson 327m.
Today was a West Wales sprint to get in three marilyns before storm Freya comes in and beats our butts. It started off well with lovely spring like weather as we headed to Beulah from Brecon to get the first one.
Pen Y Garn Goch: This one was up a dead end farm road just off the A483 a few miles SW of the village of Beulah. It’s an unclassified road and at the GPX start point is the entrance to a forestry with ample parking for one or two vehicles. From there simply follow the forestry road up all the way to the top as per the the track file. You have to turn off the forestry road the last hundred yards but It is easy enough.
Route Summary: The views are okay but it is a forestry road hike with the obligatory trig point in the middle of it at the high point. Nothing special. I was just pleased it had stayed dry.
Route Statistics: A 5.6km hike in 1hr 12m with 223m of ascent.
GPX files:For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following this link and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’
Ascent Entry: Pen Y Garn Goch
Crugiau Merched: The second one of the day was up the beautiful Rhandirmwyn valley just north of Rhandirmwyn village itself. This is beautiful country with nice narrow roads (unclassified) and again at the GPX start there is a nice lay-by for one or two vehicles. Opposite this lay-by is a road leading down to a quaint chapel and a cottage. The cottage has a garage, head between the cottage and the garage, walk to the side of the cottage and you will find the pedestrian gateway to the hill.
Once on the hill you follow a distinct quad bike type of trail that zig zags its way steeply uphill with a stream on the left. Keep going and keep to the obvious ridge that is in front of you in a SW direction. After about half an hour you come over the top and you will see two distinct cairns and the trig point just beyond. The countryside about is really lovely and would normally feed you some stunning views…but not today! It was windy and starting to drizzle so we headed off down hill back to the van.
Route Summary: A short but steep easy walk in classic mid Wales mountain scenery.
Route Statistics: 3.5km in 1hr flat with 268m of ascent.
GPX files:For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following this link and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’
Ascent Entry: Crugiau Merched
Rhos Ymryson: As we made our way to the last one of the day Freya was well on its way and it was blowing a good one with lots of rain. This however was just going to be a short one! We found a very ample lay-by again just opposite the start on the B4338 a couple of kilometres west of the village of Gorsgoch.
I didn’t like this one as it was private land but there seemed no other way to do it. Basically just follow the GPX trail and make your own way avoiding fences and don’t disturb any animals. You can’t get to the top proper as it is fenced off covered reservoir but you can walk all the way around it. This I did and made my way back to the van.
Route Summary: Hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Route Statistics: 1.9km done in 22mins with 62m of height gain.
GPX files:For gpx files go to the Peakbagger website by following this link and go to the bottom right hand of the page and click ‘Download this GPS track as a GPX file.’
Ascent Entry: Rhos Ymryson
Pen Y Garn Goch overview from View Ranger.
Entrance to forestry. Room for 1-2 vehicles.
Scenery on the way up.
Typical forest road hike.
Obligatory forestry trip point.
Crugiau Merched overview from View Ranger.
Lay-by at road junction at start.
The chapel a 100m from the lay-by.
Walk between the garage and the car through the visible gate and to the right to get to the gate onto the hill.
The trail on the way up. It will turn sharply to the right.
Approaching one of the cairns (there are two) on the top.
The second cairn and trig point.
Lovely valley view.
Rhos Ymryson overview from View Ranger.
Big lay-by at the start.
The covered reservoir summit.
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