After a week of sitting in cars and working indoors, we desparately needed some open space. We decided to pay a visit to Allt Lwyd. It is one of three summits we need to reach before we complete all the Hewitts in the Central Beacons. The forecast was for a day of sunshine - not a common occurence in Wales, especially in November. However, clear skies meant low temperatures and when we parked up alongside the Talybont Reservoir it was -3˚C. We were greeted by a friendly robin who begged some food from us. We were happy to oblige. We headed up the well-marked path, frosty grass crunching underfoot. We were careful to avoid the thick patches of ice, which on a warmer day would have been muddy puddles. The ascent was steep and, despite the cold, we soon had to remove some layers. We reached the summit of Allt Lwyd fairly quickly. The view was superb. In the east, the upper slopes of Black Mountains looked like a Vienetta ice-cream due to alternate bands of rock and snow. Even from a distance, Langorse Lake looked frozen. We continued along the col and encountered more residual snow. We chose to extend our walk around the summit of Waun Rydd...along the ridges we missed last time! There were some fantastic icicles hanging from the peat haggs. We had our lunch next to the cairn at the junction of Gwalciau'r Cwm and Cwar Y Gigfran. There were large patches of frozen snow, which crunched underfoot as they began to freeze when the afternoon temperature began to drop rapidly. We eventually summited Waun Rydd and enjoyed the spectacular 360 degree view, which we had missed last month due to low cloud and rain. The obvious path to Carn Pica was now quite treacherous as some of the earlier snow-melt had frozen in glassy sheets - it looks like crampons could be an upcoming purchase! As the sun began to set, we made a relatively rapid descent of the Twyn Du ridge. This time we were thankful for the sub-zero temperatures which had frozen the usual quagmires into ground with a firm, crusty surface. In spite of the cold, we walked down to the edge of the reservoir to take some photos of a beautiful sunset. We were not alone. The cheeky robin reappeared...and we were able to reward him with a few crumbs before heading for home. Learned and Affirmed
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AuthorWe are Lynne and Andrew from Single Steps Learning. Our love of learning and exploring has inspired us to take up 'hill-walking'. We hope to progress from novice to expert! This is our journey. Archives
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