INTRODUCTION: This Menhinick Outdoors Limited (Bryn Walking) 5-day "Walking in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park" was based at a pleasant and well furnished farmhouse on the northern slopes of the Preselli Hills. I assisted Helen Menhinick of Bryn Walking with the event and I always enjoy visits to the area. The 2023 event with different walks will be April 24th - 28th using the same accommodation - please contact me for details. October 24th: Arrivals at the accommodation and briefing of the week ahead October 25th: The Golden Road across the Preseli Hills The Golden Road, running along the spine of the Preseli Hills (Mynydd Preseli), is one of the finest high ground walking ways in Wales. This gently undulating route, with views as far as Ireland, deep into South Wales, and north up the majestic arc of Cardigan Bay towards Snowdonia, links ancient monuments and burial places, cairns and rocky tors. Its star features are two of the possible quarries from which stones are believed to have been taken to Stonehenge 4000 years ago. Helen drove the group to Bwlch-gwynt (Alt. 404m) where we parked and met three more of our group who were fairly local and didn't require accommodation. It was a wet day with no views until later in the day. The route was very easy to follow on this misty morning and quite wet underfoot until we reached the ancient cairn at Foel Feddau (Alt. 467m). The boulder strewn landscape at Cerrigmarchogian could have been the source of the Blue Stones used at the Stonehenge and was interesting to walk through. We reached Carn Breseb after a easy descent and decided to have lunch here as the views were better from this lower altitude. Rejoining the main route east at Carn Gwr we continued eastwards before leaving the Golden Road at Carn Gaseg to head north to the Foel Drygarn ancient hill fort within which are three ancient bronze age burial cairns. The hill, the furthest east of the Preseli Hills can be seen from miles around, and the fort was probably an important centre in its time. An inner defence on the summit encloses 1.2 hectares (3.0 acres); outside this are defences built at later stages on the north and east side. Each are single ramparts of dry stone and earth; there are traces of a ditch outside the inner rampart. Descending norhwards from the summit we soon found there were issues with the local Public Rights of Way network and this resulted in a crossing of open and rough ground over to Mirianog-ganol. From there we made better progress back to our accommodation near Crosswell. October 26th: Pembrokeshire Coast Path around Point St. John and St Davids We should have visited Ramsey Island today but the ferry boat operator had advised us there would be no sailings due to bad weather so we utilsed our back up plan which was to do a walk from the ferry car park around Pont St. John and then visit St Davids. As rounded Point St. John care was needed with foot placement due to the very strong winds. We ended the walk back at the RNLI lifeboat base and visited the new lifeboat shed which was open to the public. A short drive took us into St Davids where everyone had a couple of hours to explore. Dinner was the usual event BBQ hosted by Helen. October 27th: Pembrokeshire Coast Path across disused WW2 airfields to Solva This was a walk I was looking forward to and which exceeded my expetations for an enjoyable walk day. We started at the Upper Solva Mill where Helen had arranged for us to park and use the facilities, Then it was over to the abandoned WW2 airfields and downto the Wales Coastal Path into Solva for lunch at the harbour cafe which should have been closed but Helen had kindly arranged for it to be open for us. After lunch we walked back up the Solva Inlet to the cars and several of us made purchases at the Mill. Dinner was at a nearby pub. October 28th: Waun Mawr Standing Stones and the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber Helen had done a lot of research about this mornings walk and ending up at the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber was a treat as I'd never been there before. The event finished at arund midday. Conclusion: I enjoy these Bryn Walking events with Helen and there are three residential walking breaks planned for 2023 which I'm looking forward to......
April 24th - 28th: Walks in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park using the same accommodation as referred to above. July 3rd - 7th: Walks around the Elan Valley in the Southern Cambrian Mountains with an excellent bunkhouse just outside Rhayder. Whilst it is a bunkhouse it is very well equipped and all the rooms are en-suite. October 2nd - 6th: Southern Snowdonia to summit Rhinog Fach and Rhinog Fawr
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2021 OnwardsFollowing on from retirement, more time will be available for hill and mountain walking on a personal basis with friends. Categories |