Lucky’s Adventures in Wales (Part A)

The recent hiatus in blog-posting was the result of me and the wife and the dog nicking off to Wales for two weeks and , despite the fact that we actually took a laptop this time, I only used it to play dragontiles…  and not for blogging…

But now, we’re back…. hence , this:

Last year, I completed a round of the Hewitts with a bijoux ascent of the very lovely but foggy Rhinog Fawr, in the company of Bruno the Superdawg.  A round of Hewitts, however, leaves Nuttalls undone, and who wants to have loose Nuttalls, eh?  Before today’s walk, there were 14 loose Nuttalls to be done, one of which was Pillar Rock (oooer!) But leaving any concerns about Pillar Rock aside there was a handy and undangerous Nuttall nearby…

The nearest undone Nuttall to the Knipe caravan, in fact, was Pumlumon Fach, a small and rather undistinguished lump sticking to the side of Pumlumon. And so, on day one of the hillwalking programme – the first Sunday, in fact, me and the new dog Lucky went off to Nat-y-Moch reservoir for the bagging of it. A duff weather forecast indicated a quick bag was required unless I wanted us to get really wet. (Which we did, by the way…)

This brought us into the little soggy dale of Hengwm – a splodgy, trembling, spongy but splendidly wild sort of place previously visited on two recent enjoyable occasions by the elite Linney-Knipe backpacking team, once from Machynlleth and once from Nant yr Arian

The climb up to the summit of Pumlumon from the outdoor pursuits ex-sheep station near Maesnant was a straightforward lurch up rough grass and a final bit of steepish grass and scree

The summit was windy and cold, though, so we tarried not there but wafted off down the hill to visit the two lumps on the way down, one of which would be the Nuttall, and the other not. (I wasn’t absolutely sure which was which at this point, so we went to both.

We descended to Llyn Llygad Rheidol to read the warning signs about how deep and cold the water was and the fact that it was probably full of rat wee and that if anything untoward should happen we should dial 999. Lucky pointed out that not bringing a sufficient supply of winalot biccies probably qualified as an emergency but agreed that a swim in the black and freezing wave-ruffled waters would constitute foolishness.

So, we followed the road and then the little beck down to a copse of conifers which is where me and Dawn camped a couple of years ago. I found an old tent peg on the bit where we camped at first (we moved inside the copse eventually) and noticed that the patch outside the copse looked quite heavily used and had dried out somewhat and also that inside the copse was quite clean and tidy, which was nice – it seemed to have some significant use from yoof groups.

I also spotted a rather nice camping spot a few yards downstream from the footbridge.

Then, as the heavens opened, I abandoned my nostalgic exploration and returned to the knipemobile and, despite the short hop along the track, we got absolutely soaked. Lucky considered that this was entirely my fault and mentioned that it had better not happen again.

I saw only one other walker that day – and he was at some distance, way up Hengwm as the rain started. On the next occasion, I would meet nobody at all…

A short walk of just 5 miles and 2000 feet of up.

Thanks, by the way, go to John and Gayle for adding lumps of cash to the virgin money-giving page thingy in aid of Mind (still a while for this project to run - so  add money here! )