The Twmbarlwm XMAS EXCESS Walk

(AND/OR LITTER PICK)

Sunday 28th December 2014

We met up at the Wharf on the canal at Halls Road  Terrace, Pontywaun – and I was very pleased to see so many turn up to shake off those Xmas Excesses – there were 14 humans and 5 dogs.

The group was led by enthusiastic rambler and CTS Member, Maggie Thomas. It was a beautiful sunny morning with clear blue skies, but with a heavy frost on the ground.

We set off up Trinity Hill to Gelli Unig and continued the climb past the old quarry and up onto the forestry road. A very steep start to the walk but the views up and down the valley are well worth it.

The walk from there following the forestry road undulates up and down a bit but it is fairly easy – and everyone chatted easily as we went along. We stopped for a quick group photo at the gate below Pegwyn y Bwlch before continuing around to the common below the Tump and on to the car park for a quick breather before the final assault.

Sue and Dave were at the car park doing a litter pick – but again a mystery litter picker had been and done most of the work the previous day. Before the walkers arrived Sue had set off, to get to the summit before them, with the flask of mulled wine and several boxes of mince pies.

When Sue got to the summit a fellow was there flying his drone to take aerial shots of the Tump. Turned out this was Paul Davis and he has kindly let us show one of his brilliant shots in the gallery below  – hopefully I’ll show more in the future.

We all climbed the steep slope from the car park for the final assault on the summit. When we got to the top we were welcomed by Sue with a cup of mulled wine and a mince pie for everyone and so another great photo opportunity.

The views from the top were fabulous – a cold winter’s day like this, with clear blue skies, are the best conditions to get clear views across the channel in the south and to the Brecon Beacons in the north.

While there another group of walkers arrived from the Henllys side of the mountain – so at one point there were over 40 people at the top.

With the mulled wine finished we made our way back down to Pegwyn y Bwlch and down Darren Road and across the canal back to the starting point.

It was a very successful walk on a beautiful day – I’d like to thank Maggie for leading walk, Sue for providing the refreshments and Dave for his litter picking – and I look forward to doing it all again next year.

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