Hello again. For those of you that noticed there wasn't a blog entry last week, I'm back. And for everyone else, why didn't you notice? In case you were wondering, there's no blog entry for last week because I've been having a 9 day weekend, and that means that I've been busy trying to fill those 9 days up with adventures, and other really useful and exciting stuff! With it being the Jubilee and having 2 bank holidays in a row, it seemed like a good idea to just stick an extra couple of days leave on the start and take advantage of the free time off, so that's exactly what I did. So what have I been up to with my time off? Well, for a starters I've been running, walking and playing bikes, I've spent a few hours on the allotment, done a bit of gardening at home, and generally pottered around, doing nothing much. But of the bits that are worth talking about, lets start with a bit of trail running. Now, in one of my customary moments of stupidity I'd signed up for a 600K Audax over the bank holiday, which started in Cardiff (more of which later). Never one to turn down an opportunity though, that seemed like a good excuse to both go and see “The Boy” and get a bit of running and walking in, in the Brecon Beacons, at the same time. As such I took the van down to Abergavenny for a starters, with a loose plan to pick up The Beast of the Blacks route, which I'd run and enjoyed last year, from there, having made a few alterations to the original route in order to knock a few miles off. An early start Tuesday morning, saw me making my way slowly up the stupidly steep side of the Sugar Loaf mountain, long before most normal people were even awake, let alone out running, on what was a chilly morning with a forecast for rain later in the day (hence the early start). Well wrapped up against the cold May wind (it's not very often that you get to say that), it was definitely worth dragging myself out of bed for though. The Skylarks were singing their hearts out, off in the distance a Cuckoo was calling, Sheep, with their rapidly growing Lambs in tow, made way for me on the track, and coming to the top the view opened out into a spectacular vista. The biggest problem with this part of the world is that if you stopped for every breath-taking view you would never get anywhere, so a quick pause for a photo and push on, following the path down the other side and setting the scene for what would be a repeating theme throughout the day, climb, admire the view, descend, whilst admiring the view, and repeat, ad infinitum, or at least until my legs said enough! From the peak of the Sugar Loaf it's a good few miles of pleasant downhill running before the spectre of Crug Hywel (Table mountain) rears it's head from amongst the pleasant wooded lanes of the valley floor and the climbing starts again. Gently at first, but soon enough, the inclines taken your breath away, and your reduced back to a fast walk, or as fast as my little legs can manage. Ever so slowly though I inch my way through the green fields at the bottom of the climb and move into open moorland, Bracken gives way to low laying heather as the height increases, and as I get higher still, so the footpath disappears, to be replaced by making my way in the general direction along sheep tracks and through the peaty moorland. The route I'm roughly following, reaches the top and then descends again to pick up Macnmaras passs, but I elect to divert and hold the higher ground, making my way along yet more sheep tracks and along random dead ends to hold the high ground, following the ridge round to eventually meet back up with the track as it climbs Waun Fach, with it's far off views towards Pen y Fan, and lung busting gradient. From here things get a bit easier for a few miles as I track along the Hay escarpment, where after nearly 3 hours on the move I see the first other people, in the form of a group of youngsters out on a Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme adventure. No time to stand chatting though, as despite the sun shining brightly there's a cold wind whipping over the ridge and it's too chilly to stop. And why would I want to stop when there's an ever better view around every corner! Crossing the Gospel Pass I make my way back onto the higher ground again, and follow the path along the hill tops. Working steadily along a path that's been paved with flagstones to avoid the thick muddy ooze below and limit the erosion from hundreds of feet, which makes for some easier running. A couple of miles later I have a choice to make, drop off the high ground to go into Longtown, with another leg burning climb afterwards, or stay high up, dropping off the high ground later to descend into Llanthony, with it's ruined Abbey. It's not a hard choice to make and I elect to stay on the high ground, making my way slowly along the well surfaced track, stopping briefly to chat with a couple of walkers and diverting slightly to avoid a group of ponies, each with a young foal in tow who have made the path their home for the day. The precipitous and knee killing descent into Llanthony gives a different set of muscles a work out and it's with relief that I reach the flatter ground in front of the Abbey, where I take advantage of a clear, fresh, fast flowing stream of fresh mountainside water to refill my water bottle, whilst I sit for a few minutes on the bank side, taking in the view and getting some calories on board. Calories that will be much needed in the next few minutes as I need to regain all the height that I've just lost getting down here, in order to regain the Hatterrall Ridge for the next leg. Lunch (if you can call 5 minutes getting as much food down your neck as you can, lunch) over and I'm back on my feet again, pushing as hard as I can back up the steep valley side. Steadily making my way through the trees that manage to cling to existence at this slightly lower level, before breaking back out onto the open hillside and resuming my steady plod. I'm on the last stretch now and I can see the Sugar Loaf, looming large on the horizon in front of me, I suspect though that it's further away than it looks and there's at least 1, if not 2 more valley crossings to go yet. Descending off the Hatterrall Ridge for the final time, the scenery gets less dramatic, the open moor land and far off views being replaced with wooded valleys and small, neatly hedged and fenced fields of lush green grass, winter pasture for the hardy moor land sheep who are currently away grazing on the young sweet heather and bracken tops, helping in their own way to maintain this pristine landscape. A steep descent, followed immediately by an even steeper and longer climb signals that the end is in sight, but the climb takes it's final toll on my already tired legs, and having slogged relentlessly through the steepest section, once the gradient lessens I still can't summon the strength, either physical or mental, to resume running. Knowing that I need to keep something in the bank for the real focus of my efforts later in the week I'm happy to walk the last couple of miles, and maintain a fast walk for the remaining distance as I slowly make my way back onto the Sugar Loaf and home. And to be honest, in the late afternoon sun, with the birds still singing, the views to occupy my mind and not having to watch my every footfall, it's a pleasant few miles.
No more rubbing back pack, no more jarring feet and knees, no more heavy breathing, just peace, solitude and the wind in my ears. A touch under 40 miles then, across some pretty hilly terrain, self supported and just for a change I didn't get lost. That's not a bad day out by my reckoning, and with a time of 9:22 it wasn't an overly long day out either, leaving plenty of time to sort my life out, ready for tomorrows adventure!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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