Sunny Wales - the Llangattock Escarpment and Keepers Pond
Continuing from my last post, staying in beautiful Crickhowell overnight
Had breakfast in our hotel/pub which was very nice but slightly distracting because it seemed we were the only people in the breakfast room not there for the birthday of the lady sitting next to us. There's nothing like feeling like a gatecrasher at a breakfast you booked and paid for, but we were clearly made to feel in the way of this large family group who couldn't sit all together.
Checked out of hotel and strolled down to the Tourist Information to see if they had any suggestions on walks. Rob changed his mind about not wanting to do anything too strenuous after seeing the beautiful hills all around Crickhowell, so we decided on what looked to be a fairly easy but scenic walk along the Llangattock Escarpment.
How difficult could it be - the walks leaflet showed photos of families picnicing and an elderly couple relaxed on a bench enjoying the scenery
- and the car took us most of the way up to the escarpment anyway .....
(view from the car park - I'm not sure how Rob got the car up the tiny hairpin bends to get here!)
at least they couldn't lose me in a hurry in my tie-dye pink dress!
so far so picturesque and we carried along the path towards the craggy cliffs of the escarpment, passing many relics of its old industrial heritage - can't imagine how workers got up here to work in the quarries every day!
sheeps!
We followed the directions until we arrived at a rock in the middle of the path, where we were instructed to take a sharp right - all we could see was a path going ahead and bracken, going down a hill to the right (no photo because we were too busy trying to fathom out the OS map!). A family passed by and stopped to help, looking at the map and pointing at what only could be described as an overgrown goat trail, descending sharply downhill.
We procrastinated a while, do we follow the trail or just continue along this top path, where the family were going. Rob went ahead down the trail and proclaimed it "OK", albeit somewhat over grown, so we decided to go for it, armed with instructions, OS map and GPS. the further down we went, the more overgrown it became, with the bracken nearly as tall as me in some places.
Pic taken about half way down - we had started off near those rocky cliffs at the top left!
That photo at the top, of the elderly couple on a bench? I took this photo from that bench (Rob trying to decipher where exactly the path was)
have to admit I was a little nervous now, as there was no way I could go back the way we came but the continuing path seemed even more overgrown. Reliant on our GPS, we battled through the bracken to find the path. Occasionally, there was less bracken - revealing the rather scary steep slope to our right - one foot wrong and we'd be going down the fast way!
At one stage the path had eroded completely and we had no option but to squeeze into a gorse bush to find safe footing - that was a little painful!
We finally reached the bottom of the valley - as it was now evident that our "easy walk" was taking us down into the valley and then back up again to the escarpment, so much for driving part way up! Apparently there are special protected marshlands here.
However we now had lost all mobile signal and GPS, the only living things we'd seen on our route was sheep and I couldn't help but worry what would happen if we had an accident, as there would be no way to call for help - the Brecon Beacons are not to be underestimated, even the valleys!
We continued our path along the riverbed for a while until we reached a large holly tree, that the family we spoke to earlier had mentioned, that was one hell of a relief to know we were still on path. From here we gradually started to ascend - still a fair bit of bracken but not as overgrown as the route down and all more hopeful when we could see our destination getting closer and the stunning views start to open out around us. (and mobile/gps signal again, yay!)
to say we were thrilled to reach the escarpment was an understatement. :-) (on reflection, it was one hell of a beautiful walk, had we known what to expect from the directions - all the leaflet said was "not suitable for pushchairs"!)
a bit tired
stopped for a quick picnic of welsh cakes and local apple juice
These sheeps weren't expecting to see us on their path
as we continued our walk along the escarpment, back towards the car, we met with that family again. They were quite relieved to see that we made it round! They had spent the morning trying to stop their kids from wandering off into the caves instead - one hell of a cave network in the cliffs, the whole place really had a Lord of the Rings feel (apparently Tolkein did spend some time around here, so it must have influenced him), we were expecting to see Shelob emerge out of one of the caves at any moment!
and eerily, when you got close to the cave entrance, the temperature dropped by a good 10 degrees or so, must be icy inside the mountain
even this path was a little scary in places, looking down at all the rockfall from above us
Table Mountain in the background - Rob originally wanted us to go up this mountain!
this path used to be a tramway - again, the mind boggles as to how the quarry workers and their equipment got up here.
and back at that rock. Ignore the unflattering pink blob in the foreground and just behind the rock you might see the path we took, that slight gap between two clumps of bracken, to the right of the actual path
the final stretch back to the car - in some ways more difficult than the hill scramble as by now the pub was calling us!
finally made it back to the car and went downhill for a much needed drink at the Bridge Inn, Crickhowell. We were considering going for a swim in the river (its deeper than it looks in this pic)
but it was slightly "ahem" fragrant, so we decided instead to go back towards Blaenavon for a swim in the pond we passed by the day before - Keepers Pond, buying some sandwiches from the pub to take with us.
When we arrived, had a bit of a shock to see the place was surrounded by horses!
They were very friendly though - or looking for food, more like!
we cased out the pond - there were some people in there when we arrived and had a chat with a couple paddling who assured us that it was lovely to swim in.
The water was amazing. It was a little orange - due to its former use as part of the Ironworks creating a thick irony orange silt, but otherwise very clean and fresh. I saw a newt in the water on the way in, not sure what else was in there!
It was not quite as remote as it looked, due to the large car park next to the pond, which was a starting point for walkers going up the Blorenge (another walk we had considered for that day), but the panoramic view of the mountains made it feel like paradise.
(Rob did actually go in the water, but someone had to get out to take some quick photos!)
and now, with this photo following the last, you've seen far more of Rob than you ever wanted to see. ;-)
by the time we dried off in the sun and had our picnic, it was coming up to 6pm and we had to be in work in the morning! It was so difficult to leave though. So that we would make use of facilities before heading back onto the motorway to London, we stopped for a drink at the nearby "highest pub in Wales" A slightly eccentric place, it did feel a tad American Werewolf in London, when we walked in and all the locals (where did they all come from, this pub's in the middle of nowhere!) stopped talking. We decided to take our drinks outside.
Just in case you were in any doubt what country you're in ...
The Lamb and Fox pub ...
A rather fantastic weekend, very much needed to escape London for a couple of days during this uncharacteristically sunny summer!
The full gallery of pics here
Save
Had breakfast in our hotel/pub which was very nice but slightly distracting because it seemed we were the only people in the breakfast room not there for the birthday of the lady sitting next to us. There's nothing like feeling like a gatecrasher at a breakfast you booked and paid for, but we were clearly made to feel in the way of this large family group who couldn't sit all together.
Checked out of hotel and strolled down to the Tourist Information to see if they had any suggestions on walks. Rob changed his mind about not wanting to do anything too strenuous after seeing the beautiful hills all around Crickhowell, so we decided on what looked to be a fairly easy but scenic walk along the Llangattock Escarpment.
How difficult could it be - the walks leaflet showed photos of families picnicing and an elderly couple relaxed on a bench enjoying the scenery
- and the car took us most of the way up to the escarpment anyway .....
(view from the car park - I'm not sure how Rob got the car up the tiny hairpin bends to get here!)
at least they couldn't lose me in a hurry in my tie-dye pink dress!
so far so picturesque and we carried along the path towards the craggy cliffs of the escarpment, passing many relics of its old industrial heritage - can't imagine how workers got up here to work in the quarries every day!
sheeps!
We followed the directions until we arrived at a rock in the middle of the path, where we were instructed to take a sharp right - all we could see was a path going ahead and bracken, going down a hill to the right (no photo because we were too busy trying to fathom out the OS map!). A family passed by and stopped to help, looking at the map and pointing at what only could be described as an overgrown goat trail, descending sharply downhill.
We procrastinated a while, do we follow the trail or just continue along this top path, where the family were going. Rob went ahead down the trail and proclaimed it "OK", albeit somewhat over grown, so we decided to go for it, armed with instructions, OS map and GPS. the further down we went, the more overgrown it became, with the bracken nearly as tall as me in some places.
Pic taken about half way down - we had started off near those rocky cliffs at the top left!
That photo at the top, of the elderly couple on a bench? I took this photo from that bench (Rob trying to decipher where exactly the path was)
have to admit I was a little nervous now, as there was no way I could go back the way we came but the continuing path seemed even more overgrown. Reliant on our GPS, we battled through the bracken to find the path. Occasionally, there was less bracken - revealing the rather scary steep slope to our right - one foot wrong and we'd be going down the fast way!
At one stage the path had eroded completely and we had no option but to squeeze into a gorse bush to find safe footing - that was a little painful!
We finally reached the bottom of the valley - as it was now evident that our "easy walk" was taking us down into the valley and then back up again to the escarpment, so much for driving part way up! Apparently there are special protected marshlands here.
However we now had lost all mobile signal and GPS, the only living things we'd seen on our route was sheep and I couldn't help but worry what would happen if we had an accident, as there would be no way to call for help - the Brecon Beacons are not to be underestimated, even the valleys!
We continued our path along the riverbed for a while until we reached a large holly tree, that the family we spoke to earlier had mentioned, that was one hell of a relief to know we were still on path. From here we gradually started to ascend - still a fair bit of bracken but not as overgrown as the route down and all more hopeful when we could see our destination getting closer and the stunning views start to open out around us. (and mobile/gps signal again, yay!)
to say we were thrilled to reach the escarpment was an understatement. :-) (on reflection, it was one hell of a beautiful walk, had we known what to expect from the directions - all the leaflet said was "not suitable for pushchairs"!)
a bit tired
stopped for a quick picnic of welsh cakes and local apple juice
These sheeps weren't expecting to see us on their path
as we continued our walk along the escarpment, back towards the car, we met with that family again. They were quite relieved to see that we made it round! They had spent the morning trying to stop their kids from wandering off into the caves instead - one hell of a cave network in the cliffs, the whole place really had a Lord of the Rings feel (apparently Tolkein did spend some time around here, so it must have influenced him), we were expecting to see Shelob emerge out of one of the caves at any moment!
and eerily, when you got close to the cave entrance, the temperature dropped by a good 10 degrees or so, must be icy inside the mountain
even this path was a little scary in places, looking down at all the rockfall from above us
Table Mountain in the background - Rob originally wanted us to go up this mountain!
this path used to be a tramway - again, the mind boggles as to how the quarry workers and their equipment got up here.
and back at that rock. Ignore the unflattering pink blob in the foreground and just behind the rock you might see the path we took, that slight gap between two clumps of bracken, to the right of the actual path
the final stretch back to the car - in some ways more difficult than the hill scramble as by now the pub was calling us!
finally made it back to the car and went downhill for a much needed drink at the Bridge Inn, Crickhowell. We were considering going for a swim in the river (its deeper than it looks in this pic)
but it was slightly "ahem" fragrant, so we decided instead to go back towards Blaenavon for a swim in the pond we passed by the day before - Keepers Pond, buying some sandwiches from the pub to take with us.
When we arrived, had a bit of a shock to see the place was surrounded by horses!
They were very friendly though - or looking for food, more like!
we cased out the pond - there were some people in there when we arrived and had a chat with a couple paddling who assured us that it was lovely to swim in.
The water was amazing. It was a little orange - due to its former use as part of the Ironworks creating a thick irony orange silt, but otherwise very clean and fresh. I saw a newt in the water on the way in, not sure what else was in there!
It was not quite as remote as it looked, due to the large car park next to the pond, which was a starting point for walkers going up the Blorenge (another walk we had considered for that day), but the panoramic view of the mountains made it feel like paradise.
(Rob did actually go in the water, but someone had to get out to take some quick photos!)
and now, with this photo following the last, you've seen far more of Rob than you ever wanted to see. ;-)
by the time we dried off in the sun and had our picnic, it was coming up to 6pm and we had to be in work in the morning! It was so difficult to leave though. So that we would make use of facilities before heading back onto the motorway to London, we stopped for a drink at the nearby "highest pub in Wales" A slightly eccentric place, it did feel a tad American Werewolf in London, when we walked in and all the locals (where did they all come from, this pub's in the middle of nowhere!) stopped talking. We decided to take our drinks outside.
Just in case you were in any doubt what country you're in ...
The Lamb and Fox pub ...
A rather fantastic weekend, very much needed to escape London for a couple of days during this uncharacteristically sunny summer!
The full gallery of pics here
Save