Gwynne-Harris route recce – 6 summits including Fan Fawr, Fan Llia

Describe the route in three words: epic shortcut fail

Gwynne-Harris route recce – the 6 summits of Bryn Du, Fan Fawr, Fan Dringarth, Fan Llia, Craig Cerrig-gleisiad (Rhos Dringarth) & Fan Frynych

I planned a fantastic three day training block in Wales, day one was to be around 14 miles and 6 summits of the Gwynne-Harris Round, day two a further 3 summits over 15 miles and day 3 would be picking up where I left off on my first recce. I had had to cut the route short in January as I knew I would risk running out of daylight if I continued with my planed route of around 20 miles, therefore missing out on 4 of the summits.

I booked into Nant Ddu Lodge near Merthyr Tydfil which was conveniently located to all three start points and just a 5 minute drive from day one’s start at Storey Arms.

I’d been keeping an eye on the mountain forecast and knew that I’d be facing weather that was going to be a bit tougher than what I was used to, it was going to be pretty windy and damp out there with cooler temperatures than I’d experienced on previous trips to Wales.

I knew there was no need for me to start too early as I had a bit more daylight to play with than I had in January plus I had shortened the route down to 15 miles. The main takeaway from the January trip was that the 20+ mile recces I had been planning were not going to work during winter time as I am pretty slow going up the mountains and a lot of the ‘paths’ are very technical so I had split my original plan for this part of the route into two days rather than just one. I left Nant Ddu Lodge just before 9am and after a bit of faffing after parking up I commenced my adventure at 9.12am.

I set the bearing on my compass and headed up towards Bryn Du. It was grassy and damp terrain with frosty patches and a few muddy puddles which I skirted around, I thought I’d try to keep my feet as dry as possible for as long as possible although I knew it was inevitable they’d be soaked through long before the end of the route. There was nothing of significance for me to know that I had passed through Bryn Du 563m, the visibility was pretty poor, I’ve since inspected my Strava and I can see I must have passed right by the trig point but didn’t spot it! (See what it looks like here.) The trig is not painted and is surrounded by heather so paired with the low visibility I’m not surprised I missed it. I got to the cairn of Fan Fawr 734m at 9:36am and continued on to the trig point, arriving at 9:43am.

I reset my compass which I was relying on heavily as the weather conditions meant I could not see far ahead at all. I would use the compass to spot something as far away in the distance as possible (which really wasn’t that far!), a particularly large piece of grass, or a rock for instance, then upon reaching would consult the compass again. Upon leaving the trig at Fan Fawr I had decided that I could take a short cut. This proved to be a costly error. I came off the gpx and followed my bearing directly towards Fan Dringarth. For a reason I will never know, I completely overlooked the glaringly obvious river on the map. As I was gleefully galloping along, singing to myself at how clever I was taking a short cut, it gradually dawned on me that the valley I could see ahead looked very much like it could be supporting a river. I carried on though, I didn’t check the map. I think I thought maybe there would be a bridge? Again, not sure why I didn’t consult the map as a bridge would be marked on there.

I suppose I just thought I would get to the river and a solution for getting to the other side would magically present itself to me.

I could hear the river (Afon Dringarth) before I saw it. I could see the Ystradfellte Reservoir that it lead to so I knew to follow the river downstream would not be a good idea even though it was in the direction I wanted to go. I knew that downstream would likely mean wider and faster. It was the sort of river that one could just about safely cross but it would seem that when I am on my own, I have an extremely sensible safety conscious side to me. I thought about crossing, but all the possible risks kept popping in to my head. What if it was deeper than it looked? What if the flow was faster than it appeared to be? What if the rocks were slippery and I couldn’t keep my balance and twisted an ankle? If I had been in company, I would not have thought twice and I would have crossed it. But I wasn’t. I was on my own. I’d arrived at its side at 10:07am.

So I followed the river upstream hoping to find a narrower crossing point or some kind of stepping stone situation. The fact that I am such a novice really showed now. Of course a river has tributaries. And I ended up having to cross quite a number of them. Some of the tributaries had mini water cascades and were surprisingly fast flowing. I had a moment of panic rise up inside me, what if I got trapped surrounded by all these rivers? Of course I realised that worse case scenario I could just turn around and re-trace my steps.

After what felt like an eternity I finally arrived back on the gpx trail and stuck to it like glue until I was safely out of the area. The gpx does take you over a couple of the tributaries where wet feet are the only option. I think this short cut cost me around one mile and one hour of time. Always one for looking on the positive side, it was a very good lesson well learned!

I felt relieved to arrive at the cairn at Fan Llia 632m at 11.03am. I had passed through Fan Dringarth 617m which is apparently marked by a small stone, I didn’t notice it! You can see what it looks like here.

The weather was wet to say the least and my thumbs were quite cold, but I was in an exposed area so I thought I’d just keep moving rather than do something about it, I felt that moving would warm me up whereas stopping and faffing I’d just get colder. It was time to start heading down towards the road which follows the Afon Llia. It was really pleasant coming down here, perhaps because it was downhill or perhaps the ground was easier going after wading through a long wet grass section.

I passed over a stile and arrived at a footbridge. I took a mental note of what the car park here looked like as well as the surrounding area as I would be coming back here tomorrow to park for the next recce.

I had an uphill road section to run along, it wasn’t too much of a slog and was nice just being able to run without having to think about every step I took and the placement of my feet. I came to Maen Llia at 11:47am, a 4000 year old standing stone. I propped my poles up against the stile and climbed over to take a closer look.

As I left Maen Llia I realised at this point that my bottom half and hands were absolutely soaking and getting colder too, I also realised I hadn’t eaten anything since starting out, unlike me as my tummy is normally very good at reminding me to eat! I debated putting my waterproof trousers on but my legs were soaked through so I felt it was perhaps a bit late for that. I took my wet gloves off and put on my lovely dry spare pair and then my waterproof over mittens on top. I got a bar out and nibbled this as I headed up towards Fan Frynych.

The trail here is part of the South Wales Traverse and I had expected the path to be more runnable as this section appears as a national trail on the map, but alas, it was essentially a rocky river bed, really hard for me to pick up any pace whatsoever so I adopted a sort of lope which works fairly well for me when I am unsure of my footings, it’s a half run/half walk, with one leg striding out further than the other, so very much like a horse loping! My thumbs had warmed up, there was a break in the drizzle and the most glorious rainbow appeared, it was a real “wow” moment. I kept exclaiming out loud with delight at the beauty around me. The rainbow, the sunshine, the scenery and now a little babbling brook to cross over.

I eventually reached a gate and this was a decision point for me. I could stick to the gpx or I could try out another one of my shortcuts. There was an information sign which I took a look at and I laughed as I realised it was essentially a danger of death sign, stray off path here and you could fall down into a quarry. Gpx it is then! Thing is, I wasn’t quite sure what side of the fence I was supposed to be on. I decided to cross through the gate and travel on the left of the fence. As I went steeply up I kept thinking, “the path looks much nicer on the other side”. I finally got to the corner where the fence line went ninety degrees to the left and it was now apparent I was on the wrong side of the fence. Dangnammit! There is one thing that I’ve apparently become quite good at since recceing the Gwynne-Harris Round and that is scaling barbed wire fences. I travelled along the side of the fence until I got to a gate (which was of course on the other side of the fence) but it meant I was able to use the gate post structure to safely get over the fence without snagging my skin. Now I was on the correct side of the fence, it was much easier to run! I came to a cairn which marks the summit of Craig Cerrig-gleisiad (Rhos Dringarth) 629m at 12:52pm and knew all I had left was an out and back to Fan Frynych.

I headed left and into the Craig Cerrig-gleisiad nature reserve, it’s really, really beautiful here.

All of the Brecon Beacons are really beautiful so you would think it’s hard to differentiate between really beautiful and really, really beautiful but every once in a while I’ll do an extra sharp intake of breath followed by a “wow” out loud!

This part of the route up to Fan Frynych really isn’t that long – about half a mile. I had another fence decision to make, I wasn’t sure which side I should be on. I could have looked at the map here, but I didn’t need to as just when I was about to get it out I saw a gate, ok, well at least I know I can retrace my steps back to here if needs be. I kept on the left side of the fence as I knew that Fan Frynych was on the left (I really should be thinking in terms of North, South, East and West but I’m not that pro yet!) The path veered off to the left with a sharper climb, turns out there was a stile on the fence line anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered which side I was on. I reached Fan Frynych 629m at 1:13pm and was surprised at just how quickly that section of the route had passed.

I turned around and headed back towards the cairn and now it was time to make my way off the mountain and down to the car park. It was pretty wet in places here and I zigzagged a bit trying to find a good route to take.

It wasn’t too long until I could see the road in the distance, the trail cuts into the side of the slope and is narrow and rocky, easy enough to do but not at too fast a pace. I overtook a couple of school groups, one of the teenage girls exclaimed, “You’re incredible running this, so fast!” Well, I’d better not walk then as I don’t want to disappoint! I said thank you and continued my way with a big grin. Eventually I could make out the shape of the Storey Arms in the distance and then was able to see the car park, I could see the light reflecting off my car. I ran down to the car, arriving at around 2pm and I realised I’d not had my lunch, I’d only eaten one bar on the run, so I enjoyed a little picnic in the car before heading back to Nant Ddu Lodge.

My lack of appetite should perhaps have alerted me to the fact there was a problem (I always have a good appetite). That night, I woke up with a stomach bug and unfortunately was unable to continue with the next two days of running I had planned. Day two was postponed to March, you can read about it here.

What’s in the snack pack?

Wrap (hummus, guacamole and Red Leicester)

Hula Hoops

3x bars

Malt loaf

Shell-less Skittles

Sugar coated stemmed ginger

Mints

2x 500ml bladders water – both with Hi 5

Extra bladder with 1 litre plain water

Spare gloves

Salomon Bonatti waterproof over mittens

Long sleeved spare layer

OMM Halo waterproof trousers

Vasaline

Spare hair band

Safety pins

Compeed, plasters, surgical tape, spare socks

Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver

Silva head torch

Whistle

Survival bag

Tissues, wet wipes, face mask

Bank card and phone

SPOT Tracker hired from Track Trail

What I wore: Saucony Ultra ST, Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Stance socks, thin long sleeved Decathlon base layer, thicker long sleeved Decathlon top, Inov 8 Trailshell waterproof jacket, Dirty Girl gaiters, hat, gloves, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.

Lead up: I’d started a 6 week beginners course Pilates for Runners with Liz Patient, it’s all online so I had done a coupe of the sessions and had also done a couple of track sessions with AFD and a long run the week before, achieving a new FKT on the Hangers Way, this was all part of me trying to ramp up my training a bit as I have the South Downs Way 100 in June.

Morning preparations: I woke before my alarm and too early to go to breakfast so I did my stretches and then headed down to the restaurant to eat. I had scrambled egg and mushrooms on toast with a pot of tea, an orange juice, a yoghurt and a banana… I do like to make the most of a hotel breakfast!

Summary

This was another great day out in the mountains, I have to confess, I do prefer the weather when it’s a bit kinder, it was good that I had a thin base layer over my long sleeved top.

Results:

Elapsed time: 4h 46m 20s