John Fenna invited me on a 2-day walk around the Preselli's in Pembrokeshire, which we started on Tuesday at about 0830am.
We set off from a small layby just outside of Crymych, along a small track then out onto the open moorland.
It was a fine day to be out on the hills and John showed me around a lot of the ancient sites that can be found on the Preselli's, also the site of a WW2 Liberator Bomber crash landing which was quite humbling as there are still remains of the aircraft at the site and a memorial plaque dedicated to the flight crew.
We eventually walked approx 10 miles before reaching our bivi site where we would spend the night.
The bivi site was an old dis-used slate quarry that was cut into the east side of Foel Cwmcerwyn (The highest point in West Wales) and we had a beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding valley.
At this point we were aware that the weather was due to change for the worse, so we set about choosing the best spots to basha up and got to it.
Basha's up it was time for a brew and some scoff - Compo rations all round!
John was using hexi and I was using a Coleman Peak Stove. Guess who had their dinner finished first?
After dinner and a brew John took me in to the actual quarry itself where he showed me a tunnel that had been used to escavate a seam of slate. We crawled inside, where as expected, it was pitch black and I was not too happy with my head torch when I found out it had less light output than a match!
Inside we found a few candles on the ground - obviously from some former occupant!
Out of the tunnel, and back into the evening light, I produced a nice bottle of Silver Birch wine and John had brought a serving of Sloe Gin, these both went down very well as you can imagine.
All in all it would have been a beautiful evening if we hadn't been constantly attacked by midges. The only respite we had from them was when the breeze got up to drive them away - I started challenging Zues & Oden in order to try and get some more wind - other than that they were a constant pain. So.. we had to take drastic action to protect ourselves as you will see in the photos.
(When I got home I found that I had been bitten 18 times on my right leg, 12 on my left, three on my neck, 5 on my hands and twice on my backside!)
Eventually after the alcohol was all gone we decided to hit the sack. Basically.. to get away from the midges.
I was trying out my new Vango niteline sleeping bag which turned out, thankfully, to be a good buy.
(Buy one get one free from millets for £40)
The wind and rain came in during the night with a vengeance (obviously the gods were listening to my calls) and I didn't get much sleep, mainly due to the expectation of my basha, which was only anchored down by slate rocks, being blown away. So it was eventually about 7am when I got up to see it was a wet and horrible foggy morning. John was already up and dressed having woke at about 5am!
So gear packed away, waterproofs on we decided to make a move.
We had originally planned to drop down into flat marshland area on the north side of the hills where John was going to show me a few sites of interest but because we couldn't see more than 50m in front of us, we decided instead to walk the ridge path back to the start point where I had left my car.
The climb out of the north side of the quarry was horrendous. We tried our best to contour around the hill, but eventually we had to just scramble our way up to the ridge through very thick and very wet grass, bilbury bushes and shin deep moss. We made it to the top having slipped and fallen a few times, and with our ankles and thighs screaming at us.
(I realised then that I am not as fit as I used to be... in fact I'm a long way off!)
After that first 3/4 of a mile it was just a case of head down and slog on through the strong wind, horizontal rain and thick fog for another 5 miles, and after a couple of rest stops we reached the car at about 1130am. Both of us were soaked to the skin, and I don't know about John but I was knackered.
After all said and done, I really enjoyed it and will hopefully do it again soon.
Thanks again John!
Here's some photos:
Dropping down off the first hill which was a bronze age fortification looking to the west.
Mr Fenna
The plaque commemorating the WW2 Liberator Bomber Aircrash
Our bivi site. John's tarp at the back and mine in the foreground.
The view from the bivi site
John having his first brew of the evening
Going to extreme measures to avoid the midge!
Our view in the morning!
John sorting out his breakfast in the rain
The last ugly photo of the day! But I'm still smiling!
We set off from a small layby just outside of Crymych, along a small track then out onto the open moorland.
It was a fine day to be out on the hills and John showed me around a lot of the ancient sites that can be found on the Preselli's, also the site of a WW2 Liberator Bomber crash landing which was quite humbling as there are still remains of the aircraft at the site and a memorial plaque dedicated to the flight crew.
We eventually walked approx 10 miles before reaching our bivi site where we would spend the night.
The bivi site was an old dis-used slate quarry that was cut into the east side of Foel Cwmcerwyn (The highest point in West Wales) and we had a beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding valley.
At this point we were aware that the weather was due to change for the worse, so we set about choosing the best spots to basha up and got to it.
Basha's up it was time for a brew and some scoff - Compo rations all round!
John was using hexi and I was using a Coleman Peak Stove. Guess who had their dinner finished first?
After dinner and a brew John took me in to the actual quarry itself where he showed me a tunnel that had been used to escavate a seam of slate. We crawled inside, where as expected, it was pitch black and I was not too happy with my head torch when I found out it had less light output than a match!
Inside we found a few candles on the ground - obviously from some former occupant!
Out of the tunnel, and back into the evening light, I produced a nice bottle of Silver Birch wine and John had brought a serving of Sloe Gin, these both went down very well as you can imagine.
All in all it would have been a beautiful evening if we hadn't been constantly attacked by midges. The only respite we had from them was when the breeze got up to drive them away - I started challenging Zues & Oden in order to try and get some more wind - other than that they were a constant pain. So.. we had to take drastic action to protect ourselves as you will see in the photos.
(When I got home I found that I had been bitten 18 times on my right leg, 12 on my left, three on my neck, 5 on my hands and twice on my backside!)
Eventually after the alcohol was all gone we decided to hit the sack. Basically.. to get away from the midges.
I was trying out my new Vango niteline sleeping bag which turned out, thankfully, to be a good buy.
(Buy one get one free from millets for £40)
The wind and rain came in during the night with a vengeance (obviously the gods were listening to my calls) and I didn't get much sleep, mainly due to the expectation of my basha, which was only anchored down by slate rocks, being blown away. So it was eventually about 7am when I got up to see it was a wet and horrible foggy morning. John was already up and dressed having woke at about 5am!
So gear packed away, waterproofs on we decided to make a move.
We had originally planned to drop down into flat marshland area on the north side of the hills where John was going to show me a few sites of interest but because we couldn't see more than 50m in front of us, we decided instead to walk the ridge path back to the start point where I had left my car.
The climb out of the north side of the quarry was horrendous. We tried our best to contour around the hill, but eventually we had to just scramble our way up to the ridge through very thick and very wet grass, bilbury bushes and shin deep moss. We made it to the top having slipped and fallen a few times, and with our ankles and thighs screaming at us.
(I realised then that I am not as fit as I used to be... in fact I'm a long way off!)
After that first 3/4 of a mile it was just a case of head down and slog on through the strong wind, horizontal rain and thick fog for another 5 miles, and after a couple of rest stops we reached the car at about 1130am. Both of us were soaked to the skin, and I don't know about John but I was knackered.
After all said and done, I really enjoyed it and will hopefully do it again soon.
Thanks again John!
Here's some photos:
Dropping down off the first hill which was a bronze age fortification looking to the west.
Mr Fenna
The plaque commemorating the WW2 Liberator Bomber Aircrash
Our bivi site. John's tarp at the back and mine in the foreground.
The view from the bivi site
John having his first brew of the evening
Going to extreme measures to avoid the midge!
Our view in the morning!
John sorting out his breakfast in the rain
The last ugly photo of the day! But I'm still smiling!
