Wardens Blog

This morning I cleared vegetation from a footpath near Criag-y-nos, then in the afternoon I went to Brynaman to assist on a walk with Wyn. There was five other people on the walk - all hoping to improve their fitness levels. To of the ladies on the walk local and had a lot of knowledge about the area and about life in general. One handy hint they gave was that blackberries make better jam when there’s been a dry summer as to much precipitation makes them watery and thus makes rubbish jam! Part of the walk followed the path over Foel deg common. The vegetation is ‘accidentally’ burnt hear every year without fail by an unknown local farmer. The burning is actually quite good in that it encourages lush new growth which the cattle and sheep here find palatable and so stops the grasses from becoming overly clumpy. However the unknown arsonist tends to burn at the wrong time of year as it’s usually during the nesting season - which is bad news for the birds. the moorland was very wet for this time of year and there where a few wet feet by the time the footpath met the road! The route took us through Rhosaman - an old mining settlement - which felt like a forgotten place. One of the local ladies on the walk told us that when the mine shut down there where plans to turn the area of open-cast mine workings into a leisure park with a huge lake but unfortunately it never happened.

Went to Ysgol Pen-Y-Cae near Craig-Y-Nos with the volunteers and used the tyres that we collected on the litter pick on the Black Mountain to create a seating area under the trees where the teacher could read stories to the children.

I was at the mountain centre today helping one of the education officers  - Eleri - with activities for a school group. In the morning there was orienteering activities on the front lawn - it absolutely tipped it down but fair play - none of the children complained! In the afternoon the weather cleared up to we walked around Mynydd Illtud common and showed them the standing stone and the tank mounds.

Went and cleared some vegetation from a bridleway near Crai today. However I underestimated how overgrown it would be with the recent wet weather. I managed to clear about 300m of bracken from the path but I’m going to have to come back another day  - hopefully with some volunteers helpers - to clear the remaining mile!

Jon Pimm - one of the wardens in the Western team - gave me a fabulous tour of the Ystradfellte area today.

First we visited the Arcway walk near Penderyn (also known as the mineral line). This line was built initially as a horse-drawn railway in 1793 and was chartered by King George III. It was used to transport limestone to the Glamorgan canal and is named after the ARC company who are the owners of Penderyn Quarry.

Next we went to check a bridge put in by volunteers on Sarn Helen – the Roman Road – which forms part of the Beacons Way and regularly used by off-roaders. We spotted a group of trail bikers who quickly razzed off when they saw us coming in the truck. They used the bridge to cross the river which was clearly signposted ‘no motorbikes’.

After this exciting episode we visited the waterfalls area and Sgwd Clun Gwyn. Clun Gwyn is just one in a series of waterfalls along in this area popular with tourists and commonly known as the waterfalls area. We then went to Pontneddfechan to look at Craig-Y-Dinas rocks which are used very regularly by outdoor groups. We popped into the community centre to drop off some books and the kind ladies there made us a lovely cup of tea! We then went up to the Old Gun-powder works to look at the section of river where a grant has been awarded to put in a new bridge.

On the drive home we went to check another bridge at Blaen Llia (infamously known as the banana bridge due to it being rather bent). The bridge hasn’t been put in properly and so has sagged badly in the middle. Here we also came across an illegal camper who had managed to get his camper van stuck in the mud - so stuck in fact that we had to go and enlist the help of a local farmer to pull the van out with his tractor.

On the way home we passed Maen Llia. The stone - thought to date back to the bronze age - stands at nearly 4m tall and is formed from a diamond shaped slab of conglomerate. Many myths and legends surround the stone - some say that whenever a cock crows the stone moves off to drink from the Afon Nedd.

This magnificent photo of Maen Llia was taken by a photographer called Maria  - to see the rest of her photos follow this link: http://www.ephotozine.com/u13086/gallery

Had a day off today to attend my graduation ceremony – had fun dressing up like a plonker and had a lovely meal with my little brother and my dad.

Today I went out with Shelly – the assistant warden from the eastern area of the park – to waymark a section of the Beacons Way. The Beacons Way is a 100 mile walk across the Brecon Beacons National Park and was devised by ex-park secretary John Samson (who died in 2006) with the help of Arwel Michael and Chris Barber.

The day was good practice for my Mountain Leader training – I need to knock up 20 quality mountain days before I can take the training course. We met some lost Canadians on the hill who where very grateful for our help!

A bit of muscle building today - on the request of a local farmer me and Toby went to hang three gates along a footpath in Crai.

Here’s a link to an ‘interesting’ film on YouTube staring Toby….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7I75woPCu8

I went to Craig-y-nos area today to replace some footpath closure notifications that had faded and that had been put up as a result of an unstable bridge on the Beacons Way. I also replaced some faded waymarks and had a chat with a local farmer.

Today I helped Wyn run a guided walk up to Garn Goch. The walk is part of series of walks aimed at helping people get fitter.

Aerial view of Y Gaer Fawr on Garn Goch

Garn Goch is a 236m high hilltop near Bethlhem right on the Western border of the park. It is perhaps. Garn Goch translates as ‘the red cairn’ which is thought to be a referal to a burial mound which lies within larger of the two iron age hillforts on top of the hill as well as the red hue the hill takes on in Autumn when the bracken covered hillsides die back. There are two hillforts on garn goch - Y Gaer Fach (’The small fort’) and Y Gaer Fawr (’The large fort’). Garn Goch is the largest and one of the finest examples of Iron age hillforts in Wales.