Walked with: Rod, James and Missy.

How I got there: car.

Map: https://www.strava.com/activities/6018335114

This was a trial hike in a few different ways. My first hike in a while, the first one I decided to document and the first one I tried to take photos on the DSLR camera (Nikon) rather than my phone.

We set off a couple of hours later than planned and arrived at Ystradfellte at about 12:00. I’d hoped to park at the pub The New Inn so we could eat there on the way back but the pub has clear signs not to park there, and it was closed. We’d passed a car park but that had a sign indicating it was full so we drove further and ended parking in a farmer’s field (they charged us £5 for the day) near the official parking called Cwm Porth. ///testy.different.chestnuts

There a cool cave, worth a look at before you start the walk. It’s called Porth yr Ogof and it’s just below the car park in the woods: ///rope.neon.mealtime

We then set off on the walk.
At this point, it’s past 12:00 and we haven’t had lunch. I didn’t mind too much because I’d been unwell in the morning so wasn’t too hungry. I’d had a slice of toast around 09:30 while walking the dog, at home, before we got in the car.
I’d brought some cereal bars so I gave one each to Rod and James , and I ate my yummy Trek oat bar.

As you’ll see on the map above, we made a few detours but it was a good walk and we’ll worth it for the beautiful sights.

At one point on the path, I fell on my backside and landed badly, hurting my shoulder – the bicep pain was horrible. It lasted for days after the fall, actually. As I write this, it still hurts when I use my right arm. With the lack of food, I became extremely tired. Then I lost Rod and James (they had my bag and mobile phone in my bag) so I got a little upset with exhaustion and pain.

But we carried on. We stopped a few times and I got my second Trek bar out; we shared it, just before the last stretch back to the car park.

We had good weather all along, which was quite lucky.

I’ll go back and do this walk again, starting earlier, taking food with me and maybe do it in the other direction.
I consider this one as a rehearsal 🙂