Wales day 3 -Pistyll Rhaeadr

 Today we went climbing mountains. We started out at a waterfall.
We climbed up from that to a mountain range called the Berwyns. We first went to the waterfall, known as Pistyll Rhaeadr. We thought the trail went past it and to the south, and walked that way for a short distance. The trail went steadily downwards through a forested area, and then opened into a large, rocky valley with huge cliffs on both sides. We made it this far before realizing that the trail actually went the opposite direction. That excursion did yield some good views of the cliffs around us...

After tracking back to the real trailhead, we went over a fance and headed up the mountain.
The trail went nearly straight up the first hill, before giving way to a sheep filled field.

We followed this sheep track for a short ways, before realizing that we should be on top of the mountain, not down in the grassy valley. We were at roughly 1300 feet of elevation at this point. We saw an even fainter sheep track going straight up the side of the nearby mountain, and took it up. After a hard and painful climb, we reached the ridge top and found the main trail. The trails here were lined with a fern-like plant that we were calling Bracken.

 We then looked off to our left (North), and saw another sizable hill. We set of to climbing that, following a sheep fence. The path climbed up and out of the thick Bracken, and the number of sheep willing to climb that high shrunk.

 The above is looking toward our goal, the rolling mountain in front. There is a lake in the circular cliff area.

 The view down toward the valley we began in.

We looked on from the hill we had just climbed, which was a long climb, towards the next peak. This one was 500 feet above us then. 

 We set off for it, the path following along the edge of the fence. The views became even more impressive as we escalated further. Halfway up we looked back and saw the peak we had just scaled, and realized it was reletively quite small. The view beyond it was stunning. The Welch countryside is very pretty, and very different from what I am used to, due to the small number of trees. There are many peaceful valleys and impressive, largely barren, landscapes.

Before long, we could see the cairn at the summit.

I can not find any information as to whether this is an ancient structure built by ancient people, or if it was just piled up by villagers in the 1900's, but it is marked on the OS map as "Historical; Non-Roman," so I am going to pretend that I know it was built by an ancient people. Some hunter gatherers who made the long trekk up this vast mountain in order to bury an elder of their village.
We then carried on toward the cliff, to look for the trail down.

After looking at the map, then looking at the land, then looking back to the map, we realized that the very faint sheep track running directly along the edge of the thousand foot cliff was actually supposed to be the trail. We walked on it for a moment, but then decided to cut cross country a few yard further away from the cliff. I stopped to take pictures as Dad and uncle Gene made it far ahead.

A brief glance back up at the craig above us revealed a foreboding cliff face.

We continued down into the valley, passing more sheep, and the walls rose around us.

The mountain towering well above us, we walked down into the valley until we came to the road, which lead us back to the car. It was over seven miles of walking, with a 2000+ foot difference in elevation between the top and bottom. It was a great hike, and a fascinating one, due to the contrast between the environment here and the one at home.

Wales day 2

After trying to sleep off the jetlag, we woke up the next day and went to the Old Oswestry Hill Fort. This was an Iron Age fort situated just outside of the town. Today there is nothing but the earthworks remaining, however one can still get the feel of what it may have been like for a Celt who lived in this area at the time, particularly as it was cold and rainy the day that we were there.

After that, Father and I went for a short walk on one of the hundreds of footpaths which are around our house.

That is the name of our town, and here is our house.

Wales:day one

My father and I have left the Country to meet my uncle Gene and Aunt Carly in Wales. We left from Atlanta yesterday,  and landed early this morning. The flight was smooth and uneventful,  but I am pretty out of it due to jet lag and no sleep.

We found the rest of the family, and we all drove to the Little Moreton house. This was a 16th century manor house with a moat, owned by the Moreton family until it was given to the National Trust.

After that, we came back to our village,  and walked over to a pub. We passed the town church on the way.

Part of the Food Chain

          I have not been outside much recently, due to a May 4 week class. Fitting an entire semester worth of math into four weeks meant that I didn't have much free time. Anyway, with much suffering and many hours of hard work, I finished with a B. Last weekend we were busy, so I made plans to go hiking during the week. Mike and I set off from Highrock lake, which is a lake formed from damming up Shoal Creek, and went south toward the Lower Shoal Shelter. We did not go all the way to the shelter, but hiked in about two miles and camped.
We parked the truck at FS 531 above the shelter, then drove the jeep around to the parking area near Highrock lake. There was something there which smelled very bad, like a sewer full of death that had been festering in the sunlight for a week.

Anyway, we started hiking away from the smell to the south. The trail dipped down into a primordial-feeling forest, with huge ferns and tall trees.

Mike and I carried on over a gap between some mountains, and just carried on. 

We crossed over the ridge above Shoal Creek, and came to a bridge across a small creek. 

Before long, we came down into Shoal Creek valley, where the creek rolled over the rocks and the trail vanished into the cool water. 

 We hopped from rock to rock over the creek. 

The trail then went up following the ravine, hanging on to the side of the cliff with a rushing creek well below. 

Before long, we came to a beaver dam across the creek, with a good sized lake behind it. 

We stopped on the trail above the pond and ate some cookies while watching the Rock Bass swim by. 

We carried on past some cliffs above the creek. 

We came down from the cliff into a flat area between two creeks. Like a little Mesopotamia. 

We had thirty minutes until dark, so we stopped to set up camp. 

We spent a little time pulling ticks off of us, and Mike went swimming. 

Soon we lit a fire and ate dinner.

Then we went to bed. I slept pretty well, but it did actually get a little cold. The following morning, we packed up and headed out. We decided to head back to the jeep, instead of doing the rest. 

The hike back seemed a good bit shorter than the hike out. 

Mike was excited to have made it out of the woods. It was a good, if short. I'm glad we got out there.