An Unexpected Walk.

Crisp and cold today with plenty of snow on higher ground.

I like to make a start on my routine jobs before doing the fun stuff such as browsing FB or checking to see where the Sunday walk is going to be. So it wasn't until after I'd emptied and cleaned the lower part of the kitchen larder and done my Duo Lingo that I found out that due to a poor forecast for tomorrow the walk had been moved to today. 

But luckily that still gave me enough time to get organised before meeting up with the group in a local station car park where we squeezed ourselves into two cars before driving up into the hills. 

I knew I hadn't been there before with the walking group but as we drove up the lane I recognised properties along the way and realised I had ridden up there on one of our day rides. Then we headed off across some fields on a bridle path that I had also ridden along. One of our group used to have horses and her husband ruefully recalled falling off a 17hh horse that she had persuaded him to ride at that very point.

All around us we had excellent views of the snow covered hills.

Yes, I'd ridden along this track too. I do like it when my outdoor activities overlap.

Then back onto a lane where we had our first view of Banc-Y-Darren, the iron age hillfort that was our destination. (It was such an interesting place that I'll save the photos for tomorrow.)

Walking around the ramparts of the hill fort we had views in every direction.

Northwards to Snowdonia.

Eastwards over the Cambrian Mountains.

South-west to more of the Cambrian mountains.

And eastwards to the coast  and across the bay to Bardsey island.

We ate our lunch sitting on a Bronze Age cairn in the centre of the hillfort. By that time the clouds blocked out the last of the sun's warmth and we were glad to march briskly down the road back to the cars.

A downy birch tree filled with witches' brooms.