Tick Alert.

Today's walk was a bit wetter than anticipated due to the low lying clouds that sometimes came right down to ground level. (We were roughly 360m above sea level.)

I met my fellow walkers at the large layby just before Nant yr Arian. We left some of the cars there and drove in a small convoy a few miles across the hills towards Ystumtuen.

For the first part of our walk we made our way up on to the ridge of Hen Riw (Old Hill) which can just be seen on the left in the above photo.

Up on the ridge we had stunning views across the Cambrian mountains.

One side of the ridge was quite steep so I renamed it our version of Crib Goch (photo from web below). Crib Goch is something I would never attempt even with all the correct mountaineering equipment.

Once we got to the edge of the ridge the plan had been to follow sheep trails round to the other side of Pwll Glas (Blue/lush pool) until we got back to a track which would bring us back to the road. However some of the group were uncomfortable with the fact that we were not on an official footpath even though it was unfenced moorland. There was some debate over if this counted as 'open access' land but I've since checked and it doesn't even though it is over 600ft. I'm sure the local farmers wouldn't have minded but to keep everyone happy we tried to stick to the rights of way.

Crossing over the small road we then climbed the ridge on the other side of the road through very wet heather and bilberries. We stopped at the crest of the ridge to eat our lunch but after one person found sheep ticks on her bag and trousers most of us chose not to sit on the ground.

I was wearing shorts and constantly checked my bare legs to make sure they were tick-free. I think spraying my legs with mozzy repellent earlier helped to dissuade the nasty creatures from coming near. The little poodle type dog that was with us wasn't so lucky. By the end of the walk his owner had to pick out a fair number of small ticks from his golden fur and he was due for a thorough going over and a bath once they got home. Not surprising as for a lot of the time he was walking through vegetation that was higher than he was. 

After all the fuss over not being on an official path we then found ourselves with not even a sheep track to follow but were simply trampling through the bushes as we attempted to reach a cairn known locally as a fairy ring.

We never made it as once we hit the path it was too far to go right to the cairn. Instead we turned and made our way down past another small lake. These lakes are all man made, constructed centauries ago to provide power for the many mines dotted about these upland areas.

As we came down between two ridges we had to cross what at first glance looked to be a bit of level moor but was in fact an extremely boggy patch. (Below.) Water could be seen glinting under long grass and sphagnum moss but even the tussocks of grass and rushes mainly sunk down into water as you stepped on them. I found the best way to cross was to go as quickly as possible shouting (not quite) expletives each time my foot went down into the water after yet another tussock proved to not be as substantial as hoped. Fortunately my boots are waterproof and by moving quickly my feet didn't get as wet as they might have. I suppose by now I should be used to the way water collects in these dips in what are almost the highest points of the local landscape.

More fun and games as we made our way carefully down a steep slope through tall wet vegetation. Many of the bilberry bushes had fruit on them. I ate a few but between the large pip and the skin these tiny fruit do not have a lot of goodness in them. You would have to pick an awful lot to use them for food.

Eventually we found the path and then the road back to the cars.