Monday, November 06, 2006

Alone in the Preselis

Trying to remember my new nav skills

Despite aching legs, I headed off onto the Preseli’s on my own. It had been great having Wil’s company, as well as tuition, for the past couple of days but now I was back to being on my own and time to find out if I really had taken in as much as I thought I had on the course. My route was circular and would begin where I had started out on Saturday, near the approach to Foeldrygon. Taking the bridleway I headed off towards Carn Gyfrwy and Carn Menyn, legendary source of the world-famous Bluestones, as used at Stonehenge. This first leg of the route was very straight and uncomplicated so I practised my timing and target setting whilst ‘hand railing’ (following) the boundary wall. As I moved closer to my first ‘attack point’ I had to take a few steps backwards in awe of the landscape that was unravelling around me. Dark fingers of rock stretched into the skyline like a starburst of granite as the valley below stretched out under their silent gaze. To the right of the bridleway, ancient cairns watched me pass as I picked my way through the moss to the sacred stones. Wil had told me about a special stone, known as ‘Aslan’s Table’ which could be found nestling among the boulders, if you took the time to find it - and find it I certainly did. There was something about it that I felt quite drawn to and felt happy to spend time just sitting in its presence, soaking up the atmosphere of the place and enjoying the sense of space and tranquillity.

But there was so much more to come as I took in Bwlch Ungwr, Carn Bica, Carn Goedog, Carn Breseb, Carnalw, Carn Ddafad-las and then back towards the original start point. I was out and about for 5 hours and applied everything I had learnt over the past couple of days, including relocating when I became so absorbed by the surroundings I lost track of where I was, and when the dark rain clouds rolled across the rocky outcrops I knew I’d be O.K. The only mistake I made was not taking enough fluids and, probably, food at my stops because when the rain did arrive I was feeling tired and a little wobbly which did result in one brief encounter with the ground as a heather root got the better of me. It wasn’t serious and I had to laugh at myself, but it could have been. I should have recognised my own signals earlier on and drunk a little more water or eaten another goodie from the fantastic lunch Jim at Clynfyw had provided. As it was, I’d pushed myself and that was the result. Diagnosis made, I took shelter in an ancient cairn, pulled on the waterproofs, tucked into sandwich and some dried fruits and had a rest until the heaviest rain had passed. Feeling revived I checked my location, took a bearing and headed back to the bluestones. I had planned on finishing my route via the summit of Foeldrygarn but knew I was tired, had had a great walk and had nothing to prove by forcing myself up a final summit just to say I’d done it. By my calculations (I’m sure you’ll tell me if I’ve got it wrong, Wil!) I had walked 9.3km, had taken in around 405m of ascent and the highest point was Carn Bica. More importantly I had enjoyed every minute of it. So enough was enough and I happily bounced along the wet grass all the way back to the car as the rain began to fall again and a rainbow reached across the hill fort as I walked away from one of the most magical places I have ever been.

Posted by Admin @ 9:18 am