Starting at 5:00am on Saturday 4th December 2021 from Abergavenny Scout Hut; myself, Tim Woodier, Ryan Flowers and Dylan Williams set out to begin Rownd Mynydd Du.
Temperature at town level was 3 degrees and quickly dropped as we gained height. We made the summit of the Sugar Loaf in well under an hour before dropping off via the Pen-Y-Fal descent to Llanbedr, up Perth Y Pia to summit Table Mountain.
As we continued upwards we were treated to a great sunrise with perfect visibility. We continued on through high winds, the occasional snow flurry and sub zero temperatures across Pen Cerrig-Calch, Pen Allt Mawr, Pen Twyn Glas and Mynydd Llysiau before descending to Pengenffordd.
We were joined for the leg over Mynydd Llangors and Mynydd Troed by Bethan Logan who provided some much needed coffee to warm up! On the return road crossing we had a restock on supplies.
We then made it to the summit of Waun Fach via the dragon's back, before heading south along the ridge to summit Pen Y Gadair Fawr, Pen Twyn Mawr and Crug Mawr. We were joined by James Woodier from Waun Fach onwards, the ridge was as boggy as ever with the high winds seeming determined to continue for the rest of the day.
From Crug Mawr, we descended through Mynydd Du forest to the valley road where we had a lunch stop at 56km. Dylan Williams retired at this point as intended.
We continued on to summit Bal Mawr before spending a long slog in a snowstorm along the ridge tagging Chwarel Y Fan, Twyn Talycefn and Rhos Dirion. Conditions were challenging on this section with estimated feels like temperatures of -15, snow storms and winds exceeding 50mph. James left us to it and retreated to the Grwyne Fawr valley.
As we changed direction to tag Twmpa and descend to Gospel Pass, we found ourselves back in darkness. Temperatures plummeted further and we were running with full body cover, gloves and insulated jackets for the remainder of the round.
We completed the out and back to Black Hill before returning to the Offa's Dyke path to head south along the ridge tagging the unnamed trigs and hatterall hill, dropping off to the Queen's Head Pub. After a 45km section of being cold, Ryan Flowers packed it in at 96km.
Tim and I continued on, ascending the Gaer, before dropping off and heading for Bryn Arw. On the descent from Bryn Arw, I managed to twist my knee making the final stretch extremely painful. We picked up the Beacons Way path and slowly made it to the summit of Skirrid Fawr.
After a shuffle off the ridge, we had a long, slow road section to make it back to Abergavenny. Ryan kindly came out in his truck to see us through those final kms and give us a lift home at the end! Tim and I finished in 20 hours, 37 minutes.
A truly epic day out, linking up all of our local hills and mountains.
Comments
Looks tough going lads! wicked work!