On the sunday we headed to Kewsick to catch the Boat across Derwant Water, we started our walk at Lodore to see the Water Falls.
The Climb was tiring, but worth it for the views
The summit at 1500 ft was reached and the panarama was fantastic
We Started the decent, which to be honest was alot more difficult than the Ascent
My Daughter Deanna, got her exam results today, she achieved 7 1/2 GCSE passes, with a couple more results pending (animal care and business studies). Well i must say I'm proud as punch. Some of her results although passed were not as high as she wanted and so she is going back to 6th form to re-sit some.
I left school without any exam passes, so to have my daughter achieve this is a very special moment for me. Got her intelligence from her mother :)
It ended up being nearly 7 miles, poor Michelle not being used to long walks developed blisters on her heals, She never moaned (much) :).
We set off at 8:40 am and from the start was hot and sweaty. As the morning wore on the cloud built up giving a bit of a rest from the blazing sun.
A Proud Dad
Well my trip up Pen Y Fan failed. Yes due to the SixtySixty coach service (x43) which should have stopped at the bus stop near my campsite at 11:40 failing to arrive. I was on a tight time schedule, having just 5 hours walking time to complete the walk. This relied on all the public transport being on time, everything was going great, i have got up at 3 am walked to my local station with heavy backpack to catch the 5.03 train to victoria, i then got the tube to paddington and then a 3 hr journey to Newport where i changed again to catch the next train to Abergavenny arriving at 10:25am. This is when it all went pearshaped, Iwas expecting taxis at the Rank outside the station, Oh no, i had to walk a mile and a half to the other end of town to get a taxi. I got to the campsite at just after 11 am and rushed to put my tent up and get to the bus stop, i managed to get to the stop at 11:20, the bus was due at 11:40 but did not show, i waited until 12:10 then decided my attemp at Pen Y Fan was over, Any later bus would not have given me time to do the walk and get back to the returning bus stop in time (Last bus back 17:23).
Dissapointed, well yes you could say that. I had maps for west brecon Becons which covered Pen y Fan but no map for the east side, other than Memory Map on my PDA. Well i had to make a decision, do i call it a day and go sulk in my tent or try Sugarloaf, Yes you guessed it Sugarloaf here i come.
Sugarloaf is 1955 ft (596m) high and is just north of Abergavenny.
The Route was long
Hopefully if all goes well, i will be walking up this little beauty at the end of the month. Pen y Fan is the highest mountain in southern britain and is 2906ft high. I am getting the train (at 5am) from Whitstable to Abergavenny, arriving by 10.30am and then onto a bus to get me to my start point by 12.30. I will then have 5hrs to scale this monster and get back for my bus at 5.30, to take me to my campsite where i will stay overnight and then return home by train the following day. I love my walking and often go out at weekends walking footpaths and bridleways. I have a sister site at www.jimpowell.co.uk/walks where i have descriptions photo's and videos of some of my walks.
Wish me luck for the 31st and i will report back here on how it went in due course.
These photo's were taken from the internet are not my work
