Autumn Sunshine in the Black Mountains

Sunshine has been in very short supply of late and it seems a while back in November when the sun came out to any meaningful degree.

A frosty day back in early November and me and TBF were out and about to make the most of a glorious morning.

A circuit of the Grwyne Fawr valley in the Black Mountains. The autumn colours on the trees as we set off was magnificent.

I think this is the first time I’ve walked this route at this time of year so it was a delight to see it in full technicolor glory.

My O/S mapping wasn’t working properly so I crossed the river a bridge too soon and the boggy walk through the forest was not ideal. With views like this it didn’t matter too much.

Onwards and out onto the open fell and the only real ascent of the day onto Pen y Gadair Fawr.

Fabulous, crystal clear views all around.

TBF joins me on the summit.

A view south over towards the Sugar Loaf, Bristol Channel glinting in the distance

Summit panorama looking westwards towards the Brecon Beacons.

Waun Fach, the highest if not the most impressive of the Black Mountains summits. Pen y Gadair Fawr is by far the more impressive peak and looks higher from everywhere else than Waun Fach itself.

Zoom shot over to the Brecon Beacons.

And another panorama, this time looking east.

They’ve done some superb work up here on the summit plateau. What was once peat hags, black soil and soggy bog is now wavy grass with an excellent path. Easy going over what was once a really wet and tiresome stretch. Always good to seen the ponies as well.

Looking back to Pen y Gadair Fawr and its more distinctive summit.

We didn’t linger on Waun Fach and instead pressed on looking for a decent lunch stop.

I think you can agree this one was a bit of a cracker.

The clarity of the air was amazing and we could see for miles. The clouds hanging over the mountains making fro some dramatic effects.

Always pleases me to take a stop in this area with a view to my very first mountain, Mynydd Troed.

Suitably refreshed and relaxed we moved on. Fine views along the Dragons Back ridge of Y Grib, a route I’ve not done for quite a while.

The clouds that had created such fine views earlier raced across and obscured the blue skies from earlier, heralding the next spell of wet weather that arrived the following day.

It stayed dry for us though. We took in a stop just by the reservoir dam for second lunch. A great little spot overlooking the Grwyne Fawr valley.

A fine stroll along the easy path above the valley and back to the car to finish the day.