A TREK MADE IN HEAVEN!

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Hi Friends & Family,

I'm back and not before time it seems. Sorry for the long delay...!

Today, we decided to go on our own personal trek.

Bwlch is so well situated and even has its own trekking route which starts just behind our hostel. Its called the
LLANGORS LAKE CIRCULAR TREK. Its an energetic walk of 12.04 miles or 19.26km and basically took us all day but what a walk....!

The weather was so-so but good enough for me at any rate.

Thank goodness for our very reliable Jack Wolfskin jackets LOL as we were constantly having to take jackets off when it got too warm and then struggle to put them back on again when it started to rain. Layering at its finest!

Suffice to say, it was excellent trekking weather and the views were wonderfully gorgeous ones.

I did make loads of videos but it was so windy that all you could hear was rough whistling rather than the sound of my lovely voice LOL! Neverthess, as you can see happy faces abound.

Our first stop was just behind the hostel at the Penuel Baptist Chapel and through the kissing gate then on we just kept going higher and ascending steeply besides the stone wall to join the ridge and onto the well defined track along the ridge of Myndd Llangors.

There were one or two moments where we weren't quite show whether to turn right or left, to take this path or that although we had a map of the trek the paths themselves were.......welll......not as defined as they could be!

We found ourselves climbing holes through stone walls, trying to make out tracks on dirt paths, jumping through brambles and thorns. It all makes for adventure though so I didn't mind so much not so Frank and "The Small Young Gentleman"....more about that later.

On reaching the summit "The Small Young Gentleman" enjoyed "shouting" and "singing" for joy as the hills came alive with the sound of music!

On descending, we went to the llangors village and had a bite to eat and a drop to drink at the "Castle Inn".

Therafter, we went to Llangors Church and then continued our trek on a public footpath via the "Old School".

Across the common we met lots of sheep which "The Small Young Gentleman" was delighted with as "Olly the Sheep" from, Wallace and Gummidge, is one of our favourite toys at home. In fact, he belonged to me originally....!

We spent quite some time with the sheep and trying to get them through their fences. They are such stupid creatures but perfectly harmless.

From then we began to search for the footbridge that spanned the stream that led us to the cows and the River Llynfi. Thankfully, the field was not flooded but just a little marshy so that we were still able to cross the next field that led us to the Llangasty Nature Reserve.

This Reserve even had a bird hide on the edge of the lake so that you could look out to spot a variety of wildlife and birds without disturbing the eco-chain round about.

It was really quiet there and all that could be heard was the rustle of weeds or the gentle ripple of the lake.

The Llangorse Lake (Welsh: Llyn Syfaddon) is the largest natural lake in south Wales and is famous for its coarse fishing (particularly pike) and watersports.

The lake is also one of the most mentioned sites in Welsh folklore and due to its long history is known by several different names both in Welsh and in English, other names include the lake's original Welsh name, Llyn Syfaddon/Syfaddan, and Brycheiniog Mere. The English name Llangorse Lake is comparatively recent.

After relaxing at the lake, we took the path leading to Llangasty Church and thus we were in Llangasty and on the summit of Allt y Esgair.

Allt yr Esgair is a hill in the county of Powys.

It is commonly referred to locally as simply 'The Allt'.

The Welsh name signifies 'wooded slope of the ridge' and takes the form of a northwest-southeast aligned ridge which rises to a height of 393m and which overlooks the valley of the River Usk to the west and south and of course as I have already mentioned, panoramic views across Llangorse Lake to the Black Mountains.

And what fantastc views we had from atop.

Wow!

We really took the Black Mountains all in.

We took in the sunshine. "The Small Young Gentleman" even made himself at home on the slabs and rocks and laid in the sun.

A couple of hours later, on the road to home.

Oh yeah, which path was it now?

This one or that one?

That one or this one?

We had so got carried away by the sights that we made a couple of diversions which led us way off the mark so that instead of landing "on a path down to a gate and then down between hedges to eventually emerge onto a road that would meet the A40", we took a path that went down into another field and met the car park of a golf hotel!

Hmm!

Not to worry.

This hotel will surely lead us to a "similar" exit?

Ha!

The exit took us to the motorway in the middle of no where as we couldn't yet see the signs and all the cars were speeding along so we couldn't flag a car down either.

Suffice to say, we began to walk.

And walk.

As it was getting

Darker

and

Darker.

And we had to walk in the thistles and brambles because we were facing the traffic so we had to walk carefully.

Very!

I thought it was quite amusing and a bit exciting but "The Small Young Gentleman" began to talk of starvation and how we would have to sleep in the fields and never be found and die!

What a drama queen!

90 minutes later, we did indeed find the correct part of the A40 and before we knew it, we were linking into the very familair Bwlch Passway.

That's it for now.

See ya later!

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