Читать книгу Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 2 - Peter Hermon - Страница 18

Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad

As a height Craig Cerrig-gleisiad is nothing, an insignificant grassy mound distinguished from its environs only by a few feet in altitude and a small cairn surmounted by a pole. Yet its ascent provides one of the most rewarding walks in the region in a colourful setting far removed from the bleak moorlands that characterise so much of Fforest Fawr.

E ridge (FF4)

Cross the stile by the picnic area at 971222. Pass through the coppice, keeping the stream L, and carry on for 200yd to a tumbledown wall where the full splendour of a hidden cwm is revealed. The splintered crags that stand guard L rear up as fearsomely as any in Wales. The slopes are dotted with trees and generously carpeted with bracken and heather. Yet despite the severity of the crags this is S Wales, not the N, and the cwm is a haven for quiet contemplation. Sure enough, as if in assent, the crags gradually moderate to ever more benign grassy slopes as the eye roves round to the N and the gentle ridge that rises to Fan Frynych.

Three tracks leave this delectable spot. R a path follows the wall en route to Fan Frynych (FF6); straight ahead a faint track leads into the cwm (FF L1). For Craig Cerrig-gleisiad strike out half-L to a wall breasting the crags. Despite appearances a playful track makes light of the climb, wending its way through the spiky cushions of heather that edge the dizzy depths R. Nearer the top the path veers R with a wire fence for company L. The cairn is then a short distance away over the fence.

If you follow the rim of the cwm N you will eventually meet a stone wall coming in from the W, joining the wire fence on your L at an iron gate. The bulldozed road referred to in FF6 starts here. Follow it, passing a couple of tiny tarns L, and you will soon spot Fan Frynych’s lonely trig point 5min away through the stubby heather.

Craig y Fro route (FF5)

See FF2.