Unknown hills

Can we find somewhere that will be quiet? With a clear blue sky and pleasantly-warm temperatures, the better-known destinations will be busy. But it’s quiet here. Really quiet! We’ve driven along the minor road between Llangunllo and Llanbadarn Fynydd, and parked at Moelfre City (which consists of two or three isolated farms). We’ve eaten our lunch, and walked back down the road for about a mile before taking the track into the hills. And we’ve seen no-one. Not a soul – until the chap turned up with a mower as we passed Cwmllechwedd Fawr. After that – no-one else, until we’ve completed the walk and driven homewards for several miles.

It’s quiet, not silent. We can hear larks (ascending, as they do), and occasional buzzards, and the odd sheep (aren’t they all?) makes its presence known, but that’s about it (there are one or two red kites too, never close enough for the camera). There’s a new wind farm up here, at Garreg Lwyd, just beyond the point where we turn back. If we listen carefully, we can just about hear the swish of the blades of the nearest turbine as they turn gracefully against the blue sky.

Our walk is taking us around the watershed of the Dildre brook. We pass the highest points of Tylcau, Newhouse and Warren hills on the outward walk, turn at Cae-glas Hill, and head back to the City via Tynybryniau Hill, Gors Lydan and Moelfre Hill. Gors Lydan is the highest point, at 528m (that’s 1,736′), but none of these hills have summits, in the sense of places worth visiting. I suspect the number of visitors they receive each year is in single figures – they’re unknown hills, and all the better for that on a day like today.

View OS map in Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=313374&Y=276635&A=Y&Z=120

Edging along

Friday afternoon: a walk on the Wenlock edge. Starting from the car park by the Hughley turn, we’ll walk towards Wenlock along the very pleasant woodland path, below the edge, and return along the crest, above the woods and the old quarry workings. The weather’s getting warmer, and the butterflies are sunning themselves.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=359210&Y=298481&A=Y&Z=120

Mothers’ Day in Minton Batch

…and Ashes Hollow. It’s another fine sunny day (though the sunshine will become hazy later), so we’re stretching our legs on the Long Mynd. We haven’t been up Minton Batch for some time, so we walk down the very quiet lane from Little Stretton to Minton and just beyond, then up the valley to the top of the Mynd, just along from the gliding field. The road along the top isn’t quite so quiet, but it’s a pleasant stroll and it’s easy enough to dodge the odd car (youngish men taking women old enough to be their mothers out for a drive. Odd, that).  Reaching Pole Cottage, we remember there’s chocolate in the camera bag (it’s what they’re for) – perfect for a brief halt before heading off down Ashes Hollow and back to the car.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=342450&Y=291966&A=Y&Z=120

Sunny Statfold

We had a fine sunny day for our visit to Statfold today – perfect conditions for watching no fewer than twenty 2’0″gauge steam locos in action. (I didn’t try to count them – they keep moving around, and I’d have fallen asleep). As well as the usual locals, visitor “Diana” from Bala Lake took a star turn, along with the delightful newly-restored Peckett Liassic. A “Rail Diaries” page will appear sooner or later; in the meantime here’s a picture of the Peckett.

Colin, Teddy and friends

Motor-Rail "15099"
Motor-Rail “15099”

Chasewater – the “Industrial Gala”. It’s cloudy, and cold in the stiff breeze;  not a day for photography, though I’ll take a few. Colin and Teddy, the two tiny saddle-tank locomotives, will demand attention, as ever, and the recent arrivals – a pair of ancient Motor-Rails, in disguise as ex-BR lookalikes 15097 and 15099, need their pictures taken too. Visit “A windy Chase” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for more.