On a damp Sunday afternoon I drove through the forest to check out Nant Rhys bothy where all was well - touch wood last year's spell of bothy misuse has abated, I guess those who failed to behave responsibly for the common good by respecting Covid restrictions are also less likely to respect the bothy ethos of simple unlocked shelters available to all. The amount of gear and rubbish people leave behind continues to amaze me and is I guess another sign of our buy cheap, use it once society.
Anyway my faith in the vast majority of people was as always restored by the friendship, laughter and generosity of the Wales Area Mountain Bothies Association team of volunteers over the next week at the Nant Syddion bothy work party.
This began later that afternoon when I met Martin and his family who had made a special journey up from Swansea to deliver a remarkable array of tools, materials and equipment which we carried down the steep path to the bothy storage area. Two substantial 5.4m joists completed the load after which they set off for home leaving me to enjoy a peaceful night tucked away further up the track.
On Monday morning I swept and sanitised the bothy before removing the various patches of loose plaster on some walls and ceilings before starting to sugar soap and scrub all the walls and ceilings prior to painting. Others arrived sporadically later that day and late Monday night as the fuel shortage had impacted on travel plans and whilst Wales was relatively unaffected those on long drives from as far as Portsmouth and Brighton were understandably reluctant to risk a stranding in rural Wales which has limited availability at the best of times.
Over the next few days gutters were cleared and renewed, walls and ceilings patched and painted, a new front door installed and perhaps most dramatically the two new joists installed by fearless Phil our very competent joiner. With a deadline to accomplish most tasks by the following Saturday we put in many hours with the evenings dedicated to food, drink and reflecting on the memories of the last year or so.
Starting with the completion of the barn roof above the Pennant Valley in Snowdonia in late Spring, sweltering in the heat at Dulyn over the summer, moving on to the post shuttering horrors of Penrhos bothy above Dolgellau and now refreshing Nant Syddion we have as a group achieved a remarkable amount.
So a huge thanks to Tony our Area Organiser and the Maintenance Organisers who put many hours in to ensuring that tools, materials and volunteers all arrived in sufficient numbers and at the appropriate times and locations - fantastic work guys and a privilege to be part of it.
With much of the work done we left Richard to keep an eye on all our gear as we headed off to Newbridge on Wye for our First Aid Training Session at MWMAC. With the mountain road closed we made good progress via main roads and arrived on time for an excellent day with Danny from MediArb - as good a First Aid Trainer as you could ask to meet - 07939669115.
He covered the basics along the lines of DRSABC and added in scenarios and solutions to our specific exposure to working in remote areas as well as allowing plenty of hands on practice with dressings and disturbingly realistic prosthetic limbs. He also extolled the virtues of AED's and hemostatic granules such as Celox in catastrophic bleed control. The advice re crush injuries was also of great interest to our team particularly following the (to some of us) unnerving installation of the joists a day or two earlier.
We headed home with some of the team scurrying around for a few more litres of fuel - I was grateful to have a full tank, 600 mile range and nowhere to get back to anyway - and arrived back long after dark, glad that we had deferred our Area Meeting until the following morning.
At this meeting we decided to purchase upgraded first aid kits in the light of Danny's recommendations and planned our future works. Then it was back to the here and now and with most people due to head off later that day we sorted out all the kit, loaded up vehicles and said our goodbyes.
A much diminished but still enthusiastic team put the final coats of paint on anything that didn't move and yet again another of our precious buildings was brought up to standard.
I moved on via Llangurig and Lower Chapel spending a memorable night bang beneath the old Severn bridge before collecting a new leisure battery in Bristol and heading down to Frome to fit it the following day before Pete and I enjoyed a sunny ride round Wiltshire including Alfred's Tower and Stourhead. On our return leg we watched as a tree felling nearly went badly wrong at a local church.
Returning to Bristol where Mandy had arrived on the train from Sheffield we stayed on the CAMHC site in the centre at Baltic Wharf as we had tickets for the SS Great Britain the following day. Access was complicated by construction work reinforcing the banks of the Avon but the location of the site gave us an easy walk in to Bristol centre where large numbers were enjoying the spell of fine weather.
The SS GB experience is a must do with the enormous vessel cleverly displayed in a floating dock allowing you to get right up close to the spectacular hull, enjoy the recreation of life on board and learn of the remarkable scale and depths of Brunel's achievements in the recent Brunel shed addition.
With much left to see we departed for Portishead, showering and changing en route ready for an evening with friends and an excellent meal at Aqua on the marina. Saturday saw an early departure as were due in Frome by 10am and somewhat annoyingly got caught out by the Bath LEZ scheme which is both poorly signed and administered - it was impossible to check if we had incurred a £9 penalty so paid anyway to avoid this increasing to £60 and more. I am a great supporter of these initiatives but they should be fairly imposed and probably apply to private cars as well - but then of course they are driven by the voters.......
Whilst Mandy enjoyed the delights of Frome, Dale, Pete and I tackled a number of tracks and trails over and around the Deverills before a night of pizzas and pints. After a Sunday group walk we departed for another memorable night high up on Win Green at Cranborne Chase and walked the tops on a sunny day admiring the hang gliders soaring overhead.
Later we arrived at our destination for the next 3 nights at a small 'members only' campsite near Ringwood in the New Forest . We were taken along a forest track to a delightful clearing and told to pitch where we liked with water available nearby and settled down at what I would say is the best site I've stayed on in England. We had it to ourselves and could walk or ride straight out in to the Forest as there were no boundaries which heralded the arrival of some ponies the following morning in a vain search for breakfast leftovers.
The Forest has endless miles of good cycling which we thoroughly enjoyed over the next couple of days with the autumn colours, ponies, donkeys and pigs adding to the experience. In Brockenhurst we had lunch in a sunny hotel garden and were astounded later in Lyndhurst to see even second hand Ferraris starting at £289k - a disgrace in a world with so much need.
The Lamb Inn at Nomansland did a good meal at lunchtime as we cycled in an area I had last explored forty years ago whilst training as a student nurse at nearby Calmore before returning for a final night at this perfect pitch.
A short run over to Weymouth allowed us to meet Pete and Nina who had brought their RV down from Derbyshire for an MOT and service so we caught up over pizzas in the site's cafe - the Red Barn - after a walk down to the lagoon trapped by the shingle of Chesil Beach.
On the Friday we parked up at the Hardy Monument before cycling the bridle and cycle paths down to Weymouth and then across to Portland where a huge new mould had just arrived by sea at the Sunseeker International boatyard. A steep climb up to the quarries gave good views along Chesil beach before we dropped down to Portland Bill for a look at the lighthouse and resolved one day to stay at the Pulpit Inn, which allows overnighting in the car park, for a sunset. The long climb back up to the ridge nearly did for us so we moved on to near Honiton and stayed in the Golden Pond Chinese Restaurant car park, a slightly strange experience but convenient enough and very peaceful. By then we had resolved the Hardy conundrum - two Hardys are linked to Dorset, one related to Nelson's demise and later the renowned author.
After a very enjoyable spin along the Grand Western Canal from Tiverton to Westleigh, the current limit of restoration, we headed across Exmoor to Lynton for a couple of days taking advantage of the dry ground conditions to be tucked away in the meadow. Greg and Alex have had a successful season with guests in both the annexe and shepherd's hut and we joined them and a friend for a night at the local theatre in the town hall for a clever interpretation of the 'Louisa' incident . This told the story of the heroic hauling, by people and horses, of the Lynmouth lifeboat over Countisbury Hill and down in to Porlock to assist a vessel in distress.
Sunday saw us walk over to the Hunters Inn at Heddon's Mouth for a cream tea having spotted the Lynton and Barnstaple steam train puffing it's way north. That evening we enjoyed an excellent tapas evening at The Oak Room - well worth checking out.
On a rainy Monday we had a quick look round both Lyns before a quick night up on the Mendips at Priddy as a prelude to revisiting the SS GB in Bristol once more to see everything else and walk around the Floating Harbour. A night outside Newport in stormy weather at the Lighthouse Inn was eased by the flood defences providing shelter and in blustery sunshine the following morning we walked along the top looking across to many of the places we had visited in recent days.
A night at Talybont broke the journey to Brecon where we dined well at Mike and Claire's house, joined by Crad and Dawn. Badminton and the Bond film in Brecon took us to the weekend where we had booked to stay in the Forest Of Dean on another small site a few miles above Monmouth. This gave us access to the cycle track from Coleford down to Parkend and en route we heard steam whistles in the valley below. These belonged to a steam roller and traction engine that were heading to Parkend to join in the Covid delayed 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Forest of Dean Heritage Railway. It was a great atmosphere and their achievements were due to that same level of generosity, enthusiasm and determination to get things done as we enjoy amongst the bothy volunteers. A lovely variety of tracks and trails took us up to Cinderford and back round to the site for a quiet night before a similar ride on Sunday where we heard but didn't see the wild boar. Wetter weather on Monday saw us walking over to Clearwell and its privately owned castle with a warming pint in the cosy pub much appreciated before a better day on Tuesday encouraged us to cycle down to Monmouth, take the trail along the river to Symonds Yat and then climb steeply to Yat Rock for its remarkable views of the meandering Wye.
Finally we returned to Brecon for another visit and fitted in a group spin round the Usk reservoir above Trecastle before returning to Sheffield for a charity event which went very well.
I have now returned south again to fit the door wiring loom to the van, change the fuel filter, upgrade headlamp bulbs and get the diesel heater serviced as with luck and Covid booster permitting I will be heading to Portugal in a little over a month. Yesterday I explored a corner of the Beacons new to me - the Clydach gorge looking stunning in Autumn colours and after a night in Sennybridge tonight head off in to mid Wales for the weekend.
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