Loxidge Tump barrow, looking SE towards Hatterall Hill.
Image credit: A. Brookes (14.7.2012)
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Yeah, physically not the best of monuments, is it? But anything upon these ridges is surely worth a look for sense of place alone.
No, I kept hoping for a glimpse of stonework to confirm that this is the cairn, but we had a good mooch and I'm pretty confident. Beautiful setting though (I think the Rhiw Arw cairn has the best setting, right on the narrowest point of the whole ridge).
Yeah, just a shame about that bloody scar of a path! Not the thing one hopes to find on the hills.... I say follow the sheep instead.
Well, having just finished walking the path, I can't say I entirely agree. I'm all for people getting off their arses and walking to appreciate the country they don't see from a car window, and you certainly have to walk to get from one end of the ridge to the other, there's no railway, cable car or car park up there. I agree that the scarring is unfortunate and the path certainly should be moved away from Wiral barrow, as it's damaging the mound itself. But by following the one line on the ridge, it makes the erosion controllable and repairable. And in truth it's not much different from what you find on most of the better-known mountain routes in this country. It's certainly much less of a scar than the routes up Snowdon, or the tourist trail up Skiddaw.
If the erosion is controlled and repaired.... It has deteriorated significantly during the last 20 years (in my opinion) - no doubt due to an increase in traffic - so guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.
I think it is being. The northern half of the ridge (Black Mountain itself) is now slabbed across the boggy sections. The Hatterrall Hill end is the worst, but some of that appeared to be due to vehicles bringing up stones. Between my first visit in November and this July visit, the surface seemed less churned up on that bit, so hopefully it is being addressed. Obviously I don't know what it was like before, but there is no doubt that it will suffer from the number of walkers up there though, you're quite right on that. But I guess that's the price for free access to the hills and on both of my walks along the ridge combined, I saw less than ten people in total. Compare that with an average day on Pen-y-Fan and it's still pretty small-scale visitor numbers. I think there will be more people who climb Hay Bluff, or Twmpa, or do the Olchon Valley horseshoe, but the southern half of the ridge seems pretty quiet.
That's good to hear, SC. I'm all in favour of engineering a proper track across heavilly used routes such as these... in fact I don't believe there is an alternative. I mean, those who wish to simply hang out for the vibe can go off piste if they wish, can they not? So as long as that is the case there is no issue. Everyone's a winner. There was certainly no option upon several of the main Beacons paths which had become very, very bad - in general (I believe) these have been well handled.
Snowdon is, of course, a different case since a number of the tracks were created by miners and locals long before recreational walkers ventured forth in numbers... the scars were already there as a result of industry. Damage limitation from the start.
I reckon the vibe is pretty intact up there! The slabs should make for a pretty durable surface hopefully, although they are a bit visually intrusive.