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Cairn(s)
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A revisit towards the end of an excellent bank holiday Monday walk from Blaenavon over Mynydd Coety and Cefn Coch (31.5.2021).
It's taken me over a decade to make the revisit I promised myself after stupidly missing the northeastern cairn in worsening weather last time. No such problems today, the sun is shining and dehydration is a greater threat than lack of visibility. Heading over the heathery moors from the WT station at Cefn y Galchen, I meet a women who has walked up from somewhere on the eastern side of this high ridge. She tells me she's a farmer and a grandmother, and she's obviously fitter than I am. Like me, she's come up here to get away from everyone and everything; she expresses a vague plan to drop down to Abergavenny, but clearly intends to go where the mood takes her. I like her immensely, we chat for a while and wish each other well on our walks.
I brave the pathless heather for the yards to the big cairn that I visited last time. It's a really decent monument, a huge pile of stones with its central scoop not really detracting. The northeastern cairn that I missed last time is not far away, slightly downhill and hanging right on the edge of the escarpment. As such, it enjoys the better views off the ridge and towards Ysgyryd Fawr. A great place to stop for a while and just let everything melt away.
At length I make myself leave, it's still quite a walk back to Blaenavon for the bus. On the road, I catch up with a huge shirtless man, with bottle-thick glasses, who wants to chat about all the pubs in the town and slows me down greatly. I don't begrudge him, it's that sort of day. I'm knackered by the time I get back to the valley and the bus stop, but it's been brilliant to come back to today's sites, with fresh enthusiasm and a decade's worth of familiarity with this upland landscape.
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Posted by thesweetcheat
12th February 2022ce
Edited 12th February 2022ce
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