Date: Sunday 26th February 2023
Strava says: 13.64 miles
Elevation: 4,403 ft / 1,342 m
Weather: Sunny & bright
Start: Dinas Castle Inn, LD3 0EP
Route type: Recce, circular
Conditions: Soft going, muddy in places
Website link: Rownd Mynydd Du (Black Mountains Round)
Describe the route in three words: sunny Sunday funday
4 summits of the Rownd Mynydd Du (Black Mountains Round) including the Dragon’s Back Ridge - Route Recce
As usual, the weather in Wales is glorious! I’d not got up and set off too early as I had a short recce of around 14 miles to complete. I left home at 9am and found the parking at Dinas Castle Inn easily. There is an honesty box for you to pay £2 for the parking. I ate my lunch in the car as soon as I arrived and set off at midday as planned (hurrah for good time keeping!) I know I’m to have a checkpoint around here, either at Pengenffordd or at the village of Waun Fach.
The first part of the route was to head in the opposite way that Hannah and I had come into the first checkpoint on the Blacks to the Beacons, it was so nice for everything to be so familiar from the off.
I immediately realised that my plan of wearing my trail shoes was not a great idea, the lugs on them are not nearly as aggressive as the ST version and as soon as I hit mud I noticed the difference! A great way for me to really see the difference that shoes make. My plan was to run as much of the Dragon’s Back as I possibly could, and I was quite pleased with just how much of it I did run, luckily it was already registered as a Strava segment so I can tell you that I did the two mile uphill stretch in 35m 20s which I was really pleased with!
As it was a beautiful sunny Sunday I was expecting to see a lot of people out and about, which I certainly did. As I neared the top of the Dragon’s Back, two hikers commented on how cold and windy it was, I took that as a hint that perhaps I should don an extra layer. I’m very glad I did! I got to Pen y Manllwyn 766 at 12.48pm which marks the top of the Dragon's Back and headed towards Waun Fach.
It’s just a short hop over and I was at Waun Fach - 810m at 1pm. I have to confess though, at the time I was completely confused and for some reason thought Pen y Manllwyn was Waun Fach and Waun Fach was I don’t know what, so I headed off through the undergrowth for a while thinking there was a path I needed over there when in fact I had been on the correct path all along. I returned to the correct path (still thinking I was on the wrong path) and asked a group of hikers where I was. Turns out I was exactly where I needed to be. I’m not sure why I had got so confused!
I made it to Mynydd Llysiau - 663m at 1.28pm and knew that this was where I needed to turn off the path and try out a new and quicker line that Brett had found since initially completing his FKT.
I totally forgot that Brett had told me to just head for the fence line and faffed around for a while with my map and compass and had a quick snack too. Shortly after I set off down the steep hill I spotted the fence line and remembered what Brett had said. There’s a gate to pass through and the route is very straight forward and easy to follow. The footpath takes you to the left hand side of a farm and you end up on a lane.
It was here I became unsure as the gpx was to take me through a field which is on the right as the lane bears round to the left but for the life of me I could not see a public right of way so I chose to continue down the lane as I could see it came out in a similar place. I spotted the end of the footpath and headed back up it to check the way that I should have come, and sure enough, it was through that field.
I was now in the village of Waun Fach at 2.07pm, this is likely to be my first checkpoint location.
I was heading to Mynydd Llangors which started with a pretty steep lane, not one that I could run up. The lane takes you into a field and you get a great view of what’s to come. I had hoped that I would be able to do a lot of this route without poles. Although I did this climb without poles, I do think on the day I will need to use them.
I reached a cain at 2.35pm and I did think this was the top (it wasn’t) and I came to the trig of Mynydd Llangors - 506m at 2.44pm. There’s a lovely and enjoyable path away from the trig and to my alarm I realised I was heading in the downwards direction, with one more summit to go, this can only mean another steep climb! I saw a couple who I believe were mother and son having the most monstrous argument, I bid them a good afternoon but they were oblivious to me.
I could see the very steep Mynydd Troed ahead of me and sent a text to my husband and friends saying, “My car’s on the other side of that!”. (Although it never looks that steep in the photos!)
I definitely needed my poles for this! It took just under 20 minutes to climb, it was quite hard work but not as hard as Allt Lywd! I reached the trig of Mynydd Troed - 609m at 3.25pm and it was an easy and fun descent down to the road crossing at Pengenffordd which completed my loop, I reached the road at 3.39pm, good to know it took 14 minutes to come down.
I happily trotted back to the car and was really pleased with how the recce had gone.
What’s in the snack pack?
Luchos guava square
Natural bar
2x 500ml bladders water - with Phizz
Salomon Bonatti waterproof over mittens
Inov 8 Trailshell waterproof jacket
Long sleeved spare layer
Vasaline
Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver
Petzl e+lite head torch
Whistle
Survival blanket
OMM Halo waterproof trousers
Fully charged mobile phone
Harvey’s map
Silva Expedition 4 compass
What I wore: Saucony Peregrine 12, Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Stance socks, Montane long sleeved top plus Decathlon long sleeved top, hat, gloves, Dirty Girl gaiters, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.
Lead up: As this was a recce rather than a race I did not do anything in particular to prepare myself.
Morning preparations: A nice leisurely departure from home at 9am. Porridge with mashed banana and mixed berries made with oat milk for breakfast.
Summary
A fabulous day out and a really useful and important recce - in particular finding the line down from Mynydd Llysiau and checking the footpath coming into the village of Waun Fach. It was good to be able to take a photo of the checkpoint locations for my crew to help them find the right place on the day.
Lessons learned
I really need to wear my STs in future on this terrain, regardless of the weather!
Results
Elapsed time: 3 hr 40 m 38 s
Strava route: https://www.strava.com/activities/8626522920
