Notes from a Walk by Dave & Jackie Bird
April 28th to May 20th 2023
Using the cicerone guide book as a baseline we took an extra couple of days and completed the route in 23 days.
We took the decision to stay in accommodation for the whole route, therefore keeping the packs light without the need for camping equipment.
We were fortunate with good weather for the Black hills, Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia, sadly it was wet and low cloud for a few sections through mid Wales over Pumlumon.
We were concerned about the Rhinogydd sections in terms of effort and logistics of getting from Cwm Bychan as it happened there were tough but not as bad as we feared, although the descents were difficult in way of terrain and the local taxi service was superb.
Apart from the tourist hot spots of Pen-y-fan and Snowdon, the route was fabulously remote and everyone we met and stayed with were very friendly.
t was pleasing to see that in these times of economic restraint that lots of footpath improvements have been made to reduce the environmental impact of path users.
We’ve walked many of the UKs long distance path’s including ’The Cape Wrath Trail’ and we both came to the conclusion that this is probably the toughest in terms of height and distance we’ve done, but also one of the most exhilarating. We have done sections of the route before as weekend trips, however as a full journey this made it a truly stunning route.
We would fully recommend this as a walk.
Dave & Jackie
Jackie by their Carpe diem finger post