A 2-day route from Cwnwyd based on the Dewey 500m tops of the northern Berwyn hills, approaching on the virtually untrodden Moel yr Henfaes and returning via the familiar line of Vivod Mountain and Moel Fferna.
There were four new Dewey tops in our plan for this circuit, but we ran short of time near the end and descended directly from Moel Fferna to Cwnwyd, leaving Bryn-llus for another day. A forecast of fine weather for a bank holiday weekend suggested this adaptable backpack from our closet series that avoids the crowds, avoiding even a distant glimpse of anyone at all in fact for most of its length, at the expense of a couple of rough and arduous sections.
7 Comments
A good area to escape the bank holiday crowds. I too have encountered scramblers ripping up the peat in the Berwyns - on the col between Cadair Bronwen and Cadair Berwyn. They left a right old mess. On a really hot day years ago I also stumbled upon an ‘embracing’ naked couple on the ridge just south of Moel Fferna, I think they were after solitude too!
I managed to take myself into the wilds of mid Wales over the bank holiday to the area between Nant-y-moch reservoir and Glaslyn nature reserve. The Hengwm valley is stunning and largely deserted, some great small hills such as Drosgol so a couple of Marilyns ticked off too.
This was the first time I’ve seen the bikes, and to make it worse the Berwyns are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. I don’t know if it would do any good to report it.
The Hengwm area was a great choice, another area we’ll revisit before long, there is a good sprinkling of new 500m Dewey tops to explore.
Hi Geoff
This is your second trip since buying the NeoAir, how is it performing?
Regards Geoff
The first results are a bit strange: we bought 2 NeoAirs, and on my solo trip to Lower Eskdale I grabbed one of them and it performed just fine. On this Berwyn trip, we used both of them and inflated them to the same firmness, and after a few hours mine seemed rather flabby and I put an extra puff of air into it, but Vivien’s still felt firm. In the morning when we shuffled around and kneeled on them to face the door, hers suddenly felt a bit flabby too, but still ok when lying flat on it.
A few people have reported partial deflation during the night but failed to find any leaks:- if any air is escaping it’s almost certainly the valve rather than a fault or puncture in the material I would have thought. I’m wondering if certain vigorous movements cause a brief loss of air when the corner holding the valve is twisted around.
Anyway I’ll monitor the situation on the hill, it’s difficult to experiment at home.
Neoair Firmness - are you sure this isn’t deflation from warm breaths cooling over time. I found I loose firmness initially, but once topped up it works fine.
Robert,
You may be right, most of the deflation does seem to occur only once from the initial blow-up. I’ve just returned from a trip to the Cairngorms and I found that a little deflation is actually a good thing: the NeoAir can feel a bit hard after lying on it for a while when fully inflated. I found the same thing with the old Thermarests.
Once I’ve written up the report on this last trip I’ll take a longer look at your blog (about to be added to my Blogroll).
Yes I think it is more pronounced with the NeoAir as the volume is much greater.
Thanks for the website, it is a great resource and place for inspiration. Hopefully someday soon I will be able to devote the time you have to more in the outdoors.