CYHA News

Ten Get Wet in Wales

It all stared as an innocent dream of Dave P's, to walk between the three small hostels of the Elenydd in mid-Wales. Self-sufficient against the elements, with everything he needed in the rucksack on his back - a chance to be at one with nature.

Well the back-pack idea was the first to go and Alison was persuaded to become team sherpa, with a car loaded to the gunnels with essentials like sausages and dry socks.

The first leg of our intrepid inter-hostel trek in the Tregaron triangle was from Blaencaron to Tyncornel.

We set off early (for CYHA that is) around 9 am, if I remember rightly, still reeling from the shock of seeing George at breakfast before 8 am!! The route was tricky passing through fields and farmyards, at one we met a local farmer riding the traditional quad bike who greeted us with the words "gerrof my effing land the effing path's o'er there" (in Welsh accent ) which I think is the local dialect for 'Welcome to Wales, English friends, I hope you have a good day!'.

On the way past another farm we came across a delightful little dog who accompanied us for the next couple of hours. After lunch we came across the pub where for much needed refreshment in the form of a pint of Brains ale.

It's just as well we had a rest here as the last section of the walk was very hard going, not in terms of the height climbed, distance covered or the amount of scrambling required, but in the nature of the boggy terrain. It made progress very hard going with wide detours to find a better line, avoid a particularly boggy patch or dodge waist high grassy tussocks.

With Dave P and Tom managing to maintain our route we were all glad to see the hostel in the near distance with the chimney smoking as we all eagerly anticipated a nice cup of tea and freshly baked cakes. However, after a tricky typically tussocky descent we were horrified to see a raging river lying between us and the cup of tea!

None of us could face the trauma of retracing our steps through the hellish terrain so we wondered what our next move should be. Suddenly Nigel leapt across the river with a hop skip and a jump (like triple jumper in the Olympics) using wet and slippery rocks as stepping stones to the other side. We were all impressed but also were aware that the chances of the remaining 10 or so of us performing the same feat without the majority of us having dreadful accidents was very slim.

So boots and socks came off as we had to wade through the rushing water to the safety of the tea side of the river. I think it was Mike who made the first vital crossing to reassure us that it could be done without drowning, slipping or being carried away to Aberystwyth.

So it was a tired group that arrived back at Tyncornel hostel that evening…

The other days (Tyncornel to Dolgoch and Dolgoch back to Blaencaron) saw more conventional terrain and walks more representative of CYHA (as we told the newer members of the group who were beginning to think they had joined some sort of masochistic extreme sport group).

Thanks to Dave for organising this trip in this remote less well known part of Wales and to Ali for driving our bags and food around for us!!

Dave J

The (other) Welsh Threes,
or
Athens or Elenith?

An Olympic theme dominated the Welsh 3 hostels weekend. People had to make the ultimate sacrifice, and leave the Olympic TV coverage to participate in our own Olympic events - Tussock Hopping, Torrent Fording, Tarmac Bashing, and (of course) Wine Drinking. We fielded an ace team with several new members making the veterans feel we needed to attend more carefully to our training regimes. Carol led the field with her long stride, Mike and Dave J had been training at altitude, and Cressida appeared to have boundless energy after 5 weeks school holiday. All CYHA records were smashed, so that I had to do a Paula Radcliffe and drop out.

The hostels were all very different - Blaencaron was located by a pretty stream, Tyncornel had a terrace with expansive views over the hills, and Dolgoch had comely charms, an open fire, and gas lighting. This created an opportunity for Alison to take some Rembrantesque photographs whilst we sat around in the evening listening to the outgoing and incoming voluntary wardens discussing septic tanks boggy routes, and local groups to avoid. We were sorry to hear that fundraising efforts were needed to support these small hostels, which are threatened with closure and need to be better publicised and used.

The walking routes crossed some very unspoilt country and (most) people managed three days away from their cars and mobile phones without trembling, shaking pallor or any other symptoms of withdrawal.

We came home without any medals (although we felt we deserved them) having had some excellent walking despite the rain. The only points lost were in the parking Event (no contest really with a Reliant Robin) and the F***ing swearing (initiated by an irate farmer) with whom we didn't even try to compete. He had obviously had a lot more practice and without Robert in the team the odds were clearly stacked against us!

Trudi

(see some more pictures of the Elenydd weekend, and some more information about Mid-Wales)

The Haute Route

In July Mike and I embarked on the Haute Route or Alpine High Route. This is one of the classic Alpine walks travelling east from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland. The mountain ranges here are mostly north-south and drain into the Rhone which tracked our route to the north most of the time.

The trek as about 100km in all but involved over 30,000 feet of ascent (and descent!) as we crossed range after range of spectacular mountains taking in 8 high mountain passes. We started in Chamonix which was billed as being in the shadow of Mont Blanc - unfortunately it was obscured by low cloud at that time although we still got good views of the Mer de Glace glacier and the Aiguilles Rouges. In fact the route passed 10 of the 12 highest peaks in the Alps including Mont Fort, Grand Combin, Monta Rosa, Dent Blanche, Weisshorn and the Matterhorn.

We walked through lush Alpine valleys full of colourful flowers and bell-clad cattle, climbing past a series of glaciers, pretty lakes and into the more rugged landscape of the high passes where there was a great deal of snow, more than normal for this time of year. Herd of ibex were frequently spotted and the squeak of marmots became a familiar sound. As we got higher we got better views of where we'd been including a spectacular view of the Mont Blanc massif with the distinctive white dome of the peak itself in the background.

The best views were in the last few days as we approached the Matterhorn area which was full of snow capped peaks and immense glaciers. We never saw the Matterhorn in its full glory as it was always partially covered by cloud although it did reveal bits of itself in a rather teasing way never quite displaying enough at any one time.

It was a most enjoyable two weeks in a beautiful area. Although there were no scary bits and none of the walk was particularly challenging, the effect of 11 days walking and the constant climbing and descending meant we were quite glad to spend the last day in Zermatt being touristy, taking the mountain railway, drinking beer and eating lots of apple strudel!

Dave J

Going Batty

The first ever CYHA bat walk was an outstanding success. A healthy turnout saw about 10 of us tripping over tree roots as we walked through the woods round The Viper, as darkness fell. We not only saw, but thanks to Dave P's latest gadget, heard lots of tiny furry mammals flitting through the air above our heads (mostly identified as 45kHz pipistrelles). Lots of wet, slappy noises - and that was just when we got our drinks from the bar! There were some comments about the best bat sightings being those from the beer garden.

Woodham Mortimer walk

Thanks to Rose for leading a very enjoyable Sunday walk from Danbury Common. The weather was pleasantly sunny and we had a good lunch, plenty of pub stops, and good views from the top of Danbury Hill