This is the second part of our trip up to Cribarth...
Part Two - Saturday 15th March
Weather: Sunny
We had unfinished business up Cribarth, so seeing as it was a beautiful sunny Saturday we decided to head back up to Craig Y Nos and try and find the Wellington Bomber. I had downloaded an app called
ViewRanger GPS and purchased the relevant maps to where the bomber was located (SN817168) on Carreg Goch, at about 520m.
We didn't park in the country park this time, but in a lay-by just before Craig Y Nos Castle. We made our way along the road towards the castle and crossed over to where the riding school was. There was an arrow pointing up and we followed that over a stile and through the riding school. We then followed a public walkway up the hill.
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| The lay-by we parked in just before Craig Y Nos Castle |
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| The walkers sign pointing up. |
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| Through the riding school field there's a public walk way - plus a great view of Craig y Nos |
There is a well worn path to follow with impressive mature trees and plenty of birdlife. Keeping on the path we got to a very rocky bridleway which was to our left, to our right was a stile. We choose the bridleway (but should have probably taken the stile) - it was extremely tricky to walk on and very hard on the legs. Half way up we turned around to look at the view, it was beautiful - Craig Y Nos was starting to look even more like a fairytale castle. Near the top a huge bolder was in our path.
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| The path up with mature trees |
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| A very rocky bridleway |
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| The view is amazing and Craig y Nos looks like a fairytale castle |
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| A massive bolder in our path |
Once past the bolder the path seemed to get a little more even and we eventually come to the stile we saw on the last walk and things were starting to get familiar. It was also where we saw the frog spawn, unfortunately the weather had been warm all week and the frog spawn looked like it was drying out. We looked back and saw the fantastic views of Fan Brycheiniog. We crossed over the stile to the right and started to walk up the mountain.
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| Looking back the views are superb |
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| The stile we crossed from the other side on the last walk to Cribarth |
When we got to the brow of the hill we noticed a
big rocky sink hole (Pwll-yr-Wydden) in the distance. We made our way
over to it, crossing the
numerous clumps of dry grass. When we got there we noticed that there were
plastic
crates and man-made dens built against the rocks. It was very strange and we wondered what
it was all about, maybe its something to do with caving?
We
walked up the side of Pwll-yr-Wydden and when we go to the top we could
see in the distance a huge rock called 'Carreg yr Gap' - This is where
we were heading. On our way we stopped for a a cuppa and admired the view - Cribarth was in the distance.
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| A shake hole in the distance |
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| Not sure what's going on here...looks like some sort of den |
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| Awesome rock formations |
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| Fantastic views of Cribarth and beyond |
After our little break we finally got to Carreg a'r Gap - a huge bolder, much taller than Dan. Next to the rock is another stile which we climbed over. The ground starts getting very rocky from here and we also found a sheep's skull on the ground (well, we think it belonged to a sheep). We also came across a hole in the ground that looked like some sort of burial cairn.
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| Dan standing next to Carreg a'r Gap |
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| The stile |
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| Sheep skull? |
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| Things are getting rocky! |
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| Burial Cairn? |
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| More skulls and bones |
We continued following the GPS, which was telling us to go west so we headed towards some mountains in the distance. As we were walking we were joined by a beautiful red kite overhead, who was obviously hunting - he was swooping down and gliding so elegantly - it was a lovely moment - just Dan, myself and the kite with no one else for miles.
The mountains were gradually getting closer and the terrain kept changing - firstly we were crossing very dry grass, then we reached a number of peat hags. We carefully crossed them and started to climb once again, when we got to the top a big pond was infront of us.
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| A red kite make it's presence felt |
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| Lots of peat hags |
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| A large pond |
After exploring the pond we started to climb to the summit of Carreg Goch, the GPS was telling us we were very near to the Wellington Bomber now - just over the other side and we should see it. It was extremely rocky up there and I can understand how hard it is to find the crash site because it's exactly the same colour as the limestone rocks.
As we were climbing down the side of the mountain the bomber came into view. We were very surprised at the size of it and I started to get emotional - knowing that the lives of six people were lost here. The crash happened on the 20th November 1944, the aircraft lost height and crashed into Garreg Goch, killing all six Canadian crew members. There's a great deal of the wreckage left and a memorial has been erected to remember the men who lost their lives. Here is a great link, share with me on Twitter with lots of good information about the crash:
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| The wreckage of the bomber comes into view |
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| The memorial to commemorate the crash |
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| So much of the wreckage remains |
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| The Canadian flag |
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| A single poppy is tied to a piece of the wreckage |
We paid our respects to the wreckage and decided it was time to leave, we started walking back up the mountain, but keeping more to the right to avoid the rocks.
The crash site was quite surreal to see, I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's hard to believe that the Brecon Beacons has over 30 other plane crashes up there. I've got a great little booklet that tells you where they all are (pic left).
We started making our way back and we saw lots of birds flying above us and also came across a pellet on the ground that contained bones and bits of fur, not sure what bird of prey its from though.
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| A meadow pipit |
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| A large pellet with bones |
Walking back we passed a number of large ponds and a lot of boggy land. We pretty much went back the way we came and as we did the moon grabbed our attention - it was full.
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| One of a number of ponds we passed. |
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| The full moon |
We were also blessed with a stunning sunset. I have never seen so many
different colours in the sky - it bathed the whole landscape in a warm red colour and made our walk back even more magical.
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| As the sun sets the beacons look even more beautiful |
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| A truly amazing sunset appears... |
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| ...that transforms the sky by the minute |
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| The landscape is stunning in the warm glow |
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| On our way back down in twilight |
Before we got to the bottom the sun had set and we were now in complete darkness. Luckily we had our head torches and that was a blessing when we faced the rocky bridleway on the way down. It wasn't long before we were getting glimpses of Craig Y Nos at night and it looked beautiful and eerie at the same time. The full moon that refelcted on to the building gave it even more character and charm.
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| Craig Y Nos by moonlight |
So our walk finally came to an end and our goal of finding the Wellington bomber was complete. We felt so satisfied and thoroughly enjoyed exploring Cribarth and the mountains of Craig Y Nos. It is a magical part of the Beacons with so much history, geological interest and just fantastic for escaping the crowds of people who flock to Pen Y Fan. I can't wait to explore this area more in the future :)
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