The Pen-y-Bwlch Gwyn Round 8th October 2011

Out of the woods.

Looking across Llaithgwm, a former Quaker farm towards Llyn Celyn.

"Look you, I'm floating across the bog".

Walk stats: Distance: 10.6 miles. Climb: 1763'.
Time: 5 hours 56 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.8 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Roger, Dave J and Mike D.
The weather was a little better than we could have hoped for, not much sun, but at least we only experienced a little dampness in the air occasionally.  If anything it was somewhat warm and humid and the low temperatures forecast didn't materialise.
Route finding across the moors wasn't particularly easy, even though visibility was good.  Distant views weren't good, although we did see Llyn Celyn and the unmentionable peak in the distance!
It wasn't on the route, but we did cross the summit Pen-y-Bwlch Gwyn before returning to the path on the route description.
We had lunch looking South-east down the Nant Cefn-coch valley, hoping that whatever we were sitting on was waterproof!
The return route after lunch was quite challenging to start with as the paths on the map didn't seem to exist on the ground, but eventually a more obvious path did appear as Llyn Maen Blas came into view.
An enjoyable walk, boosted by the early morning victory for Wales in the RU World Cup.
Birds seen or heard today included: Blue tit , Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Carrion crow, European robin, Mistle thrush, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Rock dove, Common buzzard, Eurasian jay, Black-billed magpie, House sparrow, Red kite and Dave's Treecreeper!
After walk drinks were taken at the New Inn at Pontybodkin, bur the Rev. James wasn't at his best!