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Judging from the weather forecast, this was our one chance to get in the mountains this half term. It was just me and my two sons, aged 13 and 9, as my husband was working.
We stopped off briefly at Llanthony Priory on the way past and got to Capel-y-Ffin at about 11am. It was mild and sunny and having dressed for the season rather than the weather we were soon overheating. My youngest ended up doing most of the steep climb up towards Chwarel y Fan bare-chested. He changed his mind when we hit the ridge, where it was somewhat windier. Visibility at this point was good, with just a few clouds coming down the valley to the east.
We encountered some ponies on the walk to the summit, who weren't to be deterred from sitting in the path by a few hand claps. We navigated round them and settled down in the sheltered hollow by the summit to eat our lunch.
As if we needed reminding of how changeable the weather can be, in the 15 minutes or so we were sitting down the clouds enveloped us and the views disappeared. We donned warmer clothes and set off along the ridge to Rhos Dirion. It was at this point that the front section of the left sole of my very old walking boots detached from the boot.
I tried in vain asking some other walkers if they had some tape they could give me then had a brainwave. I secured the sole with the elastic band that usually wraps round a thermal blanket. If I'd had any sense, we'd have headed back down to the car, where I could always have changed into the old walking shoes I keep in the boot and tackled the other two peaks from the car park on the Gospel Pass. Instead, wrongly thinking I'd solved the problem, we headed on.
Somewhere on the walk to Rhos Dirion the front of the right sole detached. I didn't have any more elastic bands, so this time turned to the cord from my compass. It wasn't exactly watertight but never mind. We stopped briefly at Twyn Talycefn then pressed on to Rhos Dirion. At some point my left sole completely detached and I tried to keep it on by tying my laces round under the boot.
At Rhos Dirion, boot problems were temporarily forgotten in our amazement at the views. In the sunshine you could see for miles across the Wye Valley, though as my eldest later noted there were rain clouds off to our left. We took it in turns to jump across the moat to the trig point for photos and then, realising time was getting on, headed on towards Twmpa (or Lord Hereford's Knob, but try saying that to a teen and pre-teen without getting a snigger).
The views all along the ridge to Twmpa were stunning and I was so busy enjoying them I managed to mislay my lens cap. I only realised at the summit and wasted valuable time backtracking for no reward.
By the time we set off for the walk along Darren Lwyd and back to our starting point, we knew we were very pressed for time. I'd had to give up on the left sole completely, so was just walking on the smooth inner sole. I slid all over the place on the mud and took a few knocks. To add insult to injury, it started to drizzle.
We got our waterproofs on and head torches as although we didn't need them yet it was clear we would soon. It should have been a moonlit night but the clouds were putting paid to that.
Eventually I had to rip the right sole off as it was becoming a liability. Walking along the ridge was straight forward enough but some how we missed the path down off the end and wasted yet more time meandering about on the very steep slope. I had to take my boots off and carry them, squelching and slipping around in the mud and goodness knows what else in just my socks.
We gave a wild pony a bit of a shock as we appeared out of the gloom with our head torches. Eventually, after yet more falls on my part, we finally found a clear path and headed down the hill. We hit the fence at a very convenient point, as it was obvious on the map where we were and from then on, navigation was straight forward. One lady, who was in her garden with her dog, asked if we were ok and offered sympathy when I explained what had happened. Not long after we hit the road and made it back to the car. We were minus one of my husband's gloves though, which I'd borrowed for the walk.
Although the route comes out at just under 17k, I reckon I did more like 19 or 20 with all the meandering and doubling back. We were way below our expected pace because I had to go slower than normal to try to stop myself falling over. I really wouldn't recommend walking down off Darren Lywd in the dark in socked feet!
While we had the kit for all weathers and for walking at night, with hind sight there are some learning points. Something apparently trivial like a damaged boot can develop into a more serious problem and exit routes aren't just for dire emergencies. Even having pressed on to the later peaks, a better decision at Twmpa would have been to head down to the road. Harder on my feet but no problems navigating in the dark and it wouldn't have been so slippery.
