Muddy and soggy! I don’t think I have ever seen the fields so wet and swamped in places. There is water pouring across them and every gully and brook gushing with water. I started this walk from the carpark at Gregynog taking the foot path east that takes you down to a well-built foot bridge that crosses Bechan Brook. The footpath was good here with gates, and after a field of horses (that I’m always a bit wary of) came out on to the lane that passes round the back of the grounds of Gregynog. So far so good but after that I didn’t see another proper style/sign for a good while. I was heading for Bronhafod dingle where a footpath, on my map, runs all the way through…. I came across a little, stone, tumble down building on the way. I love ruins and always wonder what their purpose might have been. Getting nearer the dingle I saw a poor, dead old heron, one of my favourite birds (although one once pinched all the fish from my pond), so to see the great long beak of one so close up was, to me, very interesting. I’ve included a photo of it so if that’s not your kind of thing, apologies – shut your eyes! The dingle was absolutely beautiful – I felt as if I’d found a secret location, hardly trodden or visited by anyone. The sides of the dingle were lined with oak and beech so the floor was strewn with a mixture of their leaves but also of lovely ferns and a carpet of celandine. The brook was traveling extremely fast and probably looks quite different in the summer. It was so soggy under foot that negotiating my way through was really quite difficult in places and the light, being down in the gully and surround by trees, wasn’t great although it was only early afternoon. Good fun all the same. A stile at last and a path that lead across the fields to New House Farm. Taking the farm lane to the Bwlch-y-ffridd road - I have to say I was glad to see a bit of tarmac after so much sogginess not to mention jumping two small streams that at any other time of year probably would be just a trickle. This is a stretch of road that I love and used to travel along it when I lived in Adfa – the views are magnificent and even today with such poor visibility I could see The Kerry Ridgway. Turning left then on to the lane that goes back to Gregynog, downhill all the way and then entering the Great Wood. I could see why it has that name – very impressive old trees, beautiful. 5.5miles
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