Elenydd trip

A Monday to Friday trip to mid Wales in the third week of April co-incided with the warm spell before winter briefly returned last week.
Link to photo album here

I stayed at the two Elenydd Wilderness Hostels which were once part of a whole chain of simple hostels in the Welsh mountains. Nowadays the YHA seems set on having urban hostels to compete with Travel Lodge and have sold off many in the countryside which apparently don't fit with their "model".
Enthusiasts purchased these two when there was a mass sale and now run them with volunteers.These and others like them can sometimes still be booked via the YHA website if they have an promotion arrangement in place.

Towy valley above Dolgoth

 On the Tuesday I did a circular walk from Dolgoth to include Drygarn Fawr which at 641m is the highest point in the area.Fairly featureless terrain but with two huge summit cairns.Hard going with my old Landranger map as there has been considerable forest planting and felling since 1974!

Llanerch farm

Irfon valley

Dolgoth from the east

On the Wednesday I moved on to Tyncornel and diverted northwards to have a walk up to and around the Teifi Pools from the end of the road east of Strata Florida.I stopped at Tregaron on the way and bought an up to date 25,000 scale map which made navigation much simpler.While I'd been to Strata Florida before this was my first visit to these lakes.Quite unique landscape.

Llyn Egnant

Llyn-y-Gorlan

Llyn Bach

Llyn Teifi

Frongoch farmhouse

Resupplied with food and drink on my way back through Tregaron ,including meat from the local butcher and Welsh and Black Country beers from Spar.Convenience stores in Wales always seem to have an interesting selection of beers.
Road access to Tyncornel is up a narrow lane from Llanddewi Brefi and the final section just a rough potholed track.

Tyncornel hostel with new day shelter/bike shed in foreground

 

Still a good forecast for Thursday so an anti clockwise walk,over the hill to Bryn-amor,then the hill track SE and down to and across the Doethie ,returning along the path back up the valley to the hostel.I'd been up this valley many years ago as part of a Hay on Wye to North Wales coast walk (a forerunner of the Cambrain Way) Thought back to all the simple hostels along the way most of which have now been sold off as second homes.

Bryn-ambor

Nant-gwernog

Doethie valley from above Troed-rhiw-cymmer

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path up the Doethie valley

 

Long abandoned dwellings

Upper valley