Misty Llwyn Onn

As the mist created by the warm air meeting the cool surface of the reservoir was just about to clear the following images were capture by Butterballs on his daily walk.



The reflection of the trees on the opposite bank bouncing off the surface of the reservoir is a mirror image.



With totally clear azure autumnal skies overhead it doesn't get much better than this.

Local Reservoirs

With the driest start to the year since 1929 (January to June 2010 has been the second driest for 100 years) and a distinct lack of precipitation over the last eight weeks (nationally only 68% of average rainfall) water levels on all of the local reservoirs are really low.

Just over 14 weeks ago the reservoirs were gripped in a deep freeze with large area's of the surface frozen solid but one of the driest periods in the last eighty years has seen a remarkable transformation to the visual landscape.

I set off along the Beacons Way in the direction of Llwyn On (also known locally as First Res.) to discover that the water level on the dam had dramatically dropped by approximately 20 feet.



Constructed in 1926 to supply the inhabitants of Cardiff, it has a capacity of 1,260 million gallons. If the current drought continues the remains of Ponty Daf Bridge, which normally remains hidden below the surface, will soon be visible. Welsh Water are satisfied with the current average capacity of 72% and do not anticipate any water restrictions until the Autumn.



The next stop was at Cantref Reservoir (which is known locally as Second Res!!) where the exposed earth banks were starting to crack as they dried out.



These butterfly's were in their natural habitat near the Nant Crew Bridge at the northern end of the Cantref Reservoir.



Probably the worst affected locally was Dolygaer Reservoir, which covers about 40 acres and has an average depth of 18 feet. With such low water levels the Environment Agency Wales has rescued hundreds of fish nationally due to the exceptional drought conditions.



While I was at Dolygaer this Heron was able to wade near the middle of the rapidly diminishing expanse of water in search of it's next meal! it's surprising how nature is able to adapt to the extreme conditions.



All of the photographs taken on this walk can be viewed here. Select 'slideshow' for automated viewing.

Garn Ddu - The Wrong Way

The sight of snow flakes gently falling outside the kitchen window at 8.00am, when you are preparing a warm flask of tea for the day ahead, is not the most encouraging start to a winter walk but thankfully the brief flurry didn't last very long. In fact it was very mild when we left the Cefn Community Centre an hour later.

A pleasant walk along the Taff Trail to the Glais Bridge at Pontsarn completed the first leg of the walk and this would be the only time that we would encounter any other person until meeting Dai Harrison outside Cefn Rugby Club at the end of the walk - more of that later.

Steve's previous attempt to find the right path along the river bank had led him to an abrupt end where the water flowed underground and he came to a cul-de-sac in the rocks. On this occassion we climbed the steep bank to the right of the bridge that brought us out into the open fields to the west of the unmistakable Spanish style haccienda - Hy Brassil.



We were a little dissappointed that this series of fields eventually led us to the access road to Llwyn Cilsanws farm, adjacent to Vaynor Quarries. Our compass reading indicated that we needed to continue in a North Westerly direction alongside the Nant-Y-Glais brook.

Arriving at the edge of the fence line that denotes the last of a series of sheep pens we gazed into the distance for the distinctive path that was prominently marked on the O/S map. To our right we were able to see what looked like a significant path leading towards north, but we both felt that this would probably take us in the wrong direction! To our west we were also able to see in the distance what looked like a path adjacent to a fence and this looked the more obvious alternative.

W R O N G! Sometimes we shouldn't rely on our instincts and just trust the map and compass.

When we arrived at the path we discovered what looked like an old drovers route but we soon established that we had also gone a mile in the wrong direction when Steve spotted a trig column to our west. Embarrassingly, Cilsanws Common trig point was nearly two kilometres too far South West from the Roman road that we had originally intended to take.



Even the sight of a majestic Red Kite and the magnificent views down to Llwyn On Reservoir failed to compensate for the disappointment of our wrong turn. Spotting Garn Ddu to our North we treked across the open moorland for a mile to reach the original road that we had intended to use before a relatively short walk to the forestry above Fedw to the north of Llwyn On village.



Leaving the forestry we crossed the main A470 road to join the nature trail around the Southern end of the reservoir before ending the hike along the Cefn Penmaillard path back to Cefn Coed. This is where we bumped into Dai Harrison who was on his way to 'Lunch with a Lion' (Scott Hastings) 24=hours before the Wales/Scotland international the following day. Warren Gatland's men also seemed to be travelling in the wrong direction for 70 minutes until they seemed to find their 'mojo' in the final stages of their quest!!

A little bit like us really.