Bwlch and Glyders Weatherman Walking


Bwlch and Glyders

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I thought it was Weatherman Walking, not Weatherman Climbing!

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Derek?

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-Derek?

-What?

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-You can let go now.

-You sure?

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-Yeah, it's this way.

-Oh, all right, then.

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Walking in Wales often means climbing a mountain or two.

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So this week I'm tackling two iconic mountain ranges.

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The Glyders in Snowdonia

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and the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons -

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both different to climb, but equally breathtaking.

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Later I'll be scrambling to the summit of Glyder Fawr,

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taking in the highlights of Cwm Idwal along the way.

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But first, I'm heading to the heart of the Black Mountains,

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exploring the history of the Rhiangoll Valley,

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before ending with some brilliant Beacon views.

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The Black Mountains are steeped in history, myth and legend,

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so I've come to the small village of Bwlch, which means pass,

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to find out why this area should definitely NOT be passed by.

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Helping me hit the hills is Emma Harrison,

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who runs a bunkhouse in the area and provides guided walks up into the nearby mountains.

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She also used to be in the Army Reserves.

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So I'm hoping she's going to take it easy on me and not give me my marching orders!

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-Hi, Emma!

-Hi, Derek.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you too.

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-Welcome to Bwlch.

-Thank you.

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We're on the A40 at the moment, it gets a bit noisy,

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so walk this way and we'll go somewhere a bit quieter.

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Nestled in the Black Mountains in Powys,

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Bwlch is just a short drive from Brecon.

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Leaving the village, we head along country lanes

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and cross fields down to the village of Cwmdu.

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Here we join the Beacons Way to enjoy views across the central

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Beacons before dropping back down to Bwlch -

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a total hike of nearly seven miles.

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The village of Bwlch gets its unusual name

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as a result of sitting in a gap between two hills.

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And this pass through the hills is now part of the busy A40.

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Originally it was the turnpike road, so it's been busy for centuries.

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The traffic used to come through, it was gated,

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and you had to pay to get past.

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And our bunkhouse was originally a coaching inn.

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The road goes all the way from London to Fishguard.

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That's right. And then they could get across to Ireland.

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This is the first hill of the day,

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but you'll be pleased to hear that it flattens out really soon.

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-It's a good warm-up for the hills ahead.

-Absolutely.

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So we're going to head off into the fields for a bit of peace and solitude.

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Make sure you wear good boots,

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as it can get pretty muddy in places.

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So we're going to swing away from the Usk Valley now

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and into a new valley called the Rhiangoll.

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And just over here is a really interesting stone fortification

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called Tretower Court and Castle.

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You can just see it in the distance.

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-Oh, yeah.

-It's quite unusual to see a castle on a valley floor.

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Do you know why it's there?

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I think it's because the mountains were so inhospitable,

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there was no way of accessing around them,

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so when the Normans advanced on Wales,

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they decided to put the castle on the valley floor.

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And they controlled movement between the major towns of Abergavenny,

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Brecon, Talgarth and Hay-on-Wye.

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And what's this ridge called, here?

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That's called the Pen Allt-mawr ridge line,

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and it's got a lot of burial cairns on it, you can just see them sticking up,

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and in fact, the Rhiangoll Valley has got the highest concentration of burial

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chambers in the whole of the UK.

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Really? We're not going up there today, though?

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No. Luckily for you, we're not!

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We're going to keep going downwards.

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We're heading down into the village of Cwmdu now.

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You can just see the church tower in the distance.

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-It's a nice little place.

-Oh, really beautiful.

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-So, where are you from originally, Emma, because your accent isn't local?

-No, it's not, Derek.

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I'm originally from near Coventry.

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But school trips and family holidays to places like Snowdonia

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and the Peak District left me with a lifelong love of mountains.

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So what brought you to Bwlch in the Brecon Beacons?

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I trained to be a librarian,

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but I never really settled into the role

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and craved a bit of adventure, so I joined the Army Reserve in 2001.

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I spent ten years in the Royal Signals as a radio operator.

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I've got some photos, if you'd like to see them.

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And there you are, all kitted out.

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Took me all over the UK and I managed to work overseas

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-for a couple of years.

-You saw lots of action and adventure.

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Absolutely. This is me in Canada, learning arctic survival skills,

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and they also taught me how to ski.

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And that's me in the Middle East.

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-It was very hot.

-Sat on a tank.

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And it was out there that I met my husband, Pete, who's Welsh,

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which is why we came back to Wales and we bought a bunkhouse up in the Brecon Beacons.

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Because this area is really popular for people who like walking,

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biking, everyone who loves the outdoors.

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Everyone who loves the outdoors.

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And as we reach the valley floor,

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we are treated to a walk through a carpet of buttercups.

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I think spring must be my favourite time of year,

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when everything springs into life, leaves on the trees,

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and just look at these beautiful buttercups.

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They're really pretty, aren't they?

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It's just magnificent living round here

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and seeing it all bloom around me.

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Arriving at the small hamlet of Felindre,

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Emma has some more Welsh history to share.

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And here there is a little school that was set up by a very influential local man

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called the Reverend Thomas Price,

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who was a very important man of his time, very passionate about Wales,

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its language and its people, and at the time when the British government

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were trying to squash the Welsh language, he decided to set up this

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tiny little school so that local children could learn Welsh alongside English.

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He wanted to keep the language alive.

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Absolutely. I'll tell you more about him later.

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Instead of walking next to the busy road to Cwmdu,

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we pass through the peaceful caravan park

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and take the lanes to the village church.

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And, over here, there is an ancient memorial stone

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that was found in the fields about a mile away from here,

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and it was given as a gift to the Reverend Thomas Price

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and he arranged for it to be set in the wall and the inscription says,

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"Here lies Cattoc, son of Teyrnoc."

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-How old is it?

-It's from the Dark Ages.

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Very, very old.

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And over here, Derek, is Thomas Price's tomb.

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He actually designed it himself and it's Grade II listed.

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So who exactly was he, what did he do?

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Well, a local man who did so much for the Welsh language and the

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literature as well.

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He's one of the original translators of the Mabinogion, and we've seen

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the school that he set up to teach Welsh language to local children,

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and that was his bardic name.

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-Can you say that?

-Carn...huanawc... Carnhuanawc.

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Do you know what it means?

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It's archaic Welsh, and I've read that it translates as Sunny Hill,

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and that's the name he used

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when he submitted his poems and pieces of literature

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to the Eisteddfods.

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In fact, one of his poems is inscribed on top of this tomb.

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So he was a great man and a hero of his time.

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Indeed.

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'He also wrote the acclaimed Hanes Cymru, a comprehensive study of Welsh history,

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'as well as playing a major part in the revival of the Eisteddfod.

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'It's such a shame that so many people don't know about him today.

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'Leaving Cwmdu, we begin our long climb up into the Beacons.'

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So, you've had quite a gentle walk so far,

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but we've now joined the Beacons Way, which is

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a long-distance footpath traversing the whole of the National Park.

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So, where does it start and where does it end?

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It starts at the Holy Mountain just outside of Abergavenny and ends in a

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little village called Bethlehem.

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How long does it take to walk the whole thing?

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Probably be about eight days, Derek.

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-I quite fancy doing that one day.

-Yeah. Are you feeling fit enough?

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-Definitely.

-Good.

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Emma, have you heard of the old saying,

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"Ne'er cast a clout till May be out"?

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No. What does that mean?

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It dates back to about Elizabethan times

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and I think "May" refers to the hawthorn blossom,

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not the month, and a clout is an old word for a piece of clothing.

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So in other words, don't strip off until the may blossom is out!

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Wise words. I'll remember that.

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-Oh!

-It's hard work, this.

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-It certainly is.

-I've got an idea.

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Come on, I thought you were in the Army!

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-Faster!

-You're too heavy, Derek!

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Oh, look, blue sky!

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Are you enjoying it so far, Derek?

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Now that steep bit's over, yes.

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As a reward for your effort, it's the most magnificent view,

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probably the best in the Black Mountains,

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across to the central Beacons.

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Just over there is Pen y Fan and Cwmdu.

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I've been up there so many times, it can be like a motorway.

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Yet, you come here, it's so peaceful.

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We've hardly seen a soul.

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'In fact, this walk is so quiet it's been named locally

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'as "Walking with solitude". And today, it's just us,

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'a circling kite and the beautiful song of the skylark.'

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'And it seems it's not just me

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'who's been inspired by the scenery up here.

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'JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord Of The Rings,

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'might have got some ideas from this landscape, too.'

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Just before we start our final descent back into Bwlch,

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can I tell you a fantastic story?

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It's said that Tolkien holidayed here,

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just before he started writing Lord Of The Rings,

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and he was inspired by this landscape.

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So just look into the distance, that mountain that looks like a volcano,

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that's Sugar Loaf, and that's said to have inspired him to create the Lonely Mountain.

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And just across there, the town of Crickhowell,

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that became Crickhollow in the books.

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And Llangattock and Llangynidr Commons are The Iron Hills,

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and beyond them is the industrial belt of Ebbw Vale and Merthyr Tydfil.

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If you can imagine when Tolkien was here,

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there might have been lots of smoke and fire coming from the iron and

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steelworks and so, that is said to have become Mordor,

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which sounds very much like "Merthyr".

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And then this hill in the foreground, that's Buckland Hill.

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If you walk round there, it really feels like Middle Earth.

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You can just imagine hobbits running around.

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And Buckland is actually where the hobbits live in the books.

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When you tell it like that, it really is believable.

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This landscape is so inspiring.

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Emma, thank you so much for a wonderful walk.

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The Black Mountains really are beautiful, and so quiet.

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We definitely have been walking in solitude, haven't we?

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We have. I'm so glad you've enjoyed it.

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And if you fancy trying this

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or another of our walks, go to our website...

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It's got detailed route information

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and walking maps for you to print off.

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Or you can download it onto your tablet and take it with you.

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Snowdonia is an adventure playground for outdoor lovers,

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packed with peaks, climbs and scrambles

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that get your heart pumping and your head spinning.

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So I've set my sights on Glyder Fawr,

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the fifth highest peak in Wales.

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I'm going to need stamina, an iron will, and a head for heights.

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Taking up the challenge of getting me to the top and back down again is

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mountain man Berwyn Evans.

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He's been climbing and guiding all over the world for over 30 years,

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and all started right here in the Ogwen Valley.

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Bore da, Berwyn. Sut wyt ti?

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-Bore da, Derek.

-I'm looking forward to today's walk,

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doing some scrambling, but it's going to be a challenging walk, isn't it?

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I think it will certainly be a challenge,

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but there are a few things that we need to make sure first,

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that we got the right equipment and we're prepared for what's to come.

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OK, OK.

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Right, all-important hat.

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Lunch, of course.

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Some water in the sides.

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Fleece.

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Waterproof trousers and a light waterproof coat,

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just in case there's a cheeky shower.

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Yes, let's go for it.

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'Berwyn is also carrying a map, compass and a first-aid kit and,

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'most importantly, he knows how to use them.

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'One of the biggest causes of mountain rescue call-outs

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'are for people who are unprepared on the mountains.'

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And today my Glyder gauntlet starts in Snowdonia.

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Parking up near Ogwen Cottage,

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we head off to Cwm Idwal before climbing up from

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Devil's Kitchen to reach the summit of Glyder Fawr at over 3,200 feet.

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We then retrace our steps and make our way back to our starting point,

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a walk of nearly five miles.

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This is where we start to climb.

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That's right. This is where the hard work starts - just here.

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I'd like to show you something over here.

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This is Ogwen Cottage.

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This is where I spent five years of my life working in the outdoors.

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Ogwen Cottage was owned by Birmingham Education Authority.

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And they brought children from Birmingham up here

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for a week to experience the outdoors,

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and part of that work was working with young adults and

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also getting qualified as well.

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What a perfect place to start your career,

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with all this on your doorstep.

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-Shall we carry on?

-Yeah, let's go.

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And today, young people still come to Ogwen Cottage, as it runs regular

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outward bound courses aimed to get them into the great outdoors.

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So, heading towards Cwm Idwal now, Berwyn.

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And I just love this landscape, the big,

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towering mountains, and just look at that low-hanging mist.

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It's awe-inspiring, isn't it?

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This is Cwm Idwal, Derek.

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And this is a glaciated lake.

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All the features that we see around here are pretty much

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what's left over from the glaciers that were here about

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10,000 years ago, so we've got hanging valleys up there,

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we've got moraines along here as well and we've got

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these boulders here, as well,

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and these boulders were really kind of important

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in a chap called Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

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Yeah, I THINK I've heard of him!

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Yeah. He came here in 1831 and discovered

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that there were seashells in there.

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So he deduced that, at some stage,

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that rock must have been under a shallow sea.

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Millions of years ago, Wales was in another part of the world.

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That's right, it was a lot warmer and a lot further south.

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It's amazing to think, isn't it, that Charles Darwin was once here

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and this area helped to form part of his Theory of Evolution.

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It's an extremely important place.

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And a lot of people come here to visit because of these features.

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WOMAN SINGS IN WELSH

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Any legends of the lake?

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Yeah, there is. One is that the name, Cwm Idwal, comes from Idwal,

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who had his head chopped off about a thousand years ago,

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it was thrown into the lake and, ever since then,

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no bird has ever flown over the lake.

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It's not true, though, is it?

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Ah, well, the minute I tell a group the story, within seconds

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there's a seagull flying over the water!

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This area really is an adventure playground for all ages.

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There's just something for everyone.

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Rather them than me, Berwyn.

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Yeah, these are the Idwal slabs.

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They're very popular with beginners.

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There are about 200 metres high,

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but there are more challenging routes here, as well.

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-Have you been up there?

-Yeah, I've done a lot of climbing here,

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not just taking people from Ogwen Cottage, but also for my personal

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climbing around the edges as well, the steep bits.

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You've got Homicide Wall on the right and Suicide Wall on the left.

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Fantastic names!

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It looks good fun, but let's stick to the path.

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Yeah, let's go for it. Onwards and upwards.

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So, quite straightforward so far, Derek, eh?

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Yeah, not too bad.

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We're coming to a bit of a tricky bit coming up now.

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I've been on steeper paths in the Alps.

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-Shall we go for it?

-OK.

-OK, let's go.

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We take it nice and slowly, and make every foot count.

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Do many people come a cropper here?

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They have done in the past, yeah, a bit of a slip.

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It's easily done.

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-Good, fantastic.

-'Well, that wasn't too bad but,

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'in winter or after heavy rain,

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'the stream is a lot wider and harder to cross, so do take care.'

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It's getting a bit steeper now.

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This area's called the Devil's Kitchen, isn't it?

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Yeah, that's right, Derek, yeah.

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-Why's it called that?

-The story goes when there were ships out at sea at

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Red Wharf Bay just off the coast of Anglesey,

0:21:520:21:55

you could look up into the mountains and see this valley and the clouds

0:21:550:22:00

and the mist swirling, and it looked quite ominous up here.

0:22:000:22:03

So the warm air rises upwards, condenses, cools,

0:22:030:22:07

forming all these swirling clouds that look like steam.

0:22:070:22:10

That's right, so the Devil's Kitchen, yeah.

0:22:100:22:13

And in Welsh it's called the Twll Du, which is the "black hole".

0:22:130:22:16

I think I prefer the name the Devil's Kitchen!

0:22:160:22:18

Yeah, yeah, it's a little bit more spectacular, isn't it?

0:22:180:22:21

So, Derek, it's a good time of the year to see some wild flowers

0:22:310:22:35

growing in the mountains. We've got some wild thyme, and a rarity here,

0:22:350:22:40

-moss campion.

-Pretty, isn't it?

0:22:400:22:42

It is. This is a good plant to indicate that we're at altitude,

0:22:420:22:46

because it only grows up here.

0:22:460:22:48

-What about the Snowdon Lily?

-That plant's isolated

0:22:480:22:51

up on the high cliffs around here and on Snowdon.

0:22:510:22:54

So, I'm afraid we're going to be out of luck today.

0:22:540:22:57

Unless we've got a rope.

0:22:570:22:59

Onwards and upwards.

0:23:040:23:05

There we go, Derek. It's steepening up a little bit now.

0:23:200:23:23

We don't need ropes for this bit, then?

0:23:230:23:25

No, no. We're going to have to use our hands a little bit.

0:23:250:23:28

Not for the faint-hearted, really, is it?

0:23:400:23:42

No, no, it should be all right.

0:23:420:23:44

That was a bit of a challenge there, Derek.

0:23:460:23:48

-It was, a bit.

-How about if we have a bit of a sit-down

0:23:480:23:51

-and have a bit of a snack, eh?

-I think we've earned it.

0:23:510:23:53

Take advantage of this lovely view.

0:23:530:23:55

-It's fantastic, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't it?

0:23:550:23:58

I always think food tastes much better when you're outdoors.

0:24:010:24:04

Yeah, you feel as if you've earned it, eh?

0:24:040:24:06

So, have you always enjoyed being in the mountains?

0:24:070:24:10

Yeah, yeah, ever since I was a teenager roaming the hills

0:24:100:24:14

down in mid Wales. That's what inspired me, really,

0:24:140:24:17

to get involved a bit more and earn a living from it.

0:24:170:24:20

So tell me about your job.

0:24:200:24:21

-What do you do, exactly?

-I do a lot of training these days and a lot of

0:24:210:24:25

kind of technical advice work, but it wasn't always that way.

0:24:250:24:28

I had a bit of a scare around 11 years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer.

0:24:280:24:32

I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

0:24:330:24:36

So that was two years out of my life, really.

0:24:360:24:39

You must have been really worried.

0:24:390:24:40

Yeah, the family,

0:24:400:24:42

my boys were young in those days as well,

0:24:420:24:44

and it was a really traumatic time for them,

0:24:440:24:47

for me and the family.

0:24:470:24:48

But we kind of battled through and there was light at the end of the

0:24:480:24:51

tunnel, in the end but, really, it was my family,

0:24:510:24:55

keeping healthy and keeping going in the outdoors really inspired me.

0:24:550:25:00

So staying out here and coming into the mountains made you stronger and

0:25:000:25:04

-helped you get over it.

-Yeah.

0:25:040:25:06

-Shall we carry on?

-Yes, we better get to the top before sunset.

0:25:070:25:11

'This walk is now getting pretty hard and involves some scrambling,

0:25:150:25:19

'so make sure you're prepared for this type of terrain.

0:25:190:25:23

'And as we leave Devil's Kitchen, the going gets even tougher.'

0:25:230:25:26

-The fog's getting thicker.

-Yeah.

0:25:420:25:44

Yeah. You have to be prepared for...

0:25:440:25:46

You've got to be careful, haven't you, on this stuff?

0:25:460:25:49

Yeah. And you've got to be prepared for all weather conditions.

0:25:490:25:52

'I'm glad Berwyn is with me.

0:26:010:26:04

'Up here, the weather is closing in - fast.

0:26:040:26:07

'We're at 2,300 feet and totally surrounded by fog.'

0:26:070:26:12

Yeah, I'm not sure we're going to see much from the top, unfortunately.

0:26:120:26:15

Well, I don't know, we might be lucky.

0:26:150:26:17

It might clear by the time we get to the top.

0:26:170:26:19

Now, there we go, Derek. Look at this.

0:26:270:26:30

-A fossil.

-This is a fossil of a shell

0:26:300:26:32

that was laid down in a shallow sea.

0:26:320:26:35

-Millions of years ago.

-400 million years ago.

0:26:350:26:37

This mountain used to be under the sea.

0:26:370:26:40

So that is a fantastic find, there.

0:26:400:26:42

Isn't it? It's a geologist's paradise up here, isn't it?

0:26:420:26:45

It absolutely is.

0:26:450:26:46

Just goes to show, we don't have to have fantastic views to get

0:26:460:26:49

an interesting day out.

0:26:490:26:50

-Fossil.

-A fossil. All yours.

0:26:510:26:53

It's starting to clear up, Derek.

0:26:580:27:01

That's what we call a sucker's gap in the weather world.

0:27:010:27:03

Yeah, and there's a nice view from here.

0:27:030:27:06

-Fantastic. And we can see the top, now, as well.

-Nearly there.

0:27:060:27:09

It's unbelievable, but it's clearing,

0:27:230:27:26

and just check out the landscape up here.

0:27:260:27:29

It's like the moon, with finger-like rock formations all around us.

0:27:290:27:33

-Ah!

-There we go.

0:27:370:27:39

We made it. The summit of Glyder Fawr.

0:27:410:27:46

And it's covered in midges!

0:27:460:27:48

THEY LAUGH

0:27:480:27:49

-Just look at those views.

-Fantastic.

0:28:000:28:03

Well, Berwyn, thank you for being a wonderful guide and for such

0:28:090:28:12

a challenging and rewarding walk.

0:28:120:28:14

I know you've climbed all over the world, but with views like this,

0:28:140:28:17

there's no better place than home, is there?

0:28:170:28:20

Absolutely. But it does look like it's clagging in a little bit again,

0:28:200:28:23

so I think we better make our way down.

0:28:230:28:25

I think you're right. Come on.

0:28:250:28:26

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