13 May 2007. Awoke bright and early to the crashing of thunder and torrents of rain. Margarette, of course, up before me and has the porridge made. Looks like we're off out, again. Radio reports that the 10 Tors Walk has been called off and entrants are being brought in from Dartmoor by helicopter and mountain rescue teams. Not to worry, that's a good hundred miles or so, as the clouds fly, from where we will be.
The Pathfinder' Guide to Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean (ISBN 0-7117-0549-6) describes an excellent short and easy 8 miles around Llanthony Priory and Hatterrall Hill. It only says at the end of the description that the walk should only be done in clear conditions.
Excellent...now we'll see if the wet weather gear and the GPS really work. And it starts and stops at a pub (more later...)
Just over an hour later we arrive at Llanthony Priory. ..found out later it is a lovely place, although the low cloud and heavy rain obscured our view on arrival.
Ok, waterproof leggings (Berghaus, with fully zipped and studded side openings) and also a cape (Pak Poncho by Trekmates, from Go Outdoors) should keep us fairly dry. Minimum layers underneath, to cut down on sweat. Besides, it wasn't too cold down in the valley.
About 4 miles and a pleasant, if rather damp, walk through Wales' equivalent of a monsoon proved the value of the clothing: we arrived at the small church in Cwmyoy and, as is our wont, sat down in the porch for lunch. Tea rarely tasted so good. Only 4 miles but the weather had been fairly draining (no pun intended!). Still, despite the fairly awful weather we were both dry.
Out the back dor of the church (having left a donation) and up towards Hatterrall Hill. at 516m not the highest in Wales, but that day it didn't matter - the top, in fact all the hill, was shrouded in low cloud and rain. We used the GPS for a while, but tiredness eventually got the better of us at the top and we realised we were both mis-reading the GPS and our ordinary map / compass work was failing. Offa's Dyke was to our North East, but so also were a couple of old quarries. Not knowing the ground, discretion came into play and Margarette sensibly suggested another cup of tea - back at the church. Good idea.
We made our way back downhill, more tired than we realised and back into the church porch (left a bigger donation). Of course, the rain lightened a little and eventually we could see along the valley. Must be a beautiful sight on a clear day! We returned across the field pathway to Llanthony Priory, which still took over an hour. All the time, we looked east and upwards towards where the map said was Hatterall Hill, eventually catching a glimpse just before we reached the Priory.
Opposite St David's Cell (another one! Wales must be full of them) and in the old Priory grounds lies the Abbey Hotel. A sunken bar (literally, as it's the old Priory cellars) with a warm fire was more than welcoming and I'd recommend it to everyone passing this way.
We certainly learned some lessons, especially about wearing the right gear - which, this time , we had. In addition, the old lesson about trusting the instruments, no matter what your tired brain is telling you: at one point, we were 90 degrees out in our estimate of North. and finally, never to just press on because it's just a short walk...any hill can be dangerous, given the opportunity.
