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Mid Wales Walking News |
2008 sees a new start for HillscapeA new era starts for Hillscape in 2008, when the business, which has been run for 24 years by Richard and Anne Wilson, will be taken over by Brenda Davies and her son Darren (see picture on right). Brenda and Darren are planning to make only minor changes to Hillscape during their first season, whilst they are finding their feet, and are looking forward to continuing the tradition of relaxed and friendly hospitality, tailored to the needs of walkers. They are both very excited at the prospect of starting in Hillscape's Silver Anniversary season. |
Open Access opens new Hillscape routes
28th May 2005 was a big day for walkers in Wales - the day that the Open Access provisions of the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act came into force here. This means that there is a new legal right of access on foot to over 450,000 hectares (1750 square miles) of Welsh countryside - mostly mountain, moorland and common land.
In practice, most Mid Wales landowners have traditionally been happy for walkers to roam over the moorland, and many Hillscape routes have made use of that goodwill. In addition, the Elan Valley has had its own legal "right to roam" for over 100 years. But some of the newly-designated access land has opened opportunities for improvements to some our routes, and we shall be making changes where possible.
The first two walks to benefit will be Craig Lan-las (which will be able to visit a wonderful new viewpoint) and Cwmystwyth (which will be able to take a short-cut and eliminate half a mile of road-walking).
Society calls for AONB
The Cambrian Mountains Society was formed in April 2005, with the aim of getting an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty established in Mid Wales. The Cambrian Mountains were nearly made a National Park in the 1970s, but landowners and county councils were against it, and the Secretary of State for Wales in 1975 turned it down, after a decade of preparation by the Countryside Commission. But he did suggest that there should be an AONB! Exactly why it never happened has yet to be discovered, but the Society (Richard and Anne are founder-trustees) is determined that it will happen soon. It's long overdue.
Hillscape survives bush fire!
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After 5 weeks with only half a day of rain, Mid Wales was tinder-dry in early April, when the forest down the valley from Blaen-y-ddôl caught fire. A strong easterly wind fanned the flames, which soon spread - against the wind - onto the adjacent steep slope - a mass of gorse and dead bracken. Overnight the flames crept ever-nearer, and next morning we were invaded by a welcome band of firemen and forestry workers, who cut a fire-break, which eventually stopped the fire getting any closer. Meanwhile a helicopter was called in to "water-bomb" the steep forest, making hundreds of trips over 3 days between the fire and the nearby small lake at Brynafan, before it was finally decided that all was safe. |
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If you own a GPS.....
.... don't forget to bring it with you. Not that we doubt the accuracy and usefulness of our route maps and descriptions, but because you might like to try using it to see if you can find hidden treasure! Visit our geocaching page to find out more.
Try our Virtual Walk!
If you can't wait to get your boots on and start enjoying the wonderful scenery of Mid Wales, why not try our Virtual Walk? It's free, including a virtual Hillscape garden tea at the end! Click here to start the walk now.
Spectacular New Route
Following
a huge amount of work by Anne on behalf of our local tourism association,
preparing and refining an application for Objective 1 funding from Cyd
Coed, a new bridge has been installed over the spectacular
Ystwyth Gorge, 1½ miles upstream from Blaen-y-ddôl. It is on the site
of an old Miners' Bridge, much used
in the heyday of the Pontrhydygroes lead mines, and allows present-day
villagers easy recreational access to the attractive woodland of Coed
Maenarthur.
For Hillscape guests, it makes possible an excellent new off-road route up the valley, which will be incorporated in several of our routes, starting with our new Miners' Bridge Walk. Forest Enterprise has also created some attractive new paths in Coed Maenarthur.
Work on the bridge started in July, and it was officially opened on September 27th 2002 by writer and broadcaster Trevor Fishlock, best known in Wales as presenter of the very popular walking series Wild Tracks.
Click here for an illustrated history of the new Pontrhydygroes Miners' Bridge.
New Walk Finder and Site Search facilities
We've made it a bit easier for you to find the information you're looking for on our site. Search Site works just like a standard search engine, and the Walk Finder aims to help you narrow the field a bit if you're overwhelmed by the choice of 40 walks; it allows you to filter the walks by length, navigational difficulty, and the sort of countryside you enjoy walking through.
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| Walking Holidays in Wales |