Felin Blwm Wood, Garth Wood and Maen Achwyfan 3rd January 2008

The stream in Coed y Garth.

Some of the group leaving Maen Achwyfaen.

At the Watch tower.

Walk stats: Distance: 9.5 miles; Climb:1264'.
Time: 4 hours 23 minutes; Walking average: 2.6 m.p.h.; Overall walk average: 2.2 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Richard, Annie H., Fran, Tito, Sue and Michel P., Sylvia and Dave J.

This walk was completed on a cold and at times sunny day and the ground at times was slightly frozen. Much of the walk was along good paths through woods and in the case of Felin Blwm Wood and Garth Wood, streams could be heard tumbling along their course in the valley below. These open mixed woodlands would be well worth a visit in Spring , just as the leaves are starting to come on to the trees.

Lunch was taken in a clearing in the wood just before Maen Achwyfan. Before lunch was allowed the group kindly presented Martyn with a T-shirt with the inscription "Walk Leader" on the back, and "Can we have lunch?" on the front. This T-shirt could become part of the group's tradition whereby the person wearing or carrying the shirt is the designated lunch monitor, and it is up to them to decide the time and location of the lunch spot. Fruit cake was again provided for all, and Sylvia treated us all to home made chocolates.

One or two members of the group hadn't visited Maen Achwyfan, so that was the next port of call before heading for the watch tower. Now that the trees have been removed, the area around the tower looks quite devastated, but the views towards the estuary are excellent. One felled tree trunk has been made in to an seat from which to take in the views.

The birds seen or heard today included: Buzzard, Kestrel, Blue tit, Great tit, Long-tailed tit, Wren, Robin, Carrion crow, Blackbird, Magpie, Jay, Herring gull, Black-headed gull, Fieldfare, Jackdaw, Rook, Chaffinch and Dipper.

After walk drinks were abandoned when the Britannia Inn was found to be opening at 4-00 p.m., and we had arrived at 2-300 p.m.

Tito has taken on the task of setting up a spreadsheet that can track our own individual stats in terms of distance and climb (miles walked and feet climbed or for those that prefer kilometres walked and metres climb).