OCTOBER 2022 · ADVENTURE
Black Mountains: Grwyne Fawr Bothy
Grwyne Fawr, Black Mountains, Wales
Second time in this valley. The bothy was occupied — a group of young lads had it, plus one wild camper who'd come off the hill and needed shelter. The sensible option. I was on the cliff above the bothy, tent pitched in the trees at the edge of the drop down to the reservoir, yellow flysheet lit from inside against the dusk.
The wind that night was exceptional. Not a steady wind — variable, gusting, the trees moving in a way that made counting tree limbs a reasonable thing to find yourself doing. Branches creak differently under real stress. The horses that graze the upper valley were audible periodically, which is a sound that doesn't fully register as normal at 2am in what feels like a gale. Nothing came down on the tent. This felt like luck rather than judgement.
Branches creak differently under real stress.
Grwyne Fawr Bothy — October 2022
The morning was completely different. The Grwyne Fawr valley in October morning light: the hills turned rust and brown, the reservoir filling the valley head, the dam crossing it with its walkway and railing. A person walks across the dam toward the waterworks building on the far side. The autumn colour from this height is the kind that rewards having stayed.
The valley's detail holds the eye. Orange mushrooms on a moss-covered bank — a cluster of them, cap edges touching, bright against the green. Lichen-covered fence posts running in a line across the hillside. Buttercups, bright yellow, in the grass beside the reservoir — surprising colour in late October. The hills above the dam hold sheep. The sheep move slowly up the slope, unconcerned.
The dam wall: stone, a railing, the water behind it. The waterworks architecture is functional and old enough to have acquired presence.
Aerial view of the valley on the way out: the red-brown hills, the winding stream, the full scale of how far in you've come.
Yellow lit tent under trees by Grwyne Fawr reservoir at dusk
Person in orange jacket sitting on stone platform overlooking bothy and valley
Windswept tree in autumn golden light on Black Mountains slope
Grwyne Fawr dam nestled among autumn brown hills under clear sky
Cluster of orange mushrooms on moss-covered ground in valley
Sun setting over Grwyne Fawr reservoir with golden hillsides silhouette
Stone bothy structure on hillside surrounded by autumn golden bracken and trees
Lichen-covered fence posts running across autumn hillside landscape
Aerial view of Grwyne Fawr valley with red autumn hills and winding stream
Stone dam with railing crossing Grwyne Fawr reservoir amid rolling golden hills
Person walking across dam toward waterworks structure in autumn landscape
Sheep grazing on grassy slope above Grwyne Fawr dam with forested valley beyond
Close-up of bright yellow buttercups blooming in wild hillside grass
Bright yellow wildflowers in soft-focus foreground on hillside meadow