Wanderung 25

Fall Follies

August - September 2011


 

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Monday, August 22nd, 2011: Finding LLewelyn's Cave near Aberedw

Bob:

We had decided on the Walk #10 around Aberedw in the Pathfinder Guide entitled, "Mid Wales and the Marches" that we had found downstairs on a bookshelf, and when our hosts found out our plans for the day they gave us even more information. The first was a booklet explaining the short life of Llewelyn, the last independent Prince of Wales, who was killed just outside Cilmery in December of 1282.

Llewelyn had been holed up in a cave a few miles away, waiting for reinforcements from his army to come up and rescue him, and our hosts informed us that the cave was at the edge of one of the farm fields that was along the Walk #10 route. The told us the entrance was overgrown with weeds and bracken, but that there was a blue plastic bucket on a fencepost at the edge of the field, back from which the cave was located.

With that helpful local information as well as our walking guide that included a rather nice topographical map based on the Ordnance Survey map data, we hoped to find Llewelyn's cave as we walked up into the hills around the town of Aberedw, which was only about 8 or 9 miles away across on the other side the River Wye.

So after breakfast we drove over to the town of Builth Wells where we crossed the River Wye, and then headed South for a few miles until we arrived in the small hamlet of Aberedw. Finding some folks parked across the street from a church in the center of town, I parked right in between them. We headed off on our walk, passing the town pub and an old church at the far end of town before descending to the river on a picturesque country lane.

Monika:

Our host had a book with walks in this area. Not only did they have rather good directions, they even had a detailed map. So we decided on one that was about 7k and not too far from us.

We drove through Builth Wells, across the river Wye, and down the western bank of the river to the little hamlet of Aberedw. The book suggested parking near the pub and old church, but we found already a parking space a block earlier across from a newer church. We walked down to the Seven Stars pub, past the really, really old church, and across a bridge over the river Edw.

Bob:

Down in the small valley we crossed the Edw, a minor tributary to the Wye that apparently gave Aberedw it's name, on an old stone bridge before starting our climb up into the hills. The first part of the climb was along a farm road that curled around the shoulder of a hill as it headed up to an old, abandoned farmhouse. Both our guide and our hosts had stated Llewelyn's cave was right in that area, but we didn't see any sign of it so we kept on.

We did stop at the abandoned farmhouse, however, just to take a peek. I was moved to see an old plastic double-deck English passenger bus, clearly a child's toy, that had just been left in the window of the cooking shed when the farm was abandoned. Monika found an equally poignant tea kettle just lying cockeyed on the floor of the shed and was tempted to take it along as it looked perfectly good.

Monika:

From there we turned right at a telephone booth and then uphill on an unpaved rather rough lane. We walked along this lane until we came to an old abandoned farmhouse. It was rather sad, when we saw in the window an old toy double decker bus. And when we looked into the door in the kitchen there was and old teakettle laying on its side amongst the other rubbish. I felt a rather strong urge, to save the poor thing, polish it up and give it a new life, but Bob thought that that was not quite kosher, after all the teakettle did not belong to us. Poor teakettle!

Bob:

But in the end we left everything just as it was and continued on up the hills past nervously bleating sheep. I'm not sure why I seem to make sheep so nervous, but they certainly scattered at our approach. Possibly I looked odd with the blue sweatband on, or maybe it's just the clattering that all the things hooked to my belt make when I walk, but I consistently seem to spook them.

As we ascended the ridge we had really stunning views out over the valley to the patchwork quilt of farm fields and small copses of trees on the opposite side. Truly beautiful shades of green and interesting shapes filled our field of view from left to right.

Monika:

Beyond the abandoned farmhouse we kept walking steadily uphill through rather high bracken. Ever now and then we heard the baaaing of sheep that seemed to be all around us. Some times we saw them staring at us, at other times we scared a bunch of them up the slope, and when I took a picture all I got were a bunch of sheep butts.

Looking around we again saw postcard-like views everywhere. The green fields were divided by dark tree and hedge lines going up the hills on the other side of the valley. In between were farms to show that people had to tend both the fields and the sheep. And the sun was shining to make the whole scene even more beautiful.

Bob:

We continued marching uphill, taking frequent breathers, and finally arrived at the top where we walked through a field of heather toward a rocky outcropping. The great thing was that I finally got to see what a field of heather in bloom really looked like, and it was just as pretty as Monika had described it. The color is a very light purple, maybe with a bit of pink thrown in. Although each separate spike of flowers is very small and delicate, the aggregate impact of an entire field of it is like a soft, light purple/pink carpet. I also thought I smelled a very light scent that was somewhere between lavender and lilac, but Monika maintained that heather blossoms did not have any scent so maybe I'm making that up.

Monika:

Up on top the heather was blooming in wild profusion. I always had wanted Bob to see the Lueneburger Heide (English: Luneberg Heath) near Hamburg in full bloom, but we either were there too early in the spring or too late in the fall. But here he finally could get a feeling for how beautiful the blooming heather could be.

Bob:

We continued on across the ridge and were rewarded with another stunning vista across the valley on the other side. The air was so clear that we could even see the Black Mountains in the distance. Just beautiful. We followed our path in a slow descent clockwise back around the hill, and our path wound among the Aberedw Rocks, a set of very noticeable rock outcroppings along the brow of the hill.

Monika:

All around us were stony ridges. Looking closely it was obvious why there where so many slate mines in the area; it seemed that all of these outcroppings were slate. But many centuries of weathering had given them interesting forms and ridges. Again and again it seemed that every rocky outcrop showed us a different face. How nice to have a digital camera so that you can take pictures to your heart's content!

Bob:

We had to cut back into the hill along a tiny gorge or cleft and zig-zag around to get back to the old abandoned farmhouse, and once we found it we let ourselves back through the gate to continue our descent. But there we paused to see if we could locate that ancient cave refuge of Llewelyn off in the adjacent farmer's field. Since the gate was not locked and there were no animals in the pasture to be disturbed, I didn't think there would be any harm in it.

As it turned out, it took us three tries to find the cave. My first guess was wrong, Monika's first guess was wrong, and it was only on our third attempt at following a trampled path back into the bracken thicket that we finally passed the plastic pail on the fence post (which had faded to gray, however) and knew we were on the right track. Indeed, just a couple yards farther in the bracken gave way and there was the cave, complete with carefully crafted slogans on the wall apparently daubed on by Welsh nationalists. However, I will say that the cave was kept immaculately clean with none of the detritus that typical teenage partiers would leave or any personal or offensive graffiti.

Monika:

We finally finished the loop around the small hill and came back to the abandoned farmhouse. The little double decker bus was still in the window. Beyond the house a gate led into another field. But on one side of the field was a thicket of bracken with cliffs beyond it. We knew that this was the area where Prince LLweleyn, the last Welsh Prince of Wales had hidden in a cave before he was captured and executed by the English. Our hosts had lent us a little book with the story of the prince and suggested we try to find the cave. There are no markers, but a trampled path in the grass led us to believe we were getting close. We followed the first path through the bracken, but only found fissures in the cliff that were not large enough for a person. But when I walked to another fissure, I startled a hawk who came flying out of it.

But when we tried the next trampled path through the bracken we did came to the cave. A heraldic shield with the colors of the prince was painted on the outside. Inside was graffiti, but in Welsh, so I took a picture but had no idea what it meant.

Bob:

Picking off the stinging nettles, we backtracked and continued our descent downhill along the farm track back to the road, the bridge, and the hamlet of Aberedw. We had been walking 3 hours and were rather hungry by this point, so we stopped in Builth Wells hoping to find a good place to eat. We had lunch in Drover's Tea Room, a rather ancient-looking black and white building on the main street. I parked across the street just as someone pulled out, and didn't find out until later that those spots were limited to 30 minutes at a time!

Being blissfully unaware of that time limit, we had a leisurely lunch, checked out the market in the parking lot on the next street over, and even perused some second-hand stores where I found a necklace that MIGHT or MIGHT NOT be amber for Monika. and bought it for 4 pounds. Learning of the parking limit, I headed back to the car while Monika purchased our dinner sandwiches and some shampoo at the Spar store.

Monika:

We were proud that we had found the cave and continued down the mountain back towards Aberedw. When we crossed the Edw, we heard sheep calling and racing across the street. When walking on the bridge, we found out why: it was time for a water break, and the sheep were down by the stream for some liquid refreshment.

Our stomachs indicated that refreshment would be good for humans too. But we decided to drive into the metropolis of Builth Wells to have more of a choice. We lucked out and found a parking spot on the main street through town. Across from it was the Drover's tea room, and the menu sounded promising. I liked the sound of beef in ale with Yorkshire pudding and peas. For those of you who haven't been to England, Yorkshire pudding is a baked shell and the beef and peas are put inside it. Of course, there were chips (American: French fries) on the side, so that we would get enough carbs. This was a truly delicious meal, and would have been even without the chips. Bob opted for the Cottage Pie, ground beef baked with mashed potatoes over it, and of course chips and peas. He too enjoyed his meal.

After this we walked through the city down to the river Wye that flows through it. The old bridge was very photogenic, and someone had built stone sculptures in the water. Interesting. There also was a sculpture of a bull in the little park, and Bob tried to lead it by the nose, but it would not come along.

Back in town we stopped at the bank for a bit of cash and at the SPAR for a sandwich and shampoo that our B&B did not provide. We started to worry when one saleslady told us that the parking in the street was only for 30 minutes. So we hurried back to the car and were happy not to have gotten a ticket, since we probably had parked there for over an hour.


 

Bob:

We met back at the car and had no ticket, thank goodness, so we drove back toward home, but stopped along the way to see a simple stone monolith erected in memory of the spot where Llewelyn was finally brought to bay and killed by the English. So that pretty much wrapped up the story of the last truly Welsh "Prince of Wales".

Backtracking through the crossroads to our B&B, we relaxed for the rest of the day. Having a Wifi connection made it so much easier to keep in contact with all our relatives and friends on line, and that was a distinct plus. Hearing about events from our friends and family around the world kept us entertained, amused, and occasionally bemused as events unfolded in the lives of those near and dear to us.

Meanwhile, back at our house in Virginia, Sarah had noticed some seepage of water in the basement, so Judson emailed to tell us he would be turning the water off before they left to return to New York state. That eased my mind considerably and I could go to sleep that night without unduly worrying about our house. It was also nice that Robyn had taken in our three orchids (nicknamed The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) so we were reassured they had gone to a good home also. Extensive traveling like we often do is very hard on pets or plants!

Monika:

On our way back, we paid homage once again to the unfortunate Prince Llewellyn. I had wondered why the pub in Cilmery had that name and through reading the book we found out that he had been caught by the English right here in Cilmery after hiding in the cave and not given asylum by the lord of the castle in Builth Wells. He was executed right on the spot and a little ways up from the pub was a stone to memorialize the end of Prince Llewellyn.

Well, after having closed the circle, we went back to the B&B satisfied and happy with our day. We read, worked on the internet, and listening to BBC news to the astonishing happenings in Libya where the rebels finally seemed to have taken Tripoli and hopefully Qaddafi will be gone soon.



Copyright 2012 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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