Chris Watson et al: This hill was roundly condemned by John Edwards in Marhofn 196.11 and on hill-bagging.co.uk where he describes it as 'the worst Marilyn I have so far climbed'. Similarly forthright views were expressed by Jon Metcalf when visiting the hill during 2010.
Parking is at the foot of a forest track at SN890503 between Bwlchmawr and Pistyllgwyn. There are no objections to this but if you park near Bwlchmawr, you may be threatened by the farmer. Conversely, if you mention Iain Brown's name, you might get a cup of tea (Iain was the headmaster in Builth Wells and taught the farmer's seven daughters).
The track takes a circuitous route up to a large turning circle at SN885501. There is about 90 metres of dense new forest between here and the summit clearing, and this is what has literally caused a lot of pain for earlier baggers. However, a good path then continues around the hill to a point almost due north of the summit. Inspection of the satellite pictures on Google maps shows that this is the narrowest part of the dense forestry, less than 20 metres deep. Jon had suggested that there was a hint of a weakness here, on a bearing of 170 degrees to the summit using his GPS.
Andy Tomkins and I decided to put this to the test in early October and, after climbing Waun Claerddu to the west, we drove to the parking spot, resisting the temptation to stop for tea at Bwlchmawr. Armed with a print-out from Google maps and a couple of useful implements we headed upwards. Sadly, the promised weakness proved illusory, but ten minutes of pruning saw us through to the summit clearing unscathed - just a few pine needles in our pockets but none in any of our orifices. The main problems were entry and exit where the branches were at their densest - it was possible just to push through the middle ten metres or so. We also had trouble finding our way out as we had foolishly forgotten our yellow ribbons. So, using the Watson/Tomkins variant, this hill should be ticked off relatively comfortably in future. Thanks to all those brave men who went before us.
CW: On a general note, several contributors in England and Wales have reported access problems in areas that appear to be Access Land, so it is advisable to arm yourselves with the latest Explorer map or download the relevant section from the OS Getamap site or similar, in order to outwit the GOMLs.
