This is where I stay in the Berwyn Mountains when I need head clearance. It is a no alcohol or drugs zone plus there are no showers so you don't get much company apart from the odd smelly shaman! Cadair just means chair, and Berwyn and Bromwen are indigenous God and Goddess respectively.The waterfalls are reputed to have been of significance to the druids and the pools are just about the only place to wash.
After this latest experience which just about finished off my knees, I've become convinced that this blog should be more of an ode to outdoors living and insights gained in that space, rather than account after account of mileage and more neurotic accomplishments. I've run Cadair Berwyn before but this time I went over the top and on over his sister peak Bromwen, and then on towards Moel Fferna. At 18 odd miles this was one of the toughest runs I've ever done. The next day out and about walking I enjoyed myself much more to be honest, when i could take the time to watch things.
I've never seen anyone else fell running on Berwyn, which is not suprising because the terrain is uniquely horrendous and this mountain range (just inland from Snowdonia) seems to have a particularly vicious weather system all of its own, even in summer. The mountain sides are full of trails but these give way once you summit, where it is boggy, craggy and extremely windswept. You can see the twin chairs of Berwyn and Bromwen in the photo. I love running along that windswept ridge looking down on red kites and other large birds. It makes you dizzy following their flight on a background of green rather than sky. Descending back to the Rhaeadr
Falls I iced my legs in a mountain pool, and then dried off on a sunny slab of granite.
