Invasion of the Bothy Snatchers

Couple of Zwift spins throughout the week. But on Friday, I was in love. On Friday, Phantom and I headed to Grwyne Fawr bothy in the Brecon Beacons as part of an opportunistic recce. My buddy Mr Odge got me a book entitled 'Bothy' for Xmas and this sparked the interest to spend a night here. We decided to 'check it out' before a potential group visit. Pleased to report the planets aligned and Phantom and I successfully navigated our way to said bothy.

The bothy is considered remote and is tucked away in an (allegedly) deep and dark corner of the Black Mountains. The bothy took us just over an hour to reach from the car park at the base, even with our heavy back packs. So many trees were snapped and fallen at the start due to recent inclement weather.

The bothy was not difficult to find at all. Once a dam was in site, we knew we just had to follow the reservoir. Before we could shout 'Grwyne Fawr', the bothy came into sight. How awesome it looked and how excited we were! There was no 'real' path to the bothy and it was wet, rocky, steep and challenging underfoot.

Have no idea what this says

Left a post card of my mother (storm trooper) as proof of visit

We so hoped the bothy would be empty when we reached it and had decided to set off early for this reason. Bothy anxiety was quickly erased once we knocked the door and peeped inside - it was empty. Yay, we had 'bagged the bothy' and soon set about setting up our sleeping bags in the mezzanine bedroom area (reached by climbing a ladder).

This bothy was tiny, about the size of a small closet. Even so, it had 4 chairs around a tiny table on the ground floor with a wood burner to boot. Previous visitors had left baked beans, loo roll and similar goodies but we had enough goodies of our own. A couple of shovels and 3 brooms were also at our disposal. 

Around lunch time we had our first visitors. It was a couple who were hiking round and about. They did not wish to stay in the bothy overnight, rather just have a sit in the bothy to eat their lunch. They gifted us with a Victory sweet before heading off.

After lunch, decided to go for a swim in the freezing reservoir. Oh man, this water was cold! So pleased I braved the waters though, I did not wish to leave with regret. Sadly, This was the last time I would ever swim in these shorts - I melted them later in the evening, trying to dry them out on the wood burner.

Later in the day, after our feast of Huel and pork pie, we had more visitors. 2 brothers came by and had wanted to sleep in the bothy overnight. The one brother took a look inside and agreed there was not room enough. The other brother never said a word. The brothers camped in a tent just across the stream and I could feel their disappointment. The chatty brother visited us after he set up camp and gifted us some wood burning fuel. Sweet!

Later still in the evening, a solo hippy girl passed the bothy and the brothers. She had no interest in the bothy but could be seen camping in the hills. She had an awesome spot high above the reservoir. 

Phantom and I were chilling out, eating (fry up) and drinking (whisky and brandy) when we had 2 more visitors in the evening. A head peeped around the door and asked 'room for 2 small ones', there really wasn't. These visitors soon scrambled away in the deep dark night.

The night was amazing. The wood burner kept our bothy super warm. Taking a look outside blew us away with the incredible starry sky we could see. Amazing and awesome in equal measure!

He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power. Psa 147: 4-5

The night was super cosy. In fact, maybe a little too warm. I was wearing merino PJ's and was tucked inside a sleeping bag liner, inside a down sleeping bag (the one SJ made) inside my Alpkit down sleeping bag. Was tempted to remove my woolly socks but didn't. Phantom complained about my snoring and I complained about his!

In the morning, we celebrated our bothy stay by drinking the Milky Way drink I was gifted for Xmas (thanks Manisha, it was proper tasty). We then packed up and left without leaving a trace. We passed the dam and headed for the car park. On route we noticed a land slide that was blocking the ride on the other side of the river - this must have happened overnight, it wasn't there yesterday. After about an hour of trekking we reached the car park. Pete (taxi driver) was waiting for us and took us back to Abergavenny for further adventure.

Would love to visit the bothy again and to check out others too. I'm led to believe there are 8 bothy's in Wales. This was the smallest and the most difficult to bag, due to the high numbers visiting. I'd love to visit again with Phantom, plus Mr Odge and Jamie. If we were visiting this particular bothy, I'd be happy to take my tent and camp nearby. There's no way 4 of us would fit. We took bivvy's on this trip just in case, but the planets aligned and we bagged our bothy and completed the mission!

Despite the awesome adventure already had, Phantom and I decided we would fit in another hike before we headed home. This climb took us to the summit of 'The Sugar Loaf' (Myndd Pen-y-fal). This is a lovely hill situated NW of Abergavenny in Monmouthsire, Wales and sits within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The hill rises to 1,955 feet and once at the top we were in the clouds. 

Suffragette Lady Rhondda gifted The Sugar Loaf to the National Trust. Who knew?!

Cycling reading glasses review / Rat Race confirmed

Fantastic start to the week. Took GoaTheaD out for a spin over to the Roger’s before we went out on a tandem jolly. Very cold day, about 0 degrees Celsius, but lovely to catch up with Roger for the first time this year. First time out on my titanium bike his year, plus first time out on Rogers tandem too. For those that don’t know, Roger is my oldest mate at 81 years old. Roger is the stoker, tailgunner, navigator and rear admiral on all our tandem adventures, and beat this - he is completely blind. We cycled a shorter route today, about 40k, and stopped at Wedges bakery at the mid point. A sausage and egg bap washed down with a cuppa tea was essential to keep us warm! After I cycled GoaTheaD back home, I did some math and figured I must have cycled about 80k.

Roger

This cycle gave me the perfect opportunity to review the new pair of glasses I had recently purchased. The glasses were a pair of voltX Grafter Bifocal cycling sports glasses that cost just £10.99 on Amazon. Meekon recommended these glasses and I have to say they are awesome, especially if you need glasses to read. With these glasses on, I can read my Garmin, iPhone and watch without issue and still see a clear road ahead. The glasses were relatively comfortable, had an anti-fog coating plus an anti-scratch coating too. I purchased the single clear lens set, however, you can get a set of three (sun glasses, yellow lenses and clear lenses) for £26.99 by following this link here.

Ran a few times throughout the week. My runs included a run around the village, a run over the fields and a ParkRun. My run around Studley Village was spent looking for a hidden gate that I came across when running with the Crabbs Cross Chasers last year. It took some searching but pleased to report I did find the gate. The damaged bridge over the fields remained damaged and caging has been put up to stop folks crossing same. Ha, I still managed to scramble across. I ran Arrow Valley ParkRun for the 44th time and completed my 78th ParkRun to date. I finished 121/469 and my time was 26:12.

Bridge menace

Mr 'odge has now officially signed us both up as a team of 2 to complete the Rate Race Coast to Coast in September later this year. This event is a multisport adventure where participants run, cycle and kayak 100 miles in the Scottish Highlands. For further detail, check here. Awesome having events to look forward to and this really helps with motivation to train. 

Today’s episode of challenge menace has been brought to you by the letter Y and the numbers 10 and 60

This was a great week on the activity and adventure scale. Big numbers were hit. Lots of fun was had.

Right at the start of the week, my daughter Spoon accompanied me to the Kingfisher Harriers running club. We were in different groups but both ran around the same track. This was the first time I had ran around the track this year, something I hadn’t done for months. A good track session all in all. I ran about 8k and was certainly whacked at the finish. Towards the end of the session we played ‘cops and robbers’ - I was a robber and ran like crazy so I would not get caught - turns out ‘my’ cop never set off, as he took a phone call instead. D’oh!

Cycled and skipped little throughout the week. Had wanted to do more of these activities, however, work was real busy and got in the way. Even got a weighted rope now, though have not used same as yet. Midweek was also my youngest daughters birthday. Moo turned 10 and we celebrated by stuffing our faces with a Burger King! Happy birthday Moo! 

Saturday saw me complete my 77th ParkRun and knock of the letter ‘Y’ in my A-Z challenge. Just 3 letters remaining now (J, V and Z). This ParkRun was Y Promenad, Aberhonddu. I finished 39/120 in a time of 26:06. I have now ran at 30 different ParkRun locations.

Immediately following my ParkRun, I jumped in my car and raced to meet The Phantom (et al). It was Phantom’s 60th birthday and we were going to celebrate this by a walk up Pen Y Fan. This was a lovely walk in and out and below and above the clouds. Was nice to go for a walk and wear my bright orange Hally Hansen top that I purchased from a charity shop on the last family holiday. My kids get embarassed about this attire and say I look like 'carrot man'.

Right at the summit we took an obligatory picture of us all. Those on this walk included Meekon, the Mitchum 3, the Bramer’s, Phantom, Dave and my good self. The photo was taken by random folk who also reached the summit.

We strolled a different route back to the car park. On route, we bumped into a couple of ParkRun nerds who had also ran the Y Promenad run this morning. Celebrations continued into the night with a nice curry to boot. Happy 60th Phantom!

Despite it being the Phantom's birthday, he gifted me with presents. He collected a number of rocks on this walk and presented them to me at the end. If I visit the site again, I'll be able to collect more rocks and add them to my Jenga collection.

I wonder how long it will take my wife to notice my new Jenga construction? It currently sits on my drive. Maybe the weeds will help keep it hidden.

Free Zwift / Banana's / No kayaks go

A couple of blog-posts ago, I shared that I had learnt that eating banana's and almond nuts was a good source of magnesium. Furthermore, I read that magnesium did wonders for sleep. For a week or so, I consumed both banana's and nuts and am sad to report that my sleep did not improve at all. 

Christmas last year, saw me playing the game 'Articulate' with some of my family and friends. I asked my brother-in-law 'what do monkeys eat that are yellow?', to which he replied 'slippers'. Nuts, eh?!

Talking of banana's, my friend Flair got admitted to A and E this week due to her low potassium levels and had to have an infusion. She was told she would have to eat like 11 banana's a day to supplement the potassium she was deficient. Banana's, eh?!

Activity during this week had been great and started in a triathlon style, which saw me swim, run and cycle all in the same day. I really could not recall the last time I did something like this. Swimming was a jolly - I took my girls to a local(ish) pool and we all swam in a leisurely fashion for just over an hour. The girls had some friends join them in the pool too. Running was a 5k run in the woods with Ernie and the cycling was an hours spin on Zwift. 

Ran a few times in the week and a theme appeared to emerge. The theme was 'blocked tracks'. On my first run with Ernie, a fallen tree had blocked our path in the Oversley Woods. On my second run with Ernie, recent flooding had damaged the bridge crossing near College Woods in Studley.

It was nice to run around Oversley Woods. It had been a while since I had last been to those words, and the fact that the car park has been closed for over a year didn't encourage a visit. The recent weather made running a little more tricky. No major worries though, any blocked path was soon scrambled over.

Renewed my subscription to the Kingfishers Harriers running club. This cost a whopping £15 for the year (great value really). I ran with this club on a few occasions last year and it was awesome when my girls joined me. Lunar and Melody both stopped running with me once they returned to years 5 and 7 at school. However, Lunar made a pinky promise she would run with me next week and hence my subscription again this year (there is no cost for youngsters). There is something nice about running on a track.

The hostile weather had prevented me from attending a local ParkRun this weekend. Plans to kayak were also abandoned - this was because the canal had frozen over. The temperature was around -4C.

All my cycling this week was on Zwift (a massively multiplayer online cycling and running physical training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world). Have used Zwift for a few years now and am currently at level 56. Hodge gifted me Zwift controllers for Xmas 2023 and these have proved pretty awesome. Also, I managed to get a free, 3 month subscription to Zwift and you could get one too! I got this free subscription by downloading the adidas app, collecting points, and trading said points for a voucher. If you want to join the app, please follow this link: adiClub. By joining the adiClub you will get free membership, £10 off your first purchase of adidas goods, early access to online sales and exclusive releases, and earn rewards, - just like I did! Everyone likes freebies and discount vouches.

This week also saw me skipping once again. With the busy life I lead, skipping sounded like a good idea. Inspired by what I read - 'According to a study published in 2013, 10-minutes of jumping rope per day has the same cardiovascular effects as a 30-minute run. 

'Bonus', I thought. I skipped for about 15 mins and completely whacked myself out. The following days and my calf muscles felt really painful. This is presumably DOMS (delayed on-set muscle soreness)? Too much, too soon perhaps? After just a brief research on skipping (or 'jump rope') I became a bit over-whelmed. There is loads to muse about skipping - there are different ropes, different weights, different lengths etc. There is always so much to learn and explore.

Decided to end this post with the photo above. Jamie randomly sent me this pic and stated 'we need an adventure this year'. I knew the pic was of me but just couldn't place it. Turns out it was from our Trans-Atlantic Way adventure in Ireland. I'm sure adventure awaits!