George Tod

George Tod

• A pop-out Menu is activated by hovering over or clicking the vertical Filter Entries button near the top left of the page. By default, all entries are shown but these can be tailored to individual requirements.
  The pop-out menu retracts when the mouse or pointing device moves outside the area of the button or the pop-out menu. On android devices, tapping elsewhere on the screen will retract the pop-out menu.
• The number of matching entries for each location is updated and shown on the heading for a quick indication of possible entries.
• If an entry fits more than one category e.g. a pub that does B&B, serves meals and has a camping field, it will be displayed if either B&B, Camping/Glamping or Meals/Drinks are selected.
• Clicking the Show button in a heading will display only matching entries and if there are none, a message is shown to that effect.
• The Services/Info category includes things such as Tourist Information Centres, Taxi Services that operate in that area and updates such as previously listed places that have closed.
• An additional feature is that the Accommodation Main Menu has been modified to increase the text size when used in portrait mode on small screens, achieved by moving the chevrons below the headings. This will be extended to other pages if no problems are encountered.

Update: The new version is now available through the normal menu on the Route Page and the previous Accommodation Pages are no longer available. All other pages are now updated to improve viewing on small screens. Please e-mail any problems, comments are suggested improvements to the Webmaster at the address above.

New Accommodation Page

George Tod

Updated 03/08/2021 Mike Greenleaf has just completed his third walk of the Cambrian Way and has provided a list of wild camping locations where he stayed. These have been added to those from earlier News item 34 in 2018 from his previous walk. Although he was not aiming to break any records, it appears that this was the fastest known time (FKT) for the walk at 9 days and 19 hours, which he achieved by long walking hours rather than fast walking, taking advantage of the long daylight hours around midsummer. Also his walk in 2018 at 10 days and 6 hours was the FKT at that time but neither of these have been submitted or verified on the FKT website.

The previous and only official FKT prior to this was by Stephen Poulton in 1971 at 10 days 11 hours 15 min. Since these times, Seth Kennard has registered a self-supported FKT of 6 days 14 hours 7 min on 05/07/2021.

Please note: Strictly speaking wild camping is only permitted with the landowner's permission and is generally not permitted on National Trust land. Local authorities also often have bylaws prohibiting it in many public areas. In practice, however, it is often unofficially accepted in remote places provided you are respectful of where you camp and leave no trace of having been there. This is an assessment of the general situation and is not to be taken to imply approval by The Cambrian Way Trust. George Tod

View Details of Walk Stages

See Mike's Illustrated Account

An online map of the whole of Cambrian Way Route with 21 Stages and Optional Variants is now available at Full O.S. Map. This initially shows the whole of the route with numbered Marker Flags at the start of each stage and other markers that can be clicked to show which of the options they point to.

The map can be zoomed in or out by the + or - buttons at the top left and dragged to re-centre the map to the desired position.

30/01/2021 - The map has now been updated to include mileage markers along the route, location of checkpoints and clearer marking of the route.

what3words is simply a human friendly coordinate system. It is a layer that sits on top of latitude and longitude and allows everyone, everywhere, across all platforms, analogue and digital, to easily communicate their precise location. Instead of long sets of latitude and longitude numbers or Ordnance Survey grid references it gives every 3m square in the world a three word address. These appear to be random but by looking them up via a link to their website it will show the exact location on a choice of zoomable maps or satellite imagery. An app is available for free download and this can be used to guide you to the location by GPS using suitable software on your phone or to generate three words for your current location so that you can pass it on to others. It is now being used by a number of organisations including the emergency services, as it is easier to communicate three words than a string of numbers.

We are starting to use this on the website for such things as the location of accommodation and will gradually extend this to any other things that currently use grid references though the grid references will still be retained for use with O.S, maps. A start has been made on entries for Youth Hostels as the YHA website now shows them.

This is an example for Cardiff Central Youth Hostel.   /// sober.staple.await   Click the button to be taken to the exact 3m square on a map (zoom out to se the surrounding area).

A walker has reported difficulty finding the correct route near Cribin Fawr between Craig Portas and Waun-oer. Although the description in the Cicerone guide is correct, if you are walking without 1:25,000 or GPS it may not be clear about where the fence is crossed and which way to go having crossed it, as boundary fences are not shown on the 1:50,000 maps in the guide. His problem was that he didn't swing round to the left before meeting the fence and was confused when the fence was a different one from the one he had been following earlier. He then turned back and attempted to go via the forest but had to go further down the hillside to get around the trees and then reached dangerously steep slopes in places making it very difficult. The map below illustrates this more clearly.

The Cambrian Way route takes the path that is close to the steep edge as it gives better views over the valley below but then requires the fence to be crossed to avoid the path blocked by overgrown trees. If preferred, the alternative route shown on the map can be taken by not crossing the fence near Craig Portas and following the broad ridge towards Cribin Fawr. This leads to stiles at the junction of fences where the northern side can be reached for the descent westwards towards Waun-oer.

Show Map

To mark the launch of the new Cicerone guidebook, a set of maps has been made available for free download. Ramblers have kindly agreed to cover the cost of the O.S. licence for these for the present time. They cover the 22 stages shown in the new guidebook plus the major alternative routes and consist of an MS Word document file (.doc) for each of the stages with a set of A4 map sections that can be printed.

Go to Free Download on Guidebook page

Visit Cicerone website

Update: Trail Marking is now well under way in many areas (20/01/2019)

Update: Trail Marking is now almost completed in the Brecon Beacons National Park area (10/07/2019).

Update: Please note that the level of waymarking is not as comprehensive as that on a National Trail with markers only at key points. It was initially intended that the Welsh Hat Logo on markers would point in the direction of the route but instead they have been placed vertically and rely on nearby footpath waymarks to show the route direction where possible. Despite theses limitations, however, they do give reassurance to walkers that they are on the correct route. Unfortunately the route is not currently shown on O.S. maps as this requires all local authorities on the entire route to guarantee to support the maintenance and waymarking of the route and this has not currently been achieved, though it is possible that it may be achieved in the future (06/10/2019).

See Photo