I am man! Hear me roar!

So, on Tuesday, the plan was to take a walk up Twmbalwm with my girlfriend, and have a bottle of wine, a joint, and some grub. I'm romantic like that (and maybe pick some of wales's finest mushrooms too )



It was raining before we set off, but thought it would be a laugh anyhow.
Depending on the route, and how hard you push, it can take anything from 1-3 hours to get to what is known as "the tit".



We were aiming to take it pretty casual and the route we took should have took about 1hr 30 up, and about an hour down.

It's a pretty steady rise for the first half of the journey, then a few steep climbs, before leveling out at the top. From there it's a nice walk along the top until reaching the MOund.

However....

The rain was constant, occasionally kicking in a bit heavier, and some light fog meant only a couple of hundred meters sight. But, as we reached the top, to start the walk to the MOund, the fog seemed to get thicker and thicker. We ended up only being able to see about 20-30 meters in any direction. I thought I'd be able to find the MOund, which would then make it easier to find our way back down. Despite having been up there a few times previous and it being a pretty basic route..... basically, we ended up lost! The MOund could have been right next to us, but we'd not have seen it. Unable to see anything as a sort of reference, the only option was to try sticking to the bigger paths and head down.

After an hour or so, soaked through, cold, and with the last of the sunlight fading, we managed to spot a tree line, so headed for that. YAY! A road Just follow that, and look out for signs....

Now for the thread title explination.... After what was probably about half an hour we noticed a car! Stacey was going to stop it and ask where we were, and for directions. I told her not to. I AM MAN!!! We might be soaked, cold, and lost, but I AM MAN!!! I don't need directions! I AM.... stupid :shame:

I said, the road was bound to join onto a "proper" road soon. And if not, then we'd stop the next car. Turns out we were on Cwmcarn Forest Drive. "Cwmcarn Forest Drive is a 7-mile scenic route through the rolling hills and green mountains of one the country's largest urban forests." The road is a pay-to-ride type thing, and was closed after 5pm, so no MOre cars! Not sure who the one car we did see was, perhaps a ranger/warden?

Eventually, we got out, then after a couple MOre hours walking, managed to get a bus home.

Suprisingly, I'm not single!

 

Classic intrepid stuff MO. Could form the plot for a horror movie script (apart from the whole lack of killing and the bus journey home type thing)

 

Sounds kind of similar to when I walked with my girlfriend to Higham! By the time we got there it was pitch black very wet and cold and people kept nearly running us over!

Well done MO!

 

The girls I know prefer it if you don't confuse their tits with their mound

MO!, the next time a girl offers to give you directions to the mound, listen to her

Michael

 

You can still be a MAN by getting a cool GPS gizmo to strap round your wrist, waypoint where the car or busstop is, and easily find your way back (so long as you don't walk over a cliff). Who knows, there might even be a few geocaches around your area www.geocaching.com

 

LoL @ Michael.

 

Indeed! :lol:

I'd show her this thread, but that would risk her looking at the rest of the forum, and my posts, and thus revealing my true geek level!

 

I might have to look into that! Thanks!

 

I forgot to say one can follow a vrtual breadcrum trail back the way one came, so that even avoids the cliffs (so long as you didn't climb one The main splits are between colour vs. B&W, AA vs. built-in power, uploaded real maps vs. track/points only, wrist vs. handheld, car vs. other. I personally like a Garmin Foretrex 101 for walking: wristmounted, replaceable battery, 500 waypoint memory, tracks, breadcrumbs, B&W, good battery life. Got me along the WHW and ben nevis nicely

 

And the price for such a beast?

Also, the breadcrumb thing sounds great. By 500 waypoint, does that mean it will save 500 points along the route?

If not, then I assume there's a maximum distance it can remember? What might that be?

 

I don't remember the exact details but you can find the manuals online. Typically such devices sample where you are in time and space at regular intervals and store what they call a "track". Typically you can keep several tracks on the device and if you want upload them to a PC application. There can probably be hundreds if not thousands of such points on a track, but each individual device should tell you in the manual what the track memory is. This is essentially the breadcrumb trail you can follow back.

Waypoints are another thing. They are like a virtual orienteering flag stuck in corrdinates you give. Either you plan in advance what waypoints you want to hit (and string them together to make a "route") avoiding hazards etcetera, or you press a "mark" button on the device when you actually reach a place you want to flag, such as the carpark you start at, a trig point you want to go back to another day, etc.

Prices you can google for the country you are in