An east wind is no good for man nor beast.

The weather forecast for the Brecon Beacons National Park was:

Screen shot from Met Office https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/mountain-forecasts/brecon-beacons

The windchill of -10C at 600m something to consider.

Screen shot from https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/mountain-forecasts/brecon-beacons

Nic was suitably enthused by the forecast that she decided to accompany me with the enticing prospect of a good walk with late light illuminating the bleached moorland vegetation, rock outcrops and a possibility of twilight alpenglow. A check on other forecasts indicated the wind might well be stronger than the met office forecast and before leaving a check on the visible satellite imagery indicated there was cloud moving across the park from the east. The trip destination would be decided en route determined by the prevailing weather with the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons and Fforest Fawr all in play. At Abergavenny the Black Mountains were ruled out by cloud and haze. From the highpoint of the A465 the visibility was excellent and the wind very 'fresh', ruling out the Brecon Beacons. Fforest Fawr would be the end destination. The walk was delayed waiting for a helpful farmer to pull the car from less firm ground, sigh, wheel mats under the tyre had proved useless.  However if you were going to get stuck, then this was a good place and time, sheltered from the wind, views, warm sunshine to bask in and a road only used by the farming community who were pro-actively preparing for a sustained cold blast of air from Siberia. After heartfelt thanks and lightening my wallet to reward the good samaritan farmer, I managed to park the car on more firmer ground, not my finest hour and Nic was less than impressed.

Exposed moorland, Devonian sandstone glacial erratic, limestone pavement, sink holes and haze.

Finally underway and on reaching the exposed moorland the wind was a tad stronger than expected, the windchill very noticeable, haze obscured views of the Brecon Fans and haze/cloud bank on the western horizon scuppered any hope of sunset light or alpenglow. A small positive was that the peat bogs were frozen.  A place of relative shelter was sought near a viewpoint and a cunning plan concocted. The plan involved minimising exposed walking and maximising taking in the views from sheltered sites, whilst basking in the warmth of sunshine.

Google satellite view illustrating the density of sink holes.

The area has one of the highest density of sink holes (dolines) in Britain and the geology of limestone, limestone overlain by quartz arenite sandstone and areas mantled by glacial till and peat, means there are good expressions of many sink hole types.

Sink hole (doline) types. Illustration from http://www.bgs.ac.uk/caves/sinkholes/home.html

To successfully photograph the extent of the sink holes requires very low angled side lighting and not for the first time the desired lighting failed to materialise at this location. Nevertheless there were views and limestone pavement to offer some foreground interest and relief from late winter moorland vegetation.

A good walk, decidedly fresh air, geology interest and some moorland visited which would otherwise have been overlooked in better weather.

Out with the old and in with the new

The festive season and fate dictated that the weather gods smiled broadly on the days I was committed to entertaining family, so no surprises there then.   I did manage two dawn trips to the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr. The 1st promised a scene of snow mantled hills, hoar frosted rocks and moorland, with cold clear air and the ethereal dawn colours of blue and magenta, with the proviso that cloud was moving in by noon as a warm weather front crossed the UK. At an unearthly hour the headtorch revealed much promise, a severe frost coating everything in the Forest of Dean, 2 kettles to clear the frost from the car windscreens. On the way the and full beam headlights revealed hoar frosted trees and grass. Sadly, the weather front c/w cloud, had other ideas, the twinkle of stars disappeared near Abergavenny. Maybe the cloud might break up or the distant horizon would be clear for sunrise?  Nope. 

It was interesting to witness the phenomena of verglas formation unfold, as the incoming warm air melted the hoar frost, which instantly froze, coating rock with ice. I'd always assumed rain falling on sub zero rock as the cause of verglas. 

Hope was sustained, with cloud breaking up to the south east. Alas, the snow/frost thawing on the hills generated a blanket of hill fog and my cunning plan utterly unravelled.  With the hill summits shrouded in fog, the cloud started to break up letting through some sunlight, sigh.

A small positive was the overhead cloud and diffuse light, which presented some photographic interest in the Limestone pavement.

Maidenhair Spleenwort

Lichen and limestone gryke

So, that was it for 2014. Might 2015 deliver a more obliging sunrise over Fforest Fawr?

A new year and a renewed optimism, the Met office mountain weather forecast again wrote of broken cloud, excellent visibility etc. Time to visit to Fforest Fawr again. Deja vu as the car windscreen was de-frosted at an unearthly hour of the night and the Forest of Dean was impressively sparkling in hoar frost. Parking up in Fforest Fawr, the frost had disappeared, whilst getting 'suited and booted' I was conscious of the cold and brisk wind, cloud was moving briskly across the sky and with head torch illuminating the way, I too moved briskly to get warm.

The cloud obscuring where the sun would rise  ...

The view to the SE

Ah well, the sun would clear the cloud eventually. Which it duly did and so the cloud in view cleared too, hmmm.

Suffusion doline, limestone pavement and fast disappearing cloud.

With the cloud absent from both the desired composition and overhead, my spirits dropped a tad. A blank sky, post sunrise, is a depressing sight as 1) it reveals the full misery of a cyan coloured horizon and b) the 'cool' colour imparted to shadows and neutral surfaces. The exposed limestone pavement is neutral grey in colour, great for warm light, not so great for shaded aspects and why overhead cloud is so welcome in colour photography.  

On the plus side, it was a great day for a wander, viewpoints explored and much to ponder on the landforms and topography. Thoughts turned to the afternoon light and a hill to the SE showed some potential. On the way back to the car I spotted this in the grass.

Cordyceps militaris

The Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) a fungus that parasites moth larvae.

The new location demonstrated the stark difference in ease of traversing limestone and sandstone terrain.  I reacquainted myself with the tedium and effort of traversing Molinia dominant moorland on the quartzitic sandstones and from there on, kept to the bracken/nardus terrain instead. In comparison with other areas of the Brecon Beacons NP, the size of the sinkholes through the quartzite sandstone were notable.  Some viewpoints were also found and even some clouds put in an appearance too.

Fforest Fawr view

Where the quartzite bedrock is exposed there are fine examples of glacial striae, polished surfaces, chatter marks etc

Chatter marks and glacial polish, glacial ice movement from left to right.

Incoming sheet cloud from the SW was the sign that sunset would be a non event and time to go home, not a bad day on the hills though.