GS, KL, the "boys" and I set out on a different excursion this time. Whilst mountaineering was the general theme of the day, our main target was to visit a WWII Plane Crash site on the slopes of Waun Rudd.
**made an error on the crash details in the previous entry and have now corrected this**
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| the memorial to the flight crew |
On the 6 July 1942, Wellington Bomber No. R1465 took off from the Operational Training Unit at Wellesbourne Mountford, near Stratford upon Avon for a cross country flight training exercise. In heavy cloud conditions the pilot appears to have decided to descend from his advised level of 10,000 ft, to try and fix his position. In doing so, he hit the summit of Waun Rydd. All 5 members of the Canadian flight crew lost their lives.
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| memorial to Tony P |
Also:
The small pile of stones on the left, behind the monument supports a cross bearing the name "Tony P". It is said that Tony P was an ex-member of the Parachute Regiment who served in the Falklands and subsequently became a member of the Brecon Beacons Mountain Rescue Team. His ashes were spread at this location. We hope to find some more information on Tony and why his ashes were spread here............
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| route map with elevation |
We started out at the car park on the south-west corner of the Blaen y glyn woodland and headed up Beacons Way over Craig y Fan Ddu; and continued along the eastern side of Graig Fan Las moving in a north-easterly direction until we met the intersection with Bwich y Ddwyallt and Rhiw Bwlch y Ddwyallt; then dropped down to the now visible memorial site in a south-easterly direction
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| GS and KL at the memorial |
The location of the memorial had a somber feel about the area and after paying our due respects we settled above on the face of Waun Rydd for tea and snacks.
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| GS and KL at upper area of wreckage |
In reflection, if the pilot maintain his course 30-40m higher he would have totally cleared the face of the mountain and landed safely on top................poor guys!!
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| lower area of wreckage |
After our break we spent some time investigating the remnants of the plane and took some photographs. Then we climbed a short distance to the top of Waun Rydd and explored the area briefly before commencing our decent to return to the car park.
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| a view up the vally on the return journey |
We climbed down the western face of Cerrig Edmwnt heading in a south-westerly direction until we joined the river; and continued to head south on the side of the river until we reached the eastern side of the Blaen y glyn woodland; and then joined then joined a well formed path to head through the woodland to the car park.
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| cascade of waterfalls on the return journey |
We passed some fantastic picnic and camping sites on the side of river, of which we must make a note to return to this coming summer.
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| GS, KL, and "the boys" on return to the car park |
All in all a fantastic excursion in good weather which left us all in great spirits. A overall 5.5mile round trip which we completed in around 5hrs at a leisurely pace.
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