Cylch Llangollen Round

Peaks: Eglwyseg Mountain, Cyrn y Brain, Moel y Faen, Moel y Gamelin, Moel Morfydd, Moel Fferna, Vivod Mountain (52.3km/1907m)
Area: Llangollen
My second time solo round this superb circuit, which remains relatively new in its official waymarked format. I came close to breaking six hours this time, although I wasn't trying to record a quick time, just to do it in the enjoyable plodding fashion that made my first running of it so much fun (on a perfect autumn day in late September 2018). The aqueduct in Froncysyllte is by far the most logical starting point, so I jogged off in misty, humid conditions just before 9am. The path weaves around before ducking into Trefor Hall woods - it was rather stifling in here, humid and airless, so I was glad to get to the Panorama road and then the superbly runnable section across Ruabon Moor that follows. This was misty throughout, but I was glad of the protection from the full glare of the sun (it has been very hot recently). The views are all very familiar to me in any case. It is a superb route, though, which always seeks out the most elegant, logical line around the highest hills and stays high wherever possible - there is nothing arbitrary about it. I felt tired initially, perhaps after Friday's 10k - but started to perk up nicely in the cool breeze and kept it going over Cyrn y Brain to reach the Ponderosa in 1:53 from Fron. This is not too bad, although it was packed with bikers and only doing takeaway in these post-Covid times. It was only 11am but I had to queue behind hordes of bikers for my pastie and water. Essential to take on food and water here, though, key to a successful Round. The next section over the familiar hills of Gamelin and Morfydd is quite hard - partly because you're not yet half-way but the gradients are always somewhat draining. It stayed misty and cool, however, which reduced the dehydration issues. Then comes a long section along the base of the valley above the Corwen road, weaving up to take in an overgrown sunken lane crossing the line of hills until a descent to Carrog can be made. A pint of coke and some crisps outside the Grouse Inn (last time I had a ham sandwich inside the pub), and then comes the long haul from Carrog to the top of Moel Fferna. In many ways, this is the crux, but I really enjoyed it today. No heroics, but I kept a decent pace turning over throughout. There are no further water sources, so I delayed my next break until after the long high level run along tracks (nice and dry) that eventually lead to the climb up to the top of Vivod. This is the final climb of note - and I finished the food and water before crashing through the mile-long section of brambles and tangled heather below Y Foel. This is a tough section, which takes a fair bit off the time as it is hard to move quickly. It leads to the open empty roads that make the run-in somewhat tedious. Glyn Ceiriog is to the right, Llangollen to the left, and the views are nice throughout - with the sun finally breaking through the high cloud. Temperatures climbed quickly, but I felt OK and kept religiously to the route of the Cylch throughout (in 2018, I took the lane down and missed a short section at the end). I dropped down into Fron, then to the canal for what I hoped would be a sprint finish, as I was still feeling relatively fresh. By now, however, it was early afternoon in the madness of the post-lockdown summer and there were hundreds of people walking across the aqueduct. It was no easy task to get past them, and by that time sub-6 had ceased to be a possibility! In the end, my moving time was 6:09 precisely: 52.3km, 1907m of climbing.