One in Wales
Bristol Blenheim V6099 on
Elidir Fawr.
(Distance covered = 7.0 mile)
Another one I visited during the 1990's. Unfortunately I've mislaid the photo's in my not so efficient filing system in the loft so I will have to add them later.(update: I've found them and added them)
This wreck was in Wales, I had no intention of visiting it but when someone I knew called 'Road rage Bill' informed me he was going over that way for the weekend to do a bit of Rock Climbing I saw an oppotunity to visit a couple of crashsites so bummed a lift.
View over to Snowdon from the ascent of Elidir
Fawr
I don't remember much about my one and only wreckhunting expedition into Wales other than arriving at the campsite to find a chicken running up the field with a loaf of bread that it had stolen and the following day after returning from my hiking I was cooking some beans and sausages on my camping stove, I went into my tent to get something and came back out to find a sheepdog wolfing down my sausages.
Above and Below:-Some other local inhabitants
As for my wreckkhunting I went to look for two crashsite which were not far from each other, a Blackburn Skua and a Bristol Blenheim. I vaguely remember it being a long monotenous slog up onto the top of Elidir Fawr and when I got there thinking there was no way I was going to find the Skua, as the other side of the hill where it lay was one massive boulder field.
The Northern Side of Elidir Fawr, the crashsite is near the bottom of the scree below the summit.
As I was about to leave the summit one of those annoying fell runners arrived bounding from one boulder to another as if to mock me. After talking to him he informed me what had taken me about 2 hours took him 30 minutes, which is why I say they're annoying. He also told me exactly where to look to find the two crashsites I was hoping to find and the location of a third one lying in nearby mine workings but unfortunatley I was distracted by the arrival of two Scandinavian Hikers who both looked like the blonde one out of ABBA(Agnetha not Benny!).
I made my way down the boulders towards the Skua crashsite cursing myself for not taking more notice of the Fell Runner when he was describing the location of that third crashsite.
I found what at the time I believed to be the Skua wreckage exactly where he told me it was but then failed to find the Blenheim wreckage, seems I didn't take enough notice of those directions either. I did find some pieces between the locations of the two crashsites which may of been from the Blenheim or the Skua but as I could not be sure and I didn't find the area where it crashed I did not originally include the Blenheim in my list of Crashsites Visited.
Above and next 8 photos:-Pieces at the crashsite amongst the scree slopes of Elidir Fawr.
Next 3 photos:-Pieces found between Elidir Fawr and Elidir Fach
From photos I have found on the interweb
more recently I could see that I had passed very close to some other
wreckage which is definately from the Blenheim but I missed it as it is
concealed amongst large rocks and it would seem that there has been a
bit of a debate whether the wreckage in the rocks on Elidir Fawr was from the Skua or from the
Blenheim. There is however a photo on the Peak District Group website of
a part that has an inspection stamp which confirms that all the pieces I
found belonged to
Blenheim V6099 and not the Skua.
I
have also found a photo on the interweb of some wreckage in the nearby
quarry which may have been what the Fell Runner mentioned as being a third
crashsite, but it was quite clearly the remains of an old land based
vehicle which could easily have been mistaken as Aircraft wreckage.
(see here)
I would
normally say that I had a good excuse for another visit but as there's no
Highland Dancing Competitions in Wales, and I'm no longer in contact with
Road Rage Bill, I doubt I will ever be over that way again.
Some waterfalls around Glyder Fawr
