#MOOM WALKS SERIES#

The meteorological gods may not play ball but half the fun’s being in the great outdoors at an unusual hour. Full-moon hikes share a night-time DNA with aurora searches and midnight sun celebrations. Night walks always carry an extra edge, particularly with Garn Goch’s ambience.” “Even heavy cloud allows dreamy diffused moonlight. What happens to full-moon hikes in cloud or rain? “I still run them,” says Lisa. Lisa Denison and the author climb up to Garn Goch as the sun sets and shadows lengthen. There are kites, buzzards and chirping “little brown jobs”. The walk includes short slices of the Beacons Way and Heart of Wales Line Trail, following old drovers’ routes past gnarly hawthorns, skeletal winter oaks and Tolkienesque ash trees draped in moss. Above us, looming over fields and hedges, the hill Trichrug rises to 415 metres. Beneath us the rumpled quilt of the Towy Valley chases a sinuous river, its viridian hills dotted with farms and hamlets. Whatever its role, Garn Goch offers a hell of a view by day. An iron age skyscraper, was this a structure for defence or a permanently occupied town? Nobody’s certain. The massive rock mounds betray the immensity of the rectangular structure whose stone-faced walls were 30ft high and 15ft wide. It takes 20 minutes ascending a bracken-clad path to reach the fort’s perimeter. We’re following an extended version of the moon route. But this morning, to fully appreciate the difference between Garn Goch in daylight and moonlight, I join Lisa’s Quiet Walk where gently encouraged, rather than dictatorial, silence helps people immerse themselves in nature. Photograph: Doug McKinlayĬarmarthenshire holds no such dangers. The western fringe of the Brecon Beacons near Garn Goch is a verdant, hilly landscape that’s great for hiking. Lead by a fully clothed guide, Scot Scott – his parents were perhaps in a hurry – we trekked through the Coachella Valley where, distracted by California’s supersized moon, I narrowly avoided sitting on a rattlesnake. In one of several career lows, I joined a naked rambling group in Palm Springs. It promises far more fun than my last full-moon hike. It springs to life after dark when senses are heightened.” Garn Goch, whose stones carry the shadow of an ancient community, is particularly atmospheric. “You lose detail but detect blues, silvers and greys. “The night walks offer a very different perspective on the landscape,” says Lisa, a qualified lowland leader, as we await tonight’s six-strong group.

#MOOM WALKS SERIES#

It’s exactly what Carmarthenshire walking guide Lisa Denison hoped for when she launched a new series of full-moon hikes exploring Garn Goch, an iron age fort on the western fringe of Brecon Beacons national park in south Wales. The potent combination of a dazzling snow moon and enigmatic hilltop ruin is guaranteed to stir the senses.

Moom walks