Pen-y-fan, Brecon Beacons

Off to wales we go!! It wasn't looking good! Both Helens in tow, the rain was pounding the windscreen hard as we left Abergavenny and headed towards Brecon. I had walked todays choice once before, but still managed to get lost trying to find the right road out of Brecons - a few u-turns and we were on our way. Down the narrow lane we ended up at the national trust car park near Cymgwdi. Plenty of old war relics here - old bunkers. Another great choice of a car park with no/little reception :) Anyway Antony arrived, shortly followed by Jon, Martha and their friend who they were staying with.



A brief break in the rain, everyone donned on their waterproofs, and we started walking in a southwards direction, we navigated through the muddy fields up a track towards the disused Cwar Mwar quarry. The path then merged with a more substantial track and we continued up the hill. Lots of heather was about the path showing off their captured raindrops.



As we rose up onto the ridge, it was becoming very apparent it might be a bit of a battle against the wind. As typical with any ridge, the windspeed over these edges can be quite immense. Taking a break part way up the Cfen Cwm Llych ridge, the base of Pen-y-fan above the ridge was barely visible, the top however was completely obscured by clouds. We took turns falling into the wind, which was great fun.



A few of the crowd, were getting a bit nervous with the wind, but the good thing was it wasn't pushing us over the edge, and therefore not dangerous in these circumstances. We carried on into the cloud, and with a rather steep ending we got onto the top, which was a surprise for a few as it was completely flat! Pen-y-fan is at a height of 886m. After having a quick cookie stop (thanks to jon!) we decided it was probably best to get off the top before we had some lunch.



I did plan to go towards Cribyn which is towards the east of Pen-y-fan, but thought in the interests of everyone, it was probably safer to head the other way to Corn Du. We headed down the Craig Cwm Llych towards the obelisk. At this point we coming back out of the cloud layer and the views were amazing, and we looked back over the other ridge, and we could see the speed of the cloud going over. Heading down further we got down to the llyn, and then further down the path to some shelter, we scuffed our lunch :). Avoiding littering I managed to catch up with a bag! We headed down to Cym llych where we crossed over the ford and spotted some horses and ponies across the river that were playing amongst the trees.



We continued up along the road, one of my favourites, as the trees branch over above. Looking back we could now see the Pen-y-fan - it was clear - often the way!! grr but nevermind. At least it wasn't raining and we were out of the wind. We stopped by a bridge where a couple of us played Poohsticks - chucking a twig over one side of a bridge and see which comes out the other side first. I'm sure I won :p. anyway we continued on and headed up Heolfanog, passing the army signs and then back up to the car parks. The rain long gone!! We ended the day with a well deserved pint and some chips at the pub before the long journey home.