Date walked: July 6th 2016

Maps used:OS Explorer OL 13 (Brecon Beacons National Park Eastern Area) and OL 12 (Brecon Beacons National Park Western Area)

Distance: around 10 miles (but lots of ups and downs)

Guide book: Cambrian Way by A J. Drake 7th edition

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I have quite an ambivalent relationship with camping, which is why I don’t do it that often. I am not a great sleeper at the best of times and camping is not natures way to get a good nights sleep. The main impediment being that it gets light so bloody early. So around 6am I gave a shout to whoever might be awake that I fancied a cup of tea.  A “morning” floated by from Neil’s direction. So to start this post, here is a pic of Neil in his sleeping bag.

Rather a sweet pic, I thought – a selfie

It was a lovely morning and the slightly misty Dyffryn Crawnon Valley below was as good a first view of the day as you could have wished for.

By 6.30 we were all up….

Paul was a little slow to emerge.

…. and Neil had made a cup of tea; I had supplied Paul and I with half a mug of treacle-flavoured instant porridge. It was surprisingly good.

Neil is a morning person I think, and it shows

Breaking camp and putting everything back in a pack can be slightly tiresome….

Though Neil, not having a tent, had it easy.

…but by 7sh we were packed and back on the path and greeting our first sheep of the day.

What’s not to like about sheep?

The path continued through this now redundant quarry, sadly but almost inevitably now used as a dump for local house renovators.

We found ourselves doing a little sheep-herding….

…. and then on a large boulder at the edge of the quarry I saw a bird of prey sunning itself.

Missing a telephoto lens

It seemed entirely un-bothered by us and hung around long enough for me to get a little closer- a puffed up Peregrine Falcon!

I’m embarrassed at how bad this is compared to the expertise of my fellow blogger Dave Marsden in photographing birds, though he does carry better equipment than I

Although I am member of CPRW (Campaign for the Protection of Rural wales) in my walks I always enjoy getting close to the remains of our desecration of the landscape.

It’s partly the mystery of the places – trying to imagine what was what

A flooded part of the quarry provided a mirror-like surface in the still morning.

Though with little to reflect in it from this angle

We knew the direction we needed to head from here, but on the ground we struggled to find what we could recognise as a path.  This was not difficult terrain , though, the sheep and wild horses combining to render it fairly close-cropped.

We were walking over the brow of Bryniau Gleision at around 1,700 feet. Below us to the right was the Talybont Reservoir.

We passed several more families of wild horses – their foals were simply gorgeous.

Good enough to eat?

We did find a recognisable track after a while that led to our first Trig Point of the day at Pant y Creigiau (1854feet). It was surrounded by water.

But not so much as to stop me taking a group pic (after a lot of fiddling with the self-timer)

Clever, eh?

From this minor summit we could see ahead of us the peaks of Pen y fan and its sister mountains. But between us and them was a deep valley that would demand 1,000 feet of our altitude to cross.

Yep we just have to do a lot of down and up to get there.

Neil reckoned that he could see a more direct route than the wiggly narrow path that we could see ahead of us on the shoulder of Craig y Fan Ddu but I reckoned that taking it would prove to be a mistake.

At the bottom of the hill (the path deeply rutted by the ravages of 4x4s, causing Paul to have  a right chunner), we agreed that I was right (natch).  Our path here was joined by the Taff Trail  and as we left that, Beacons Way. It was quite a slog making our way up the very steep (but well stepped)  path,

Paul trends to lead the way up the hills

We passed an impressive waterfall,  its waters seeming especially attractive in what was turning out to be quite a hot day.

The views from the top were well worth the effort we made to gain them.

Here we were significantly higher than the trig point on the other side of the valley and for a while we enjoyed a very gentle continuing ascent on the ridge of Craig y Fan Ddu.

You can’t keep a good man back

A quick zig-zag left then right gave us a new view back to the Pentwyn Reservoir.

It is linked to the lower Pontsticill reservoir below

We were heading north now, still rising gently on a solid pavement of red sandstone.

Then, suddenly, we were at the edge of the escarpment which we have met several times on the Cambrian Way, Cwm Oergwm in front of us and beyond that the wide Usk Valley.

Time for a sit (or in Neil’s case, a collapse) – pic courtesy of Paul

The view behind us now was back over the Upper Neuadd Reservoir a much used path off the summit of Fan y Big clearly visible above the left of the lake.

Our route was now going to present the most challenging part of the day.  We had planned to climb the four linked peaks of Fan y Big, Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du. But what we had already done had taken its toll on Neil and he really wanted to make it to Pen y Fan. Paul was a bit knackered, too so just before Fan y Big my two comrades took a path below the first two peaks which would still bring them up to Pen y Fan. I resolved to carry on as planned, though I was not exactly feeling perky.But then I am heroic like that.

Fan Y Big (2,359 feet) was  easy enough from where we were, its flat peak occupied by a group of fit young men.

I mean fit, not fanciable. They may be fanciable. I’m just not doing a gay undertone here.

It may have been a rather nondescript summit, but the view along the face of the escarpment to the other peaks was stunning. And just a bit intimidating.

From here  down to the saddle between Fan Y Big and Cribyn called Bwlch  Tar y Fan meant a descent of  around 400 feet. And from there back up to Cribyn (2,608 feet) required regaining around 650 feet.

This looks far less steep than it was!

And rather slowly gained they were. When I reached the top I really needed a few minutes recuperation. As I sat I was amazed to see a group of two guys and two girls in their teens or possibly 20’s carrying full camping gear who were getting to the summit on a very steep path that approached the mountain from the north.

They were almost running!

When they arrived they were not even out of breath, making me feel very old/envious/tired. Ahead, Pen Y Fan may not have been very far for crows but to reach it I need to drop around 400 feet and then climb up over 700 feet. (I’ve been studying those contours)

At the time I wasn’t thinking of these figures. All I was thinking was that I had no choice, but if I could have somehow been magically transported to this highest of South Wales peaks from where I stood I would have taken that option. By now the going down was getting just as hard work as the going up.  And the going up was very, very, slow. I was comforted by finding that I was not alone in my struggle.  It was a question of head down and taking it one (small) step at a time.

It didn’t help that I was, by now, out of water (big mistake) and was probably getting a bit dehydrated. The last few hundred feet were probably the steepest of the day.

I can’t tell you how nice it is when you do finally get to the top, though.  Paul and Neil were gratifyingly impressed that I had managed it. Note to self – do not do that again with camping gear.

I really like this pic that Paul took. Kind of sums it all up.

As always, the cairn on the summit was busy and we waited our turn for a group pic taken by one of the many others that were milling around.

Nice snap

The regular followers of this blog will know that this was the second time in recent months that I had climbed Pen Y Fan – it still felt quite special though.  From Pen Y Fan we might have taken a route down to Storey Arms that avoided climbing Corn Du but Neil and Paul were reasonably recovered and I would have felt it was not in the spirit of the Cambrian Way to avoid a peak. Paul led the way…

…… and we were there in just a few minutes.

Nice pic from Neil, here

Looking down towards our route down to Storey Arms I had forgotten just how much more walking we had to do. It was a bit of a downer. We were all fairly bushed.

Paul continued to lead and Neil and I had a good winge, charging Paul to get the drinks in when he reached the road.

Which he did, like the Good Man that he is. That had been an exhilarating and exhausting day.