Blissful Solitude

Left work early just after 2:30pm Tuesday to drive the 50 miles up to Glyntawe - a part of the Brecon Beacons I hadn't been to yet. Traffic wasn't too bad, but my GPS sent me along a narrow country road just before the end. A shortcut on the map, but not when leaving a nice A road to be crawling along at 20mph since cars could only be seen at the very last instant. Arg.

Parked at the extensive carpark for the caves and paid my £3 for an overnight stay. Very nice. By 4:30pm I set off towards the hills. Just behind the car park and a small campsite a sign sent me up a path through some woodland and finally into open country. Ah! The sun was shining and I was sweating like a pig, so I zipped off the lower bits of my trousers making them into shorts.

Zigg-zagged uphill and then headed more or less North West through bleak and indistinctive scenery which made it quite tricky to navigate. I was only halfway sure I was on the right path at first, but using my altimeter and the contour lines on the map helped a good deal.

Countless sink holes dotted the ground all around. I was pacing on bearings along the path to keep track of where I was. 

Didn't do the detour to Sinc Giedd but instead walked on to cross Afon Twrch which was a bit tricky and the beginning of some very wet and boggy ground. Nearly slipped crossing the next stream and the path was soon lost between large patches of bog and a number of smaller streams.
Wearing my trail running shoes (testing their suitability for such endeavours), my feet were long wet and instead of crossing more streams I headed North earlier than intended to reach higher and hopefully drier ground.

Freelancing upwards between two of the streams I eventually reached the cairn of Bannau Sir Gaer and the dramatic escarpment high above Llyn y Fan Fach. What an amazing view! Behind me the setting sun, ahead countless green fields. So far I had been utterly alone apart from an encounter with some very curious wild horses.

I took in the views, enjoying the solitude, having it all to myself. What a rare opportunity in today's hectic lives.I walked along the ridge line now, which is part of the Beacons Way grinning like a madman, munching some dark chocolate. I was in good spirits, I had about an hour's time before the sun set and my wild camp spot on the shores of Llyn y Fan Fawr was nearby.

A terribly steep descent to the bwlch just before the ascent to Piws Du was too much for my legs. Both my feet started cramping and I was more like hobbling down, taking breaks in between. ARG! Why now??? Made it carefully to down the bwlch and up to the summit of Picws Du. Interesting enough a similar thing had happend on my previous wild camp trip in South Wales. Weird.

An almost perfectly flat and dry wild camp spot presented itself on the summit of Picws Du. I just couldn't let it pass. My dream has always been to sleep on a hill/mountain top, but the weather rarely allow for such a thing. Now was the time! Especially with my cramping feet. Plus, there had only been a gentle breeze so far, so I set up camp!

While some left over dried chili from last year was happily heating up over my stove, I laid out my tent, but only fastened the groundsheet, thinking that if I wanted to pitch at night I could just put the pole in and be pretty much done.
Stuffed my sleeping bag and mat between the inner and outer tent since it was quickly getting wet from the moisture in the air. Had food, enjoyed the sunset with a view of the ridge and the vast fields to the North and gave sleep a try around 9:30pm.

Not for long though. The wind picked up, making my improvised bivy flap constantly and on top of that I was getting propper cold despite wearing all I had: trousers, wet socks, long baselayer, vest, waterproof jacket. My down bag was just getting too moist and the wet socks didn't help either.
So at half 10pm I quickly pitched my tent fully and crawled inside. Aaaaah. Warmth! The wind however kept on blowing, throwing the odd gust so I slept only little. Why do I keep forgetting earplugs?! Duh!

Got up at 4:30am, packed and with the first light of pre-dawn set off towards the top of Fan Foel, munching an apple for brekkie. My feet still felt a bit dodgy so I couldn't adapt the brisk pace I normally set. Passed the trig point of Fan Brycheiniog and made a careful decent to the bwlch and onwards to Llyn y Fan Fawr where I had originally intended to camp.
I could've gone up the last hill and walked over its top decending at the very end of the ridge into the village, but instead opted for the Beacons Way, which lead along the base of the hill. Thought it might be easier going since it's an official long distance path and all.
How could I've been so wrong? The path wound it's way along a small stream and was rough and wet. I had to circumvent wet patches more often than not and my feet were soaked pretty soon again. The going was awfully slow. Wistfully, I gazed up towards the hill to my right. Stupid me!

The red ball of the sun spread its light over misty valleys in the distance as I struggled on. To crown it all, I slipped on some slick rocks and was more annoyed about my wet backside than the sharp pain in my ankle. Fought my way through shoulder high ferns hiding the mudd underneath and finally emerged on the A road leading back to the car park.

7:45am I was changed and pretty exhausted with a grumbling stomach drove the car the hour back to work. Devoured some fried eggs and bacon at the cafeteria and somehow survived the day despite feeling utterly shattered.

Still, I really enjoyed the walk and the fact that I didn't see a single soul on both days. I'm not only talking about meeting people. I didn't even see any in the distance. Wow. This is indeed a rather remote part of the national park. The scenery is bleak and misses the grandeur of Pen-y-Fan and friends but the ridge walk was totally worth it, especially in that wonderful evening light.
I ticked off doing a wild camp on a hilltop, which had been a long dream of mine and generally enjoyed the 15mi circular walk a lot. Good nav and orienteering practice and finding my way over wet ground. And finally, I found the South Wales Traverse which is a 73mi fell running challenge but why not walk it? It takes in 31 hills of 2000ft and over. Could be a more challenging alternative to the Beacons Way. Goes onto the list of things to do some day, haha.