Four Wilderness Days in the Brecon Beacons - Part 2/2

Day 3: Carnau Gwynion to Nant Cwm du

23.32km
858m elevation gain

Route start at bottom of the map

Elevation gain over the distance of the walk

Again we slept long and well, but awoke once more to low cloud and a drizzle. Had tomato soup with fried chorizo again and started to grow really fond of it for brekkie. So easy to make and yummy as well. Think we found our breakfast for the Sweden trip! With some mushroom soup thrown in for variety.

This time we packed the dry inner tent first and stuffed the wet outer tent away somewhere else. Lesson learned. Headed down into Ystradfellte for another fresh water run, filling every single bottle. Loaded much heavier than before we made our way back uphill. Oof.
Freelanced over a field on a path that was on the OS map, my OpenStreetMap but not on the ground. Can't have it all, eh? Heading ever West we crossed an old hill fort, passed through a small oak forrest and could see the vast undulating bleakness ahead that we would pass through over the next few hours.

Just straight ahead, that's where we went

Old hill fort

It had some resemblance with Dartmoor and walking over the biggest cave system in Britain (The Ogof-Ffynnon-Ddu Pant Mawr National Nature Reserve) the drizzle and cloud came back. Waterproofs all the way from here on. In fact, the cloud turned to fog blocking everything that was worth seeing.

As bleak as Dartmoor

Turned North and East when we hit the old tram line. The literal turning point of our trip. From now on we would be walking back to the car. Yay!
Had our lunch break in the wood nearby to be out of the rain, before heading on through the fog. Passed between Fan Gyhirych and Fan Fraith and slogged up to the cairn on Fan Nedd without much of a view at all. Boo. It was wet and miserable and I couldn't convince Rich to make the short detour to Fan Nedd's real top. Have to come back for that one. And gladly so. It looked like it might be nice scenery around here.

Nothing to see here

Heading up Fan Nedd

Descended from Fan Nedd we crossed a pass and headed the short bit up to Bryn Melyn. Initially planned as our overnight camp we saw a few suitable camp spots but decided to head a bit further
to Nant Cwm du as there was a river and some trees and on the map it looked like it could be really nice.
One of the best decisions we ever made. We shortened our last day but a good half hour and found one of the best camp spots so far. Pitched in the sheltered valley with hills looming around us and the nice gurgling river nearby right under a tree.

Brilliant wild camp spot

More dehydrated food for us and the last of the whiskey from my flask and soon we fell once more into deep sleep.

Day 4: Nant Cwm du to Brecon

17.24km
367m elevation gain

Route start bottom left, finish in Brecon top right

Elevation gain over the distance of the walk

So far we had slept well and long every night. The last one was no different, only we wanted to leave by 9:30am to be back in Brecon early afternoon.
Only one hill today and that was right at our front door: Fan Frynych. We opted for the scenic route instead of a straight on ascened and enjoyed some nice views into the Heol Senni valley and back to where we came from yesterday. We could actually SEE! Shame about the fog the day before, it looked amazing! Have to come back!

Fan Nedd on the left, and the impressive ridge of  Fan Gyhirych

A whistful look back to "yesterday"

The higher we got, the more we could see around. (No shit!) We could see not only yesterday's hills, but also the ones from day 1 ahead and day 2 to our right as well as Brecon in the distance. Almost 360 degrees of our 4-day-hike.

So far we've been alone, but people started to appear as we made our way down to the A road. Bank holiday alright. Lunch break just before the last stretch down to the road with the sun warming our faces as we ploughed through snickers, haribo and cheese. I was really hungry today and figured we hadn't eaten enough over the past days as I roughly added up the calories.

On Fan Frynych with Pen y Fan and Corn Du in the distance

Found the link path to the Taff Trail which would lead us straight into Brecon for the next 2.5hrs, mostly on Tarmac though which made the last bit ever more exhausting for feet, ankles and knees. Still, we enjoyed the views over green fields and were looking forward to finishing at 2:30pm at Coffee No.1, where we had started our trip four days ago.

On the Taff Trail

Nearing Brecon

Got back bang on time, coffee and cakes it had to be. We didn't linger long, found the car, changed footwear and off we went back home to Bristol on a lovely day of sun and intermittend clouds.

So what do we take from this trip then? 

• It's been the expected weather mix, nothing really bad. 
• Rich did his first wild camping! 
• We gained more experience in finding a wild camp spot and what suitable places look like on a map.
• We did struggle finding water sometimes, even with the filter at hand, but eventually found something to fill up on. The Sawyer filter itself is super easy to use and small to pack. Winner!
• We found our breakfast and dinner food for Sweden and have a good idea of munchies for the day. 
• We managed to cook and get all packed in the tent whilst it was raining outside. 
• Wet whipes are not ideal for a "student shower". Will try dry soap.

It was a fantastic four days!!! A bit of an adventure, but never out of our comfort zones. Still learned a lot and have seen such a variety of the Brecon Beacons! It's not all just Pen y Fan. We will be back for sure and explore some of the areas we've walked through a bit closer.

Next up: My first wekk as tour guide in Devon!!!!!

Four Wilderness Days in the Brecon Beacons - Part 1/2

We made it back! Four days of walking and wild camping in the Brecon Beacons. We've walked over hills, through valleys, over moorland and through woods. We've seen playful red kites, sheep (lots and lots of sheep), ponies, a frog and birds of prey.
We had to find water and a good spot to pitch the tent for the night. We've trialled dried food for breakfast and dinner and new energy bars to supplement the day's food.
We had sun, rain, fog and icy wind. We walked a total of 77.7km (48.3mi) and climbed 3,337m (10,928ft).

Day 1: Brecon to Llyn Cwm Llwch

16.19km
1377m elevation gain

Route from Brecon (cut off at top) to Llyn Cwm Llwch

Elevation gain over the distance of the walk

Drove to Brecon and the beautiful camp site of Priory Mill Farm Tuesday night, pitched had our pre-cooked chilli for dinner and walked into town for a pre-wilderness pint.

Rich had been here ages ago, I had never been. Really beautiful little town with a few shops, felt like half of them outdoor shops, and tomorrow's hills looming in the distance. Had our pint to celebrate the start of our short holiday and went back to the tent.

The next morning started cold with a mix of sun and cloud. Great walking weather! We warmed up and finished off last night's chilli, packed our backpacks, found parking for the car in town and headed to the high street for coffee and cake at Coffee No. 1.
In good spirits we headed into the hills towards the foot of Fan y Big along quiet roads, rocky bridle ways and over green fields, Brecon getting ever smaller in the distance. Having been fairly sheltered from the wind, we soon stripped in the warm rays of the sun, only to put the layers back on when we hit the open ascent of Fan y Big with an icy wind from the West.

Priory Mill Farm camp site

Typical South Wales view

Fan y Big up ahead

That wind was only the messenger of dark low clouds and a new weather front moving in from the same direction. We made it to the top of Fan y Big and put on waterproofs as we skirted around Cribyn only to ascent Pen y Fan in low cloud, wind and a constant light rain. Walked straight over the top, same with Corn Du and descended as quickly as we could just to be out of the low cloud and the moisture they brought.

On Fan y Big looking at the weather ahead

Slogging up Pen y Fan

Pitched at the sheltered little lake of Llyn Cwm Llwch. I had been here before and loved it. We had our first dried adventure food pack and the "Meatball Hot Pot" was actually quite enjoyable. I jogged down afterwards to get some fresh water from a fast flowing river and almost jogged back up, being freed of the heavy pack for once.

Llyn Cwm Llwch - our wild camp spot

Love it here

Day 2: Llyn Cwm Llwch to Carnau Gwynion (Ystradfellte)

20.24km
729m elevation gain

Our Route

Elevation gain over the distance of the walk

A drizzling rain had been on and off during the night and peeking out the tent we saw the same cloud now hanging even lower. Boo. Had a nice hot tomato soup with some fried chorizo, which became our loved go-to breakfast for the remainder of the tour.

Unpitched the wet tent, then headed down to the A470 and the Storey Arms car park where we found Denise and her chuck waggon. Cuppa tea sounded good and we went for a killer breakfast roll with 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, cheese and mushrooms. We thought we'd need it and we even got a refill for our tea cups whilst Denise was chatting away happily. The fully loaded foot long roll was a lovely dripping mess and we enjoyed every bit of it.

Much improved views as we head West

Headed up Fan Fawr next, got rid of our waterproofs halfway up and enjoyed the solitude of just being on the other side of the road, whilst everyone else headed into the opposite direction towards Pen y Fan.

From the top we could see far and wide, took a photo for the man and his dog we found up there and went down towards the craggs of Craig Cerrig gleisiad. It stayed dry for the rest of the day whilst we walked a big loop on the Beacons Way via Fan Llia down into a nice forrestry. Had a quick break with food at the car park there, being eyed by a young couple sitting in their shiny, pimped Ford Fiesta ST, the only car around and parked right in the middle of the car park. I wondered if we'd disturbed something there. Ha.

View from Fan Fawr  back to Corn Du

Lunch break with a view

Walk, walk, walk

Headed down towards Ystradfellte and had been looking forward to a pint and a poop at the pub there only to find it "temporarily closed". Noooooooo!!! That also meant we'd lost our opportunity to fill up on water and potentially camp there (Chuck waggon Denise had mentioned something like this.)
Found out from a local resident, that the church had a tap with drinking water outside, so at least we had our water. With weary legs we headed back up the steeeeeep hill we had come down into Canrnau Gwynion and pitched on top of a big grassy and rocky hump.

Typical Welsh scenery once more

Another nice camping spot at Carnau Gwynion near Ystradfellte

Perched up there, we were out of sight from the path below and had amazing 360 views all around. Temperatures dropped as quickly as the sky cleared. The steady chilly wind did it's best to dry out the wet inner tent whilst we stood there freezing. That's when you learn to pack a dry inner tent separately from the wet outer tent. Duh!

Had another quite nice dried adventure food meal, some whiskey and brushed our teeth with clattering teeth in the freezing wind outside. No need for an electric toothbrush. Brrrrr.

A Wild Camping Dry Run

I don't think it will be a particularly "dry" run, but here we go. Rich and me are off to Brecon tonight for an easy start to a four day wilderness "expedition". Starting at Priory Mill Farm campsite in Brecon tonight, we can ease into the camping experience in a controlled environment with proper loos and running water, before we head into the wild.

The 75km loop will take us over numerous Welsh 2000 footers, we will need to find a decent camping spot for three or four nights and water for drinking and cooking. The route takes us over Fan y Big, Pen y Fan and Corn Du on day 1, we then head further West over Fan Fawr and Fan Dringarth into Ystradfellte for a pint at the pub before looking for the next wild camp spot. We start looping back on Friday via Penwyllt and Fan Nedd to camp somewhere near Bryn Melyn, hopefully making it back to Brecon by Saturday night.

75km over the Brecon Beacons

This will be a nice dry run for our two-week Sweden trip later in the year. I've done the odd overnight wild camp when working in Newport, but never done more than one night. So this will be the next step for me and a great challenge and experience. Rich has never done anything like it at all, so we're both exited!
Good opportunity to test some of our kit for Sweden. For me it;s the water filter, Rich has a few new pieces of clothing to trial. By far the most important test for us is the food. I've got us a few packets of expedition food, 500g of biltong, energy bars and I've dried some fruit for the morning pancakes. Finding affordable, nutritious, lightweight, well tasting food is not easy. Once more my 20% discount at Cotswold Outdoor paid off big time.

2 people, 4 days. Doesn't look much

So we're all set and looking at the weather, it'll be typical British mountain weather. Nothing like the early summer weather we had over the last week and a half. Instead of blue skies and near 20C we're looking at 5C on the tops and maybe 10C in the valleys plus some wind and grey skies with a bit of rain here and there. Nothing to worry about, but anyone could do this in good weather.

The worst seems to hit us on Wednesday, our day 1. But I know the route pretty well and have camped at our intended spot before.

Really looking forward to this and so happy that Rich is coming along and has come to enjoy this kind of stuff. I do like to go alone sometimes, but it's also nice to just do it with a friend or partner even and share the joy (or pain).

I won't be posting any updates or pictures before Easter Monday as I'll have my phone switched off most of the time.