Wow what a day!
10.5 miles Route around Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons with one of me house mates, Emma Doyle.
This is an excellent route that we found on the BBC website and you can download the map shown below plus full details on the route to try yourself at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/nature/sites/walking/downloads/Pen_y_Fan.pdf
We started off from the car park as seen on the map above and followed the Roman road which today was also being used by what looked like some (alot maybe 100 or so) guys on what looked to be SAS selection.
While walking taking one step at a time it is very surprising to look down and see helicopters flying around below you.
and some times above!
The walk up towards Cribyn, the second of the two hills, is quite steep but mostly paved in stone so is a very easy path to follow.
soon we was at the top, and after a short break, began our way up towards the highest peak in Southern Britain, Pen Y Fan.
This was a far steeper and more challenging climb particularly at the very top.

as you can see from my slightly exhausted expression
At the top is a plaque with ‘Pen Y Fan 886 M’ written on just in case you are not to sure where you are!
That’s me B)
& Emma…
Here we stopped off for some lunch, took some photo’s and enjoyed the very impressive view. Some say you can even see as far as The Mumbles just past Swansea but sadly we couldn’t quite make it out on this day.
Luckily when we arrive at the peak it was pretty clear but half way through lunch we was enveloped in a cloud and it suddenly became very cold and windy so we made our way down towards the next peak Corn Du.
From the table topped hill Corn Du you can see the what remains of an ice age glacial lake
and take in, yet another amazing view…
By now time was getting on (about 3 hours in) so we decided to make a move up towards the ridge way.
From here you can see the reservoir we had passed at the beginning of the day and the old Roman road that we had been walking along.
The path up to the ridge way is very clear however once at the top it becomes quite boggy in places.
Here’s a pic of me and my mate ‘the Rock’
The walk along the ridge way is very long and you really don’t want to fall off as it is a shear cliff face and not to mention a very long way up! But it bends around to the right towards the end and you make you way down a small waterfall to get back down.
This last leg of the journey towards the reservoir is also quite boggy, but at least it is down hill…
Once we had made it back down to the reservoir there was time for one last look up at the days achievements before heading back to the car and back home for a shower and a curry.
Hope you enjoy giving this ago yourself sometime, if you have I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments below. We did it in just over 5 and a half hours, but we did take quite a few tea breaks! hehe…


































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