Last night my wife kindly dropped me off on the Merthyr to Talybont road so I could continue my trek. From where the Cambrian Way crossed the road I climbed over rough moorland to join the path rising up into the Brecon Beacons, admiring the colours in the sky as clouds reflected the red of the setting sun. I wanted to at least reach the high plateau before I pitched my tent, but by the time I was there the light had gone and finding a dry, flat campsite proved impossible. I pitched on some hummocky ground which was at least dry. Despite thinking I would struggle to sleep I was soon in the Land of Nod, having worked out a position, curled around tussocks, that was just about comfortable. When I woke for a wee later on, the orange lights of a distant town beyond the mountains made for an attractive vista.
In the morning a slight diversion off the route of the Cambrian Way took me up to the summit of Fan y Big (its real name not some joke in dubious taste, it means "point of the peak"). My diversion was fortunate as the views from the summit of the ridge forming the northern edge of the Brecon Beacons and the lower land to the north, were the only ones I saw today, as the wind carried clouds into my path, obscuring all but my immediate surroundings. Consequently there was little to see from the subsequent summits of the Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du, each one wrapped in a white fog. This is a popular route, and there were many people coming up from the Storey Arms (an Outdoor Centre and no longer an Inn). There is a slab of rock sticking out a foot or so from the summit of Fan y Big called the "diving board", seeing people standing on it above the long drop below always makes me feel uneasy, however, there was no-on around today to disturb my inner harmony.
Owing to the mist I missed my way coming off Corn Du, being familiar with the area I (wrongly) thought I knew my way. After retracing my steps the Cambrian Way route does a slightly obscure route to visit the monument of Tommy Jones, a boy who lost his way in the mist on these mountains and died. A reminder of the importance of navigation.
View north from Fan y Big before the clouds came down.
Climbing up Pen y Fan in the clouds, note the well made path for this popular section.
On reaching the A470, the main road from Cardiff crossing the Brecon Beacons, I diverted to the trailer I knew of in a car park a little south of the Storey Arms, which served me a welcome coffee and an attractively priced breakfast roll (a bap stuffed to overflowing with egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding and mushrooms).
The next section was a complete contrast, there were no walkers and in the main, no path. Much of the hike was over rough tussocks of grass, reeds and soggy moss. Frequent glances at my GPS were needed to make sure I was going the right way. Tempting little paths repeatedly caused me to deviate. Drizzle and rain tried to dampen my spirits. Sights of note included an ancient standing stone, which the Cambrian Way makes a little detour to visit, and, near the end of today's walk, as visibility improved, limestone quarries and abandoned tramways, one of which the route follows for a while among the sheep.
Old tramway.
Finally reaching Glyntawe, I headed for the Dan yr Ogof caves. They were closed when I arrived but the adjoining campsite was open (I think) and I pitched my tent as the drizzle resumed.
I have been wearing my Garmin activity watch and it indicated I had earned a few records today including using 4261 calories (and it does not know about my rucksack, so I probably used a lot more) and 371 intensity minutes in one day. Intensity minutes refer to periods of raised heart rate, 150 minutes being recommended per week by various health authorities, which I do not always achieve. My watch claimed I had walked 34.5 kilometres based on my 43,335 steps, not far off the 35.6 kilometres (and 1445 metres of ascent) recorded by my GPS. Shows I deserved my tea!
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