Brecon Beacons – My Greatest Fans

And so on Wednesday, I drove off to an out-of-the-way parking spot on a moorland road and wandered off over the parched moorland to Llyn y Fan Fawr – a lovely tarn on a little bench beneath the scarp slope of some Fans. The Fans, in particular started with Fan Hir, followed by Fan Brycheiniog and then Picws Du, overlooking the Llyn  y Fan Fach, which appeared to be almost empty from above.

These fans and the Picws have a fairly gentle, moorland side, and a stupendous terraced scarp side, as do quite a lot of the Brecon Beacons. It makes for exciting walking along the edge and big views.
From Picws, I returned to the bwlch and contoured out the two Fans mentioned above, and returned to the car the way I had come.

A cracking walk – 7 Miles and 2100 feet.
And on the fourth day, the forecast was for heavy rain, so I stayed around the tent waiting for it to start whilst drinking coffee and reading a book.
The chickens visited for a while, but they had to leave early as they had some pecking, clucking  and strutting to do
It didn’t rain. In fact it got quite warm. I had fish and chips for my tea. The batter wasn’t very good.
I determined to walk more the next day. Dim Arsio as they say in Wales (No messing about)

And then it was Friday. I had two Hewitts left in the Beacons, and they were both fairly isolated and far apart, so I could only sensibly do one of them. I chose Garreg Las – which is a very Pennine-ish hill immediately to the West of Picws Du. I reached it by a zig-zaggy road from Llandovery.

I’d worked out the easiest route possible which involved contouring alongside some lime quarries on the flank of Foel Fraith to a wide bwlch and then over some big scree fields, resonant of Cross Fell’s stony necklace to a pair of huge and ancient cairns on the wide summit.

I returned by bagging Foel Fraith where I met a couple I’d seen two days earlier by Llyn Fan Bach. They had the day off yesterday, but at least they’d had lots of rain. A rather nice waterfall on the way back provided a long rest stop.

This area is obviously Carboniferous, which explains it’s Pennine – like features, which include loads of sink holes and one or two potholes. Just like home.
Which is where I went then next day.
8 Miles and 1300 feet (I started high)
Must reproof the tent.
The next group of hills in the area for the baggings will have to be The Black Mountains….  ooer….