A cold stroll in the Brecons
January 2020
A spare Friday in Jan just called for a trip to the hills, and so a very early start saw Cookie and I heading over the bridge heading for the Brecon Beacons. As we left the M4 and headed north the temperature gauge duly dropped a half degree every few miles, so by the time we reached the car park it was a balmy 2 degrees. Even Cookie who had been considering shorts decided that long trousers and a hat was the order of the day.
Duly wrapped up we set off. First challenge was a rerouted footpath, around the old lower Neuadd reservoir that has been completely removed. This was a reroute on a truly sophisticated basis, with scaffolding steps down the bank and a temporary bridge erected over the river. While the re-route was great the weather was anything but. Within the first ten minutes a full scale blizzard had descended, we were getting very wet, very cold very quickly. A quick stop for waterproof trousers and a moments doubt about the wisdom of proceeding, before we decided to press on and see how the weather developed.
I have mixed feelings about the path engineering in British hills these days. On the one hand they prevent further erosion of badly damaged tracks, on the other hand they remove the sense of isolation and wildness that makes the mountains the joy that they are. On this day though we were grateful for the well defined and engineered path that led us steeply and quickly to the ridge. The blizzard hadn't easy much, although as we neared the ridge we gained some shelter from the wind that was driving directly into our faces. Soon we emerged onto the ridge top and turned left to follow the well defined path towards Corn Du.
The weather eased a bit with the wind dropping and snow temporarily abating. As the cloud lifted we had lovely views over Fan-Y-Big and Cribyn, although Pen-Y-Fan remained stubbornly in cloud. It was bitingly cold but stunningly peaceful and truly beautiful. The decision to press on vindicated by the snow covered tops in views.
A steady tramp along the ridge was rewarded by intermittent views, but the wind was picking up and cloud descended again as we approached Corn Du. At the cross roads we encountered a group of soldiers out having fun. The exchange went along the lines of:
Tav: "Alright?"
Soldier: "No!"
With that stunning small talk over we moved onto Corn Du (which was in the cloud) and then Pen-Y-Fan (also in cloud). Rarely for those two mountains we had them to ourselves for a brief time, but the weather meant there was no time for lingering. A icy decent off Pen-Y-Fan was undertaken with great care, but eventually we descended safely before the rout out.
Inevitably as we got to the the foot of Cribyn and lunch the clouds cleared above the tops and Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du emerged from the clouds. It made for fine lunch view but with some wistfulness that if we'd been 40 mins later we'd have had fine views at the top. The walk out stayed fine but as we arrived at the car a hailstorm broke out.
Cold. Cloudy. But a beautiful Fridays winter walking.