May 2007 Trip - Brecon Beacons

Overall

This was a wet trip! It only rained once... all weekend. So the walking was a bit of a washout, and maybe we drank more than usual!

Thursday

The advance guard (Patrick, Pete and Woody) drove over to Wales on Thursday evening to establish base camp in the Dan-yr-Ogof  campsite (only to be moved the next morning to make way for a caravan rally!

Friday
A good start!

0400 Met Office forecast for the Brecons says: "Rain will spread in from the south through the morning ... rain may be quite heavy at times over the hills ... afternoon of heavy showers, possibly thundery ... low cloud, base 200 metres ... temperatures feeling close to freezing".

Undeterred people set off from various corners of the earth: Jell from Hampshire, picking up Alice and Jo in Bristol, Frans from Liverpool, Andy picking up Rachel in Hereford, Patrick's crew driving over from the Black Mountain.

In a round of telephone conversations we agreed that we'd abandon our original plans for a walk on the tops north of Crickhowell, and do the Waterfalls Walk, aiming to meet at the car park at 928124 at 1030, for an 1100 start.  Inevitably there was a delay, with Jell's team getting a bit lost, and telephone problems meaning that the plan to leave Frans's car at the half way point got a bit complex, and Patrick had to make an extra trip to get him.  In the end we all ended up in the car park together at 1130 ish, and set off south down the river.

Waterfalls Walk

It was Sam that had suggested the waterfalls walk, and it was a great recommendation for a rainy day when the tops were a little inhospitable.  The path follows Afon Mellte through woods and steep valleys, down over a series of spectacular waterfalls, especially impressive after the recent rains. Inevitably there were hundreds of photographs taken of the first waterfall, rather fewer at the second, fewer at the third...  However, when we got down the steep path to Sgwd yr Eira all the cameras came out again.  This is the only point to cross Afon Hepste, a tributary of the main river, and the path goes underneath the waterfall, behind the thunderous torrent roaring past. 

Refreshed by our shower (!) we climbed back out of the valley, stopping on the way up for a bite to eat, and then made our way across the higher ground, and down towards Pontneddfechan, where Frans has stashed his car.  As we approached the town we dropped again into the valley, and watched a coachload of Dutch youngsters jumping off a high rock into the river. 

As Pontneddfechan, most of us decided to call it a day, and forgo the pleasures of the return leg, which follows the parallel river (Nedd Fechan) back up past more waterfalls.  Frans and Patrick decided to carry on, however, and after some complex passenger juggling we managed to regain enough cars for the rest of us to set of for the campsite.

Campsite Arrivals

Seeing us arrive at the campsite at about 1600, the rain decided it was time to redouble its efforts to give us a truly Welsh Welcome, and it bucketed down while we got the tents up.  By the time we had managed, Rachel's tent was about 9 inches deep and was abandoned for the rest of the weekend, Rachel finding space in Andy's capacious tent. 

As the afternoon and evening went on others started to arrive to make up the full party.  Paul, Bob, Pete, Jim and Jamie all rolled in and the tent city started to come together.  Alice discovered that the poles for the Big Blue weren't in the tent bag.  Paul had a big communal tent, so we put that up, but decided that rather than cook, maybe the pub was a good place for supper, and headed on down there for a pleasant evening.

Friday Pictures here

Saturday

Sunny spells and showers. Some showers are likely to be heavy and possibly thundery.

Encouraged by a slightly better forecast we (that is all of us apart from Andy who was going running, and Patrick and Pete who decided to try climbing on the Gower) planned to get up early and tackle the Black Mountain, which rises behind the campsite.

The Black (Grey) Mountain

After a slightly hungover breakfast the walkers were all assembled by 0730ish, and set off under grey skies and low cloud - not great omens.  We walked up the valley, intending to approach the peak in the shelter.  As we approached the rain began, and started in earnest as we climbed the steep slope into the cloud and things started to get murky and grey.  On reaching the ridge we were exposed to the strong south-westerly wind, and things started to feel truly unpleasant!  After trudging on for a mile or so a small group decided that they would head back down to the camp.

The rest of us carried on for a while and stopped to rest under the lea of some rocks.  At this point another group decided to call it a day, leaving Jell, Bob, Pete, Frans and Jim to battle our way on to the peak.  Moving a bit faster now, the summit group made good time and experienced that exhilarating feeling of winning against the weather and the mountain, and made it through to the top.

  There wasn't much to see in the thick fog (a roofless bothy/shelter six inches deep in water!), so we rapidly turned back and dropped off the top and down the path to the lake and so down the valley.  As we dropped out of the cloud it got lighter and we soon dried out , and enjoyed a rapid yomp down the valley, crossing streams and walking down long ridges and enjoying battling into the strong wind blowing in our faces.

As we approached the campsite, at about 1300, we were lured in by the pub and dropped in there for a celebratory beer, and were joined by some of the others who had long before got back to the campsite and had time to dry off.

Lazing and Geocaching

After lazing around for a while in the afternoon, a motley crew set off in search of a geocache hidden just down the valley. A lovely walk in the cloudy afternoon, down the valley, through  the watermeadows and up into the woods on the other side.  Had fun solving the cache, with Andy and Rachel rushing off in all directions, but eventually we found the final site, which had lovely views back across the valley.

Gadgets and Supper

As we returned from our geocache hunt Rob and Ben turned up in Tess and brought the crucial poles for the Big Blue.  We put it up in the middle of the site and then picked up Paul's big tent and mated the two.  A tarpaulin over the top, and some rope from Jim's sailing supplies finished the job and we had a huge (almost) weatherproof space for cooking, eating and (importantly) drinking in.

As evening came it became clear that we had enough pasta to feed us and the dinosaurs up the road, and enough wine and beer to tranquilise them all.  So with the rain steadily doing its welsh thing we settled into the Big BlueGreen for the evening.  Supper was pasta mixed with sauce and bacon or tuna, washed down with copious amounts of wine. 

Then the competitions began...

There were two gadget competitions.  Jell had set a challenge for the best gadget.  Patrick for the most useless.

The best gadget competition was won by Bob for his home made meths stove, with Jell in a close second with his phone condoms. Rachel's solar fire lighter was a good entry, but maybe suffered from the weather (and the fact it was dark!)

I can't remember who won the second competition!

Late Night Rescue

After a good number of beers and wines we had a call from Rob. Tess had broken her gearbox on a green lane a few miles away, and with Ben not feeling well, he couldn't winch her onto the road and was stuck. Luckily Alice hadn't drunk much so she and Jell headed off into the dark to fetch them, returning to find that Pete had drunk all the whiskey.

Saturday Pictures here

Sunday

Cloudy at first.  The cloud will thicken and lower giving persistent rain by mid-morning, this lasting right through the day.  Visibility locally good but poor generally with hill fog.

Yuk. A slow start in the rain. Jell, Alice, Rob and Ben set off to recover Tess, while the others moped and nursed hangovers. Late morning we visited the showcaves, conversed with dinosaurs and marvelled at the caves. Then in the afternoon a contingent set off for an afternoon's indoor climbing. Not a great walking day!

We decided to head for the pub for supper and had a convivial time.

Sunday pictures here

Monday

A cloudy start to the day with showery bursts of rain. These will soon clear to leave a much brighter day than yesterday.

...and so it proved! After packing up in the rain, a group of us drove over to the Storey Arms for a quick yomp up Pen y Fan, before heading off for the long drive home.

Monday pictures here

All in all, not a great weekend! But we got some walking in and braved the elements, and all enjoyed ourselves. We'll go back and conquer the Black Mountain in style some other time.

Many thanks to Sam for all his help and local advice (and for helping us to see off all the booze).