2014-10-11-Brecon Beacons Pen Y Fan and 4 peaks trek

What was supposed to be a simple trek with minimal planning and short route turned out to be my most adventurous outings in the UK in the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales. For photographs see links below at the end.

I reached the Llwyn-y-Celyn YHA hostel on Sat at 12 PM and got my first shock – no lunch served and the nearest pub would be 1 hour walk – public transport not reliable. Till I could decide my next steps it started raining heavily. Chucking plans for lunch I feasted on the backup food I had got of a Mango and some dry fruits. Rains subsiding I went out for a short walk which in itself would turn out into a mini adventure to find a summit without proper direction or map.

As per my habit I started observing all the topo maps hung on the hostel walls. I saw a nearby summit of Fan Frynych. Just made a mental note of the location and left for a marked short forest walk around the hostel of about 45 mins. After milestone #8 I lost track and ended on the main road. The mountains across the road seemed inviting with the glacier corroded CRAIG CERRIG-GLEISIAD in view as well, and then suddenly I remembered the Fan Fryncyh summit which I remembered from the map which I saw at the hostel.

I had nothing to loose just time to kill and with the weather opened up and sunny now – super clear skies and autumn colours all around I decided to give the Fan Fryncyh a try. Not really knowing which one it would be from the hills around did not make it easy. I made a rough guess and started walking – getting lost or stopped by a fence and finally my feet submerged in 1 feet of Bog (Slush). Anyways I carried on and what did I find?

I found a post box type of a wooden enclosure and there were pamphlets of the description of the area and the routes up the Fan Fryncyh. I was lucky J and also in right direction as well. Now I picked up pace and within 30 mins was at Fan Frynch top with amazing views of the Wales country side all around and also the summits of Corn Du and Pen Y Fan which I would trek tomorrow. I could also see the rain falling in the far away flat lands – what a view. The rain was coming  towards me so thought of abandoning my plans of a longish traverse above the CRAIG CERRIG-GLEISIAD but instead took a steep downhill route in that valley. Once I came to the main road I was gifted with a view of an amazing rainbow. A day well spent, can’t ask for more. A nice relaxed evening spent reading and light dinner and off for a sound sleep.

Sun seemed to be a nice day. The sky seemed clear with heavy fog in the valley and around the hostel. The initial route to the Taff trail from the hostel was confusing even after the directions printout they had given. The route was not well marked so after 20 mins of wandering I came back to the hostel and asked for directions and then I was bang on target. Had just missed the direction of a faint trail earlier. Once I reached the Taff trail got nice views of the valley with the autumn colours, slight fog and clear skies – a very rare combination. The route to the Corn Du summit and onwards to Pen Y Fan was simple from the Storey Arms.

Once I reached the top of the mountain range another set of awesome views waiting. The sky was clear with the valley in thick cloud cover slowly rising – giving an impression that we are walking above the clouds. Nice mountain views all around with the wide plateaus for a change and occasionally we could see all the way to the horizon – the most amazing cloud play I have ever seen. The walk from one summit to another was pretty much the same. You have a tough uphill climb then a flat summit again a steep descent to the common col and there starts another ascent to next summit. This was repeated 4 times until I covered all 4 starting from Corn Du, Pen Y Fan, CribYn, Fan Y Big. The further away I walked, less people I met until finally on Fan Y Big I was the only one. What an awesome feeling after finally completing all the summits planned and being alone by yourself on top with amazing views all around is a feeling hard to beat.

The blunder part started on descent. I took things a bit easy trying out a different route parallel to the mountain range but in the lower valley. It was off the trail and going was slow. Clouds were starting to form and I was not very comfortable to be trapped in a rain storm etc so decided to descend back to the main trek route. Once I reached the plains it was a boring monotonous walk through fields and road network of interior country side. (though the views were nice, I was just plain tired and walking on tar road most of the time is no fun). Since I did not follow the actual GPS route due to it ascending to the mountains again and it was getting late, I took the roads which added lot of miles till I reached the hostel.

Finally I was just ½ km crow fly distance away from hostel. I could see it across a river valley. I decided to take a short cut not walking all the way to the formal river crossing bridge which would save around 2 miles of walk. The short cut was through a private farm and I would have to jump over the barbed wire fence on the other side. I entered by opening the gate and walked past a group of Cows and Bulls grazing. As I was nearing the fence a bull started charging at me without any warning. I had to run. It was scary. Finally 3 bulls were charging towards me. I kept running till I could get a sufficient lead which would give me time to slowly put my foot on the fence and jump over without hurting myself on the barbed wire. I did it finally and was on the other side and relieved. The bulls making angry sounds. This was tiring after a 25 km walk but I was happy to be able to outrun the bulls for some timeJ

Not wanting to get my feet wet – I balanced myself across a fallen tree over the rivulet and reached the hostel in 5 mins tired but satisfied and with lots of adrenaline rush due to the bull chase J. A nice hot bath, bottle of beer and dinner of mutton and noodles made my day.

The misadventures don’t end here J Next day morning I missed my first connecting bus at 7 AM since the driver did not see me at bus stop even though I waved out at him. Maybe he was drunk, sleepy or it was plain dark. Fortunate to have all connections an hour later I reached London by 2 PM tired but satisfied. Cheerz.

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