The Brecon Beacons

Last Tuesday I decided that I would venture further out than just Beacon Hill and go for a walk in Wales. The place I chose was the Brecon Beacons, an area I have walked several times in the past, though not recently. Five years ago I walked over the Beacons for the first time and I walked over them again three years ago, I have not been over since but I didn't actually see anything this time.

I parked up at the top of the road from Talybont Reservoir at the car park at SO 0560 1755 and headed along the road following the Taff Trail through Taf Fechan Forest to Neuadd Reservoir. Both previous times I was here the reservoir was empty; indeed the map shows it as being empty. I guess it was found to be too small for their purposes so they abandoned it and built the bigger Upper Neuadd Reservoir further up the valley. Today this abandoned reservoir is full as I suppose it usually is in the winter. I crossed the dam and headed straight up the side of the valley. The path was very muddy and was badly eroded near the top as can be seen from this picture taken at the top. I was now almost completely enveloped in the clouds as I made my way along the top of the ridge above Graig Pen Ddu. Slowly trudging along I had no way of knowing how much further I had to go and it seemed to go on forever. When I reached the 824m top above Craig Gwaun Taf I thought I was at Corn Du, but that idea was soon dispelled as the path continued on down to Bwlch Duwynt and up on to the top of Corn Du. I was so relieved when I eventually reached the top I stopped and had my lunch.

Once rested and refreshed I headed off again for the short hop over to Pen y Fan, the highest hill in the Brecon Beacons and usually a magnet for walkers, but in these conditions there wasn't a single person on the summit. After taking a couple of pictures of the summit cairn I headed off along the path down Craig Cwm Sere and up to Cribyn. After this exertion another descent down Craig Cwm Cynwyn followed leading to Bwlch ar y Fan. One more ascent lay ahead of me up onto Fan y Big before the long walk along the top of Craig Cwmoergwm and Craig Cwarelli. All this ridge walking was rather dull in this weather; with no views I was forced to settle with plodding along the paths with nothing to look at but my own feet. There was little variation in the terrain and it all became rather monotonous. Eventually I arrived at Bwlch y Ddwyallt and turned sharply right to head down the path above Graig Fan Las. From here it should have been a short walk over Craig y Fan Ddu back down to the car. That is not how it turned out.

After crossing the stream, Blaen Caerfanell, I veered off west away from the edge of the slope following a path that seemed quite clear, but actually wasn't as clear as the path I had been following. When I reached the Pile of Stones and Cairn marked on the map at 047189 I realised I was heading in the wrong direction so turned south and following another faint path. It was soon clear to me that something was still wrong because I wasn't losing height as quickly as I should have been but I still blindly followed the path as it veered back over to the west and picked up the Nant y Groesydd. Thinking this was the Nant Bwrefwr I happily followed it and when I arrived at the edge of Taf Fechan Forest I thought I was going in the right direction, thinking that this was the edge of the Talybont Forest. My belief was sahttered when I crossed the track from Bwlch ar y Fan and arrived at the Filter House for the Neuadd Reservoir. At this point I didn't know where I was. Eventually it sunk in how stupid I had been, and so shaking my head in disbelief I slowly made my way back along the Taff Trail to my car.

I guess this incident shows how easy it is to get lost in cloudy weather, especially if you aren't careful. If only I had used my compass a little more and not blindly followed the path ignoring all the signs around me that showed I was going in the wrong direction. As soon as I headed away from Blaen Caerfanell on the wrong path I noticed I was moving away from the cliff edge but I did nothing about it. I just assumed I was going in the right direction without actually making sure. This time I got away with it, the path I was following wasn't dangerous and I was easily able to make my way back to the car. The worst result of my diversion was that it was almost dark by the time I got back to my car. Not really a major disaster. Next time I may not be so lucky. This is certainly an incident I need to learn from.