UK Mountains Expedition Report

I have been on the Eastern Brecons several times and have climbed Pen-Y-Fan five or six times. I wanted, therefore, to explore further West and took the opportunity of a gap in work to make a mid-week day trip to explore mountains I had not been on before.

So it was that I pulled into the Storey Arms car park at 9:00am, donned my boots, hitched on my rucsac and started up Fan Fawr. This is quite a pull for the first climb of the day and was in fact the highest mountain of the day at 734metres. The day was glorious and the views fabulous in all directions. I noticed with some satisfaction that the summit of Pen-y-Fan was just in cloud - the only mountain in sight that was!

My route lay ahead to Fan Llia, which from my vantage point looked quite straightforward. As I dropped to the Ystadfellte reservoir though, Fan Llia towered up on the opposite side, looking higher the further down I went. Maybe it was harder than I had thought, but then I like my mountains to put up a challenge, makes summitting so much more rewarding.

I had decided to include the slightly lower Fan Dringarth in my route which gave me a relatively easy walk to Llia after summiting it.

Dropping off Llia I crossed the first of just two roads (actually the same one twice) all day to start the big climb to Fan Nedd. This was taken at a steady pace to conserve energy for the rest of the day, but I was soon standing on the summit looking in all directions at the sheer beauty of the area. It was hard work getting here, but well worth it.

My furthest destination was now more clearly in sight - Fan Gyhirch, a concave shaped mountain. Rather than detouring to the main track, I decided to take a direct line, which was considerably harder than I expected, being composed of 'moon grass' in a marsh. Eventually I exited the marshes and was grateful to hit firmer ground for the final ascent of Gyhirch. It took me longer than expected, and was more tiring than I thought, but glancing at my watch I saw it was 12:30. I had been walking for almost three and a half hours, no wonder I was tired. I made the decision to move off the ridge and find shelter from the cold wind for lunch. This proved hard to do as the route to the next peak was along a ridge, but eventually I spied a small knoll and found a sheltered spot behind it.

I stopped, took out my flask and sandwiches and began a quiet lunch with superb views. Just then I saw another walker about 400metres away. We exchanged waves and he continued onto the mountain I was descending from. It occurred to me that this was the first person I had seen since starting the walk - midweek walking has that bonus! Also, of course, the military who use this area as a playground normally stick to the Fan Dance further East - or maybe they don't but stay well hidden - I guess I will never know!

I decided to move off quite quickly to avoid seizing up and was soon marching towards the distant Fan Chwych which is a long gentle ridge, a welcome change from the steep sides of the previous climbs. On the summit, an excellent photo opportunity of Pen-y-Fan presented itself. With its sister mountain of Corn-Ddu stood proud against the skyline, totally clear of cloud. Too far to go today, but the views from my set of peaks made up for it.

A steep descent to the road at Tylegarw Farm followed, although there was no actual path, the route chooses itself with sufficient stiles to facilitate wall and fence crossings to the valley below and the only convenient crossing point of the Afon Senni river. I knew the next couple of miles would be tough to get me out of the valley and back high again - I was right. The pull up to the Roman Road near Sarn Helen was exhausting and the sun was burning, the wind had dropped and I was glad to see the hill ease off and yield. From here, the Roman Road took me into the Sarn Helen valley and following the stream I was soon on steep ground again towards the summit of Fan Frynych. This was a frustrating final climb as the summit doesn't come into view until almost all of the climbing is done.

Storey Arms is in full view from here, but is still several miles distant along a gently descending path. The car grew larger, but it seemed to take forever to reach. A fascination with the busy traffic on the A470 kept my mind off the walking and the ever tiring limbs. I eventually arrived at the car just after 5:00pm. I had been out some eight hours including stops and covered 17.5 miles of tough hilly ground.

After a good day in the hills, there is always something rather sad about returning to so-called civilisation. In the hills everyone is friendly and talking to strangers is part of the joy. Back in the real world, no-one talks to anyone, no-one has time for anyone. If only every day could be like this one.