For this little adventure, my brother took a day off work. I had gifted him one of my OS maps, one for the Brecon Beacons, which he visits quite often. They're not very useful for me in Australia and I knew he would use it, so it seemed a waste not to give it to him. In the end it worked out perfectly, as he had a new place to visit in mind, and this was the right map for that.
He planned a walk in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons, within the Black Mountain, near to the dammed glacial lake Llyn y Fan Fach. It's in this area that a friend of his taken a photo of a red kite in flight, which went on to win a national competition to appear on the new OS map of the area - impressive!
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| Photograph by Gareth Scanlon, https://www.facebook.com/GarethScanlonPhotography/ |
A fair drive out through the southern Welsh countryside eventually led to ever-tinier roads, before we got to the tiny carpark at Llanddeusant. We followed the track passed an unexpected trout farm, where we watched the fish for a little while. I think James would have liked to take a couple home for dinner, but security was tight!
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| The trackway upstream of the trout farm |
You can visit the lake itself I believe, but we wanted to enjoy a more challenging (though not very technical) walk up the escarpment and take in the views from there, so we followed the path upwards. The walking took us up a steep grass bank, where wooden rails have been erected to divert the footpath to the left to allow regeneration of eroded plants.
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| Fan Foel (Fan Brycheiniog), the highest peak of the Black Mountain, in the distance |
It doesn't seem to take long before we are at the top of the escarpment, drinking in the magnificent views of the rugged countryside stretched out for miles before us.
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| Llyn y Fan Fach, with the peaks of the escarpment rising up to the side |
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| Walking along the escarpment, with dramatic views beyond |
The day is chilly, but some areas are more sheltered from the wind than others. One moment we feel as though our walking pace is keeping us comfortably warm, the next a cruel breeze whips through to remind us summer is still far away. My layers are on and off constantly as my Aussie-accustomed internal thermometre can't work out what's going on. The silly hat is getting a good work out today!
Further along, and we see snow!! After more than a year in Queensland, the snow seems pretty exciting...
James even has a go at making a snowman, although it ends up blind and armless as we can't find anything to decorate it with.
We follow the undulating escarpment ridge, walking over the gentle peaks of Waun Lefrith and Picws Du until we reach the top of Fan Brycheiniog, the highest part of the Black Mountain at 802.5m. We take a little while here to admire the views and choose our return route.
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| Waun Lefrith |
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| Llyn y Fan Fawr from Fan Brycheiniog with Fan Gyhirych beyond |
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| The trig point atop Fan Brycheiniog |
Some of the route has been fairly boggy where the snow has been slowly melting, so rather than walk the whole way at the bottom of the escarpment, we opt instead to follow a path or sheep track that twists and turns its way down from a low point between peaks further back along the escarpment. We head back to where we had seen this path, then follow it down.
Along this route we see the aerial displays of red kites, but my camera battery gives up at this point so I didn't get any photos of these gorgeous birds this time.
Back at the base of the escarpment, we pick a route back to the track by the trout farm where we retrace our steps back to the car. And of course discuss the real ale + pub dinner options for the aprรจs walking :)
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