Family Training Hike into the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales

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Sunday 30 December 2007 - 5.45am! The alarm goes off, alerting us that it is time to rise and shine for our fundraising training hike into the mountains, in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Setting the alarm for 5.45am appeared to be a great idea the night before, but now seemed ridiculously early as we slowly awoke bleary eyed, and noted that it was still pitch black outside and very very cold!

We embarked on a family training hike today with Steve's dad, Oliver and Steve's brother Malcolm, and drove from Gloucestershire into Wales to reach the start of the hike. Despite being so early in the morning it was glorious to see nature bursting into life and sunrise was beautiful. On reaching the starting point for the 'Brecon Beacons Horseshoe' hike, we had an initial problem finding the start of the walk, but then we were away!

The Brecon Beacons Horseshoe hike embraces the three main peaks of the Brecon Beacons, including the highest point in southern Britain. The hike is noted as arguably the finest mountain walk in South Wales and one of the best in the country. The three summits are Cribyn (2608ft/795m), Pen y Fan (2907ft/886m), the highest point in the Brecon Beacons and the highest point in Britain south of Snowdonia and the third summit is Corn Du (2863ft/873m).

We all had a fantastic time hiking and slogging it up steep and daunting-looking summits, which required rocky scrambles in places. However, we were rewarded with magnificent views of Fan y Big, the Black Mountains, Llangorse Lake and the Usk Valley. There was a lot of slipping on the very muddy paths, and of course Lavinia not being twinkle toes when walking through mud, at one point fell down almost flat into a muddy ditch - Steve turned round to hear her shrieks for help. On the final part of the hike we enjoyed stone stepping across bubbling streams and admired lovely waterfalls. Given how cold it was we were hoping for snowy mountains, but the weather was absolutely perfect, so we cannot complain.

The hike was immensely satisfying and after 6 hours of hiking in the mountains we rewarded ourselves with a well deserved drink in a cosy Welsh pub - where the locals were extremely friendly, including a huge English Mastiff dog called 'Lou', who decided to show us his appreciation by sniffing us all over, several times! For anyone who fancies a bit of a challenging and varied mountainous hike, we highly recommend the 'Brecon Beacons Horseshoe'.

(Apologies for some of the photos' qualities! Not a good day weather wise to be taking photos).

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Photos

Smiles of Excitement
Lavinia and Steve are excited to be hiking in the mountains again! Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales.

Ready to hike the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe
Malcolm, Lav and Steve ready to hike the mountainous peaks of the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe!

Striding out - Oliver, Lav and Steve
Oliver, Lavinia and Steve at the start of the 6 hour hike into the mountains.

Lav and Steve take it easy on a farm gate
After all of an hour's worth of walking, Lavinia and Steve take a rest.

Steve and Oliver, with views of the Usk Valley behind
The views of the Usk Valley were lovely - we visited Usk the day before and it truly was a delightful small Welsh town.

Brecon Beacons
Here you can see the towering peaks of Cribyn (to the left) and Pen y Fan - the King of the mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Lav and Steve with Cribyn and Pen y Fan in the distance
Another short break before tackling the mountainous summit of Cribyn.

Brothers ready to take on the peaks!
Malcolm and Steve feeling ready to take on the three summits of the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe hike. They were being spurred on by the thought of pork pies for lunch at the top of the first summit!

Tackling the summit of Cribyn!
Here we are heading up the very steep, daunting-looking summit of Cribyn at 2608 feet. Oh yes...you most certainly feel it in your legs!

Steve brings Bolivian culture to the Brecon Beacons
Steve is here proudly wearing a hand-knitted hat he bought, when we visited and stayed with a family in a small village off Lake Titicaca in Bolivia (in March 2007). Bringing a piece of Bolivia to the Welsh countryside.

Time for Lunch! Steve hands out the pork pies.
It was a bit chilly - but the boys were happy with their promise of pork pies for lunch - not exactly a gourmet lunch, but when you are up on top of a cold mountain, anything will do - well almost anything!

Young love!
Lavinia and Steve sharing a moment together, whilst looking towards the next summit to be conquered, Pen y Fan.

Lav bracing the cold!
Lavinia is here with her hood up, bracing the fresh mountain air - well let's be honest, it was rather chilly on top of the summit of Cribyn.

A steep ascent to Pen y Fan
Steve takes on the final rocky scramble up to Pen y Fan.

Lav and Steve at the top of Pen y Fan
Hooray!!!!!! We have made it to the highest point in southern Britain, Pen y Fan! Pen y Fan is 2907ft.

Wonderful views from Pen y Fan
The steep rocky climb to Pen y Fan was certainly worth it for the amazing views.

Is it a bird, is it a plane...
...no it's Steve doing Saturday Night fever!
No not really, Steve thinks he has just spotted a bird of prey swooping over the mountains (well, it may have been a raven). Overlooking the lake of Llyn Cwm Llwch.

Gushing waterfalls and streams
Towards the end of the hike we were rewarded with lovely streams and waterfalls.

Views towards the valley of Cwm Llwch
Wonderful views out towards the valley of Cwm Llwch.