Pen y Fan

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Monday October 8 - This morning we had another enormous breakfast and headed out for a hike. We drove out to the Brecon Beacons National Park to walk Pen y Fan, the highest peak in south Wales. The weather did not look great, but when we arrived, it stopped raining and we decided to do it. It was quite windy and the visibility was poor, so that was a shame. As we hiked and got higher, it became wetter and windier. Quite uncomfortable really. We passed a couple arguing over whether to continue and another man yelling at his dog. It seems you cannot be in Wales without having your own dog - everyone had one everywhere we went. When we got to a fork in the road, we asked another hiker for the route, as there are no signs whatsoever. Disappointing, National Trust. Anyway, it was not far from there and we got to the peak, took a quick photo, and headed down. The whole walk was about 2 hours, but I think we made the return in just 20 minutes. Of course, the weather partially cleared when we got back to the car, but we were quite wet when we finished. There was even a puddle in my waterproof boots. The boots were still waterproof, but the rain had soaked my pants leg, then my sock, and then drained into the boot. Such a bummer, as these were the only shoes I brought for light packing.

We drove next to Henrhyd Falls to have a short walk to a waterfall that had been suggested to us. It wasn’t raining, which was great, but it was still cloudy. As we got back uphill to the car, the rain just started again, so the timing was quite good. We drove then to my friend and former colleague Karen and her partner Simon. We were a bit wet from the day, but she made us some tea and we had a good chat. She also made us a lovely dinner, and we got to meet her new dog Sam. We spent a nice evening chatting with them and by 10pm I was quite tired and headed up to bed. Another good day.

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