We arrived Saturday at the HF Holidays Brecon Beacons house just in time for Afternoon Tea. Excellent timing on our part! After some sweet treats and a cuppa we unpacked and surveyed our new home-away-from-home. It's a converted very large 19th C. private house, now used exclusively by HF for hiking holidays and short getaways. The rooms are basic but comfortable, the food plentiful and irresistible!
We quickly started into the week's routine of a 7pm Next Day's Walks Briefing, followed immediately by dinner, then the evening's entertainment (a quiz - which we skipped).
Today the weather dawned very brisk and misty but quickly cleared to full warm sunshine. Sheila and I signed up to walk in different groups so photos of ourselves are limited, but I'll post what I have. We were bussed over to the Western Fans today. For her first hike, Sheila conservatively chose the Easy walk of 7miles/1100' up and around a limestone ridge then down into the Tawe Valley, ending with a lovely walk along the river to end at the pub meeting place. She ended up becoming fast friends with 2 other Canadian couples, enjoying a few pints with them at the end of the hike.
Being volunteered for the Hard hike, I had a cross-country route up to a glacial lake, which we circled around so as to follow the base of the escarpment over to a 2nd lake, then up a steep ridge to follow the top of the escarpment all the way back again, then further, to descend steeply to the road and on to the pub for a total of 11miles/2300' ascent. The top photo shows 2/3rds of the ridge I returned on - so amazing to see how far one can actually walk.
Things I learned. 1: trails are not necessarily set paths in Britain. There's lots of "off-piste" walking. (We headed straight across to the little lake in the photo below, then circled counterclockwise up and around and back along the ridge)
2: One always (obviously) hikes at their own risk. There's no "Danger: Steep Drop Off" signs, anywhere!
3: There aren't zig-zags or switchbacks here. Down is straight down, and up is straight up. No matter if you're about to fall ass-over-teakettle forward or bump your chin on your knees going up, just do it. This next pic has both extremes but doesn't capture the steepness at all. I was so thinking of sliding down on my bum ...
It was a tremendous first day but it wore me out. My group finished just 10 mins before our scheduled 5pm pickup, so I missed out on the celebratory pint at the end of the day's walk. A 25 min. bus ride back, shower, wine, briefing, dinner - whew! Sheila partook in the after-dinner Antiques Roadshow Guessing game with her new Canuck friends (and won the prize of a small thermos). I, however, shuffled off to bed, so as to do it all again tomorrow.
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