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Our usual Christmas trip to the Brecon Beacons - a rare one, without the use of waterproofs!
Photo's here
https://plus.google.com/photos/106459429880001195754/albums/6098361143369342897The forecast looked good for Monday so the final decision was made to go then - and what an excellent choice it was.
Weather was stunning throughout - there was some cloud over North side of the horseshoe around lunchtime, but we were never really under that - and it quickly dispersed anyway.
We look the horseshoe route from Neuadd reservoirs (the upper one was empty and looked like it has been for a while given the greenness of the "bowl"). This avoided the crowds and when we got to Corn-du/Pen-y-fan there were indeed crowds coming up from the Storey Arms side - a continuous stream of ants could be seen on the ridge line at times.
There was a fair bit of ice and a thin coating of snow in places, not enough to cause any real issues - but sufficient to cause everyone to do a bit of impromptu ice staking at some point. Lunch was taken, in the sun, on the rocks just to the south of the Pen-y-fan summit - a very popular spot on such a busy day.
The slower members of the group skipped Fan-y-big while the rest of us did a quick up and down, took the necessary photo on the ledge, and then caught them up on the Roman Road.
Despite the temps below or around zero - it felt surprisingly mild when out of the wind, Cribyn and Fan-y-big seemed to be sheltered by Corn-du, Pen-y-fan - so from the start of the Cribyn ascent back to the car I ended up walking just a long sleeve top (OK - hat, gloves, neck-muff and lined-trousers as well).
Possibly the best days walking in South Wales we have ever had!
