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This was my first charity walk since my knee replacement. A party of us from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, aka the Law Society, were bravely attempting the four main Beacons (well, the ones that look the biggest, seen from Brecon) to raise funds for our local charity, Birmingham Women's Refuge - (Birmingham and Solihull Women's Aid)
We met at Cwm Gwdi car park at 10.00am, everyone having managed to negotiate the maze of narrow country lanes to find this wonderfully situated car park at the foot of the Beacons. We crossed woodland and fields to reach the ancient track (a Roman road, allegedly) up into Cwm Cynwyn. Here was where the hill-walking began - a suitable spot for a team photo.
Ominous fog loomed over the hills and we climbed the first of our four summits, Fan-y-Big, in zero visibility. There was one good thing about the mist - it made posing on the famous "diving board" on the summit look like you were poised above an infinite void -
There was a gap in the clouds as we plodded up our second peak, Cribyn.
The cloud had cleared enough to give us a brief view into Cwm Cynwyn -
- and, on the way down Cribyn, Pen-y-Fan looked as if it was going to unveil its iconic North face...
The cloud dissolved to a curtain of thin skeins on the crags - the movement almost gave the effect of a waterfall of vapour...
...but it never totally lifted.
However on the way up Pen-y-Fan we did have fine backward views of Cribyn -
- before we plunged into thick fog again, colder this time... never mind, onwards and upwards in the murk. Once we reached the Pen-y-Fan summit platform, the group had to exercise some trust in me - we abandoned the well-worn path to the summit and walked onto the pathless plateau in the mist. Thankfully, their confidence in me was soon rewarded when the summit ridge path to Corn Du appeared in front of us, and a few minutes later we were on top of the second highest Beacon.
We didn't hang around at this point, it was getting colder by the minute and we followed the path to Pen-y-Fan. On
the summit plateau we noted the "fossilised" ripple marks of a Devonian beach, 400 million years old.
The summit cairn (wot no trig?) was a welcome spot.
And the obligatory team photo...
To get off the mountain, trust was once more required for the first steep section which dropped abruptly off the plateau into the mist, before easing into a pleasant stroll along the crest of Cefn Cwm Llwch. We were soon at the car park - 6 hours 16 minutes - in addition to the walk itself, we've had a related bake sale and a "guess the walk time" (6hrs 20 mins was the nearest guess) to help raise funds for the charity.
The car park, nestled among the trees, was a welcome sight. Even more welcome was the Tai'r Bull Inn at Libanus where we had a celebratory pint...
...while watching Wales play Australia in the rugby union World Cup - surrounded by a crowd of knowledgeable and passionate local supporters, of course! Wales lost the match, but achieved their aim of getting through to the next round of the World Cup. Rather like us - we walked the hills but hardly saw them, but we did achieve our aim of raising funds for the Women's Refuge. A great achievement for a team of walkers many of whom were new to the hills!
