free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
As a long-time reader of Walkhighlands forum, I'd done various mountain walks/climbs, but never really started bagging peaks. Being a southern softie, not nearly far enough north, I am unlikely to get many Munros, but a small, more manageable project is to climb all the Welsh Hewitts. So... without further ado...
I set off from the north side of Pen-y-Fan late morning, having waited a few days for the weather to be opportune. Despite this, it would prove to be very windy! After a sharp climb from the car park, with things very wet underfoot, I made relatively speedy progress onto the foot of Cefn Cwm Llwch, whereupon the second summit of the day, Cribyn, came into view.
Probably the most impressive views at this point were back down towards Brecon and Llanfrynach as the sun broke through.
After a small flatter section, I climbed again and got my first views of the summit of Pen-y-Fan, although cloud-capped.
This was much drier underfoot generally, with a few boggy areas.
The summit of Pen-y-Fan was full of people who had come up the 'motorway route' the other side, many of them ill prepared for the winds on the summit and looking distinctly chilly! Being the type who enjoys the relative solitude of walking, I chose not to stop and hurried off down towards Cribyn. Descending the steepest section off the top was a bit interesting in the high winds, and I had to make a few routing decisions to keep away from the edge, which I was being blown towards. Soon I was in the valley and had a good view back onto the face of Pen-y-Fan.
One of my favourite views from this area is down over the Neuadd reservoirs and along the valley. On a previous trip in March I had crossed the valley just below the reservoirs and ascended up the other side. Today would be a shorter trip.
Soon, after fording a large pool, I had reached the top of Cribyn, with the winds getting stronger all the time. They were due to reach 60mph by the evening, so I kept moving. The view back towards Pen-y-Fan showed the cloud had lifted.
I had considered descending the northern flank of Cribyn, but given the exposure there and the high winds, I plodded onward, thinking maybe I could pop up Fan-y-Big before taking the track down through Cwm Cynwyn.
The descent of Cribyn was probably the biggest challenge of the day, purely because of the wind. After a little thought I concluded that I had had a good day, that the mountains will be there tomorrow and that I should call it a day. I turned off before the start of the Fan-y-Big ascent and started my descent down Cwm Cynwyn. This was a long undulating track but with good views.
It took longer than I expected to make my descent - tired legs and a lack of walking this year were taking their toll. I reached the road and walked past a few farms and across Nant Sere before turning off for an extremely boggy footpath back to the car park. I arrived not long before sunset, so I was glad to have headed back early!
A fairly "boring" trip compared to others, but thoroughly enjoyable and a good start to my project!
