Failed? More like didn’t even try.
Boyed by the success of our previous hike, Claire and I decided to tackle the highest peak in Brecon Beacons. Pen Y Fan. Standing at 886 meters it an impressive peak and a popular destination for summit blaggers. We decided to avoid the so called ‘motorway’ route from Storey Arms, the most popular and easiest route. Instead parked at the National Trust car park at Cwmgwdi. Our resreach suggesting that this was significantly less popular and not significantly more difficult.
The plan had been to walk a circular route, taking in Pen Y Fan, hopefully activating for another tidy 8 points before heading Corn Du, doubling back to Cribyn, which would hopefully lead to a successful HEMA activation. Then if time and conditions were with us, summit Fan Y Big before doubling back to Cribyn to descend via a different route. The weather however had other ideas.
The rain started before we left the car park, however it didn’t engae full force until we had gained a few hundred meters of elevation. As the wind really picked up we found a small ditch to take shelter in and review our options. We would push for the summit, radio however was out.
There is not much to say about the hike overall other than the weather was awful, high winds and rain meant stopping was not really an option. Aside from grabbing a quick summit selfie on Pen Y Fan and consulting the map we pressed on. Keen to get off the mountain and into dry clothes as rapidly as possible.
The rain did not abate until well after we had climbed in the car, cranked the heater on full and made a break back to our accomidation.
Overall not my best days hiking. However I am not too upset not to have got the points. Radio is a hobby after all and fighting the elements would have certainly sapped the fun out of mountain top operations.
Despite the weather we saw quite a few people hiking the various routes to the summit. I guess we arent the only mad ones then.
Thanks for reading.
73s
Pete
2E0PNW
