Fan Gyhirych - short walk in the Brecon Beacons national park (2.77 miles)

Distance: 2.77 miles

Difficulty: Moderate

Details: Long sections of boggy grass, walking boots or shoes a definite must. Trekking poles would be useful to save your knees.

Facilities: none in the immediate area, Tanners Arms pub in Defynnog 5 miles away or 4.5 miles to the Tafarn y Garreg in Glyntawe.

Dog info: Lots of smells and expect muddy paws. Dexter practically pulled me back downhill on a scent...bloody beagles!

We drive past this mountain constantly when en route to Brecon and I've never actually climbed it...so as were coming back from our few nights away in a B&B in Brecon, we decided to just pull over and climb Fan Gyhirych. Fan Gyhirych is 725m high and it is a pretty impressive and mammoth feature in the landscape as you're driving through the upper Swansea valley. We stopped in the layby just after Cray reservoir, hopped over the stile and headed up to the summit.

There's a lot to be said for following set paths and not venturing off the beaten track too much in this area...the number one reason being that the majority of the land is really long boggy grass which is really slow going walking on and pretty treacherous. I lost count of the times my boot disappeared into ankle deep peat bog.

Coupled with the fact it was an extremely cold day in February and a freezing wind was blowing, it was a pretty difficult climb up. Mark skipped on ahead like the mountain goat he is - I have no idea where this boy became so adept at climbing mountains (in shitty boots nonetheless) as he grew up in the Netherlands, where their biggest challenge is cycling home after a few beers.

It felt like the closer we got, the further we still had to go to actually reach the summit...although judging by the fact we just decided to traverse vertically up this side of the mountain, that probably wasn't a surprise. Three army guys ran past us on their way down...I have no idea how they were running - in short sleeves as well - when I was struggling to walk slowly up and keep my balance. I guess practice is key.

We finally reached the top and the grass was all covered in an icy layer of snow and frost. It was empty and still windy but pretty ethereal. I felt a big sense of achievement at conquering another mountain I hadn't summited before.

Frozen solid but feeling good about it!

I got to test out my new Extremities Gore-tex gloves that I bought that week in Cotswold Outdoor's and they were super warm, which is great. I feel like a true explorer now I own a Rab jacket and some waterproof heavy duty winter gloves.

From the top of Fan Gyhirych, we could actually see all the way over to Llyn y fan fawr and Fan Brycheiniog. It wasn't a particularly clear day so I can imagine the views are even more impressive here when you're blessed with good weather.

All in all, it was a short but sweet walk and still pretty challenging! It broke up our journey home to Pontardawe and was a good place to stop and have a mini adventure because we didn't have time for a long hike.

This is by far not the best route to walk this mountain - you're better off adding it onto a loop including Fan Fraith and Fan Nedd and walking up the track which starts just off the road towards Sennybridge. I plan on coming back to Fan Gyhirych when we wild camp up Fan Nedd and conquering a few mountains all at once.