Llyn y fan fawr 3.4 miles - Brecon Beacons National Park (West)

So it's been agesssssssssss since I last posted. Almost a year. A lot has happened in that time - namely a new job which is going well but the blog has been a bit neglected. I've still managed lots of walks and been trying to up my fitness and hiking in 2017 to conquer some new mountains and set myself new challenges and more long distance hikes. So today, I set off with the intention of doing an 8 mile walk in the Beacons...unfortunately, the Welsh weather defeated me and I cut it short but it was still a lovely walk to one of my favourite places.

A great wild camping spot - not that I've actually had the chance to camp at the lake yet, although I did camp nearby earlier in the year (we didn't have enough daylight left to make the hike after work). This brilliant photo was taken by my dad (Black Planet Photography) looking out over the lake on one of the many walks we've done there.

If you just walk up to the lake and back down, it's about 3.4 miles which is what I did today...ended up totally soaked and hadn't anticipated quite how bad the weather may be so I didn't have my waterproof trousers on and hadn't put a coat on the dog! She was shivering and whining by the time we got to the top and it took a lot of coaxing to get her into the bothy bag...what a lifesaving bit of kit this is!

Not a happy beagle!

 So we sat down for a good 45 minutes and I pulled out a thermos of tea and just chilled out watching the world go by....I was soaking wet by this point (from the waist down anyway) so I appreciate it's not everyone's idea of fun but I think it's important to take time out to get back to nature and enjoy the fresh air...and lashing torrential rain and gusting winds. I think Alastair Humphreys would be proud - it certainly was a microadventure!

I even saw a wild swimmer in the lake! It must have been freezing. I don't know how these people do it! My friends think I'm mad to head out on a hike in the hills when the forecast is crap and rain is guaranteed but I guess I may as well have jumped in for a swim, I was already halfway there in terms of how wet I was!

Foggy day in the hills although it cleared a little on the descent

I was heading back down the hill and thinking that I hadn't fallen over - as I usually take a tumble on most treacherous hikes - and no sooner had I thought it, than I slid on a big muddy section and went down like a sack of potatoes. I felt a real twinge in my knee and thought for a minute my left ACL had gone...I'm so clumsy. Luckily, I managed to get back up and after a bit of tentative single leg squatting to test it, I carried on uninjured.

So route wise, this tends to be fairly popular with walkers although much quieter than the main Brecon Beacons and you can avoid the hordes of people flocking to Storey Arms. Park just off the Trecastle road, there's a fair few gravel areas to pull in and park or just onto the grass.  There are quite a few ways to walk up to the lake - there are a few rough paths you can follow. Just head west and you'll arrive there pretty quickly. You do need to cross the river once or twice but this is pretty easy - just take care on slippery rocks. Parts of this walk are extremely boggy and muddy especially if it's been raining so walking boots or shoes are a must (I bumped into a guy in trainers up there earlier...he must have been regretting it)!

It's a short route from here to the lake and back but you can extend it and climb up Fan Brycheiniog or go all the way around to Picws Du and down to Llyn y fan fach on the other side. Alternatively, you could walk back down the Fan Hir ridge to come out in Glyntawe near the Tafarn y Garreg pub! (Obviously you'll want to park elsewhere here and re-route accordingly)

I love the climb up to Llyn y fan fawr and it always looks like you're climbing towards nothing and I start to wonder if I'm even heading in the right direction and then you come over the hill and see Fan Brycheiniog rising into the mist and the lake stretching out across the landscape. I love the sense of peace and quiet you get from being here. It's not far to get to but it feels miles away from anywhere.

More walks in this area to come soon...

March 2017: here's a photo taken on the way up Fan Brycheiniog with Llyn y fan fawr in the background. We did this route after a wild camp up here - blog post to follow on that soon!