Wild camping in the Western Brecon Beacons - 11 miles

So, I read Alastair Humpreys' book Microadventures earlier this year (strongly recommend if you've not read it, he is an inspiration: more info here) and got the urge to go wild camping. I love camping, I'd go so far as to say I am obsessed with camping...I think I totalled about 7-8 trips last year and I already have 12 planned for this year because I am trying hard to top my record. I was never overly fussed on wild camping...I didn't like the idea of pooing outside, the lack of general facilities and ability to cart about all the kit I usually drag to the campsite packed into my Ford Focus and Thule roofbox. But his book moved me and as I have significantly increased the distance I'm hiking and walking with the dogs this year, so wild camping seemed a logical next step.

I didn't fancy wild camping alone and couldn't bring myself to just camp in a bivvy which is what Alastair recommends...so I dug out my Vango Ark 300 and tried to suss out which of my friends would be crazy enough to join me in March (10th March to be precise!). The answer is always Tina. Tina is 49 but looks about 25 and is the friend who never lets me down with any plans and is always upbeat and optimistic regardless of how badly things are going. It seemed like a natural choice. She doesn't do much walking (other than the long hikes we force her on when we all end up camping together because we're walking the dogs) or exercise at all for that matter...but I'd like to think we've personal trained her quite well to be a hardy adventurer. So we picked a friday night after work and decided to do it. Our plan was to have food at my house, head up late evening to pitch and have a few drinks and then camp and go for a long hike back the next day and get a lift back from the pub.

No amount of prep can help sometimes...I was pretty sure everything was going to go swimmingly until I started packing my backpack the night before. The Vango Ark 300 is a great tent, but unfortunately its weight and pack size are not conducive to wild camping (not when you plan on carrying the tent with you on a hike the next day anyway)! So after much panicking and trying to unpack and repack my sack to fit in my sleeping mat, 4 season sleeping bag, change of clothes etc, I settled for clipping it onto the front.

So then I proceeded to put my sack on and try and walk about the house....wow, it was heavy. I mean, I have no idea how heavy, but I usually take a 15L rucksack packed to capacity on every hike, and I was pacing the living room wondering how on earth I was going to hike up Fan Brycheiniog with this on my back (not to mention fit through the door with the tent attached like this, that was a problem in itself)! Luckily, I have a dad who is full of solutions, even if it means we are less gnarly and heroic. He would drop us off and then the next morning, come back to take away the tent and other gear so we could hike on with just our rucksacks and he would walk part of the way with us so he could shoot some photos. Problem solved!

Tina and I hadn't seen each other in ages, so we were chatting a lot over dinner (which was slow cooked chilli and rice) and then went through a bottle of prosecco, a bottle of champagne and a gin chambord cocktail each. It was the classiest start to a camping trip ever and probably worlds away from what Alastair Humpreys envisioned when he set out on a campaign to get people outdoors and adventuring.

We spent 15 minutes looking for a suitable spot (which wasn't easy after all that alcohol but lucky for us my dad is teetotal and outdoorsy so he handled that) and proceeded to pitch the tent. It went up within 5 minutes (again, I was quite impressed considering how sloshed we were feeling) but it became clear to me that when I put the tent in the car, I thought the tent pegs were in the tent bag....but they weren't. I had packed some, but only like 4 or 5 so our next bit of improvising was using rocks to peg out the guylines. It was pretty cold and and it was windy but the tent held up well and was really warm actually.

Work has been so stressful recently and I was so grateful to just escape outside and felt so relaxed and instantly better just sat inside the tent chatting. I had quite a disturbed night of sleep so didn't sleep very well as we were on a slope and I kept rolling off my sleeping mat...plus Gracie kept moving about to get comfy in the sleeping bag and then Tina went out to pee at like 3am (with no trousers or shoes on - see what I mean, crazy)!!! But the next morning, I woke up feeling so rested and like I'd been asleep for 5 days.

Sunrise the next morning

Gracie looking out over the rolling hills

When we're camping usually, I have a double gas burner and grill (obviously we weren't lugging this with us). My dad had lent us his portable single burner adventure stove so we made a cup of tea on that and had some cereal for breakfast.

It had a really vicious flame and boiled the water surprisingly quick and was really sturdy, fair dos.

I then managed to spill a bowl of cereal all over myself whilst trying to sort out the cooker (did I mention I was clumsy?) so began the hike looking like I'd pissed myself. Lucky for us, there was nobody about [or nobody likely to get that close to my crotch anyway].

So my dad arrived and we packed away our gear and transferred the snacks and supplies into our day rucksack and off we went. The route I'd planned would take us up the hill to Llyn y fan Fawr, then up Fan Brycheniog, up to Fan Foel, around to Picws Du then breaking off South and just heading straight down the mountains until we hit the drovers track and then coming out by Dan yr Ogof caves where we'd walk up the road to the Tafarn y Garreg and finish up with a few drinks! OS maps estimated it would be 10 miles.

The weather was dry and not too cold, which was a welcome relief from the walks in the weeks previous. It was a little misty but on the whole, perfect weather for hiking.

As we were climbing up to Llyn y Fan Fawr, Tina was commenting on how steep it was. I didn't tell her at this point that a much harder climb was coming in the form of Fan Brycheniog. We seem to spend an awful lot of time eating whenever we are camping together, so stopping at the lake for some crisps and sweets seemed like a good idea. Gracie thought so too.

Here's Tina striking a pose by Llyn y Fan Fawr, also sporting a very stylish (and not at all adventurous) furry hat

We climbed up Fan Brycheiniog and got to the trig point at the top. Tina asked me what a trig point was and I started explaining but couldn't remember exactly what they were used for in olden days, before I could even get my words out though, a passing hiker who was obviously very interested and up to date on trig points explained for me and then powered on through the mist. They're for navigating (or surveying historically), in case you're wondering.

Tina with aforementioned trig point atop Fan Brycheiniog

We went a little off track here but the mist blew over temporarily and we got hit with fantastic views of the surrounding valley and Usk reservoir. Tina asked me later on if that was where we'd come from...her sense of direction is worse than mine! After half a mile of trekking over long tufty grass along the side of the mountain, we picked up the track again and headed to Picws Du. I'd completely forgotten that we'd need to climb up Picws Du and had foolishly told Tina that Fan Brycheiniog was the last steep climb...oops.

Top of Picws Du shrouded in mist - you can see the track leading up it (the photo doesn't do justice to how steep this is)

So we skipped happily downhill on the track, knowing that a a long climb up to the summit of Picws Du was imminent. It is steep but it was actually a shorter climb than we thought. We stopped for a quick drink.

Tina admiring Usk reservoir in the distance (which she had confused with Llyn y fan fawr)

This is where the walk got a bit tricky, we were breaking off all beaten paths and just heading south and in 3-4 miles we should hit the drovers track to continue back down the valley towards our endpoint at the pub. The landscape here is really bleak and there are no distinguishing features so it's really easy to get disorientated. Luckily, we had a compass and an OS map and we also had GPS and OS maps digitally so we were well prepared. Even then, it felt like we were trekking over endless sections of long grass and ankle breaking terrain and not making any progress.

It felt like we walked south for 8 miles but obviously in reality, it was more like 4. I kept saying to Tina, "it should be just over that hill by there," well aware that I was starting to sound like my dad when I wondered if he had any idea where we were or where we were heading. Luckily, Tina is extremely easygoing and more than happy to plod on regardless without moaning so long as there is the promise of a pub at the end of the walk.

When we eventually got further down the valley, the drovers track really wasn't easy to find. We saw a few people passing by and I contemplated asking them if we were going the right way but decided that would be a cop out and it wasn't a true microadventure unless we were finding our own way through the wilderness.

We finally found the drovers track and followed it all the way down to come out in Dan yr Ogof caves. The side of the hill was really steep and our knees felt about ready to give out by this point and poor Gracie looked like she needed a nap but we got down and began the short walk up the road to the pub. No sooner had I put my coat on the floor than Gracie had curled up on it and fallen asleep shivering!

The pub wasn't serving food (which is a shame and also not what their sign says outside) but we were more than happy to have two large glasses of wine (or two pints in Tina's case)!

11 miles later and still smiling!

We tracked the walk and it turned out to be 10.99 miles. (If you have OS maps access, check out the route map here) It was a great first trip wild camping! We were a bit gutted that it was a cloudy night which meant we couldn't watch the stars...but I'm sure we'll return to do that again. We both felt an immense sense of adventure and it felt so good to be outside, walking for 6 hours and taking in new views and places and getting lots of fresh air. I don't think there's any better tonic for the soul.

I spend my days working on the stroke rehab ward and a big part of my job is teaching people how to walk again and trying to see if we can get them to ever walk again. It makes me appreciate every day the simple things we take for granted and I resolve to walk as much as possible in as many places as possible to just be grateful for this one thing that one day may not come so easily or ever be achievable at all.

Time is precious - use it wisely.

This photo was taken by my dad the same day we did this hike and I love how calm and peaceful the lake is. It's a real place to find solace in a busy world.