Last weekend, we had a long weekend away in Snowdonia in our van - it was the first trip our dogs have been on with us camping and our first trip wild camping - it was great fun! More on that later when we post up the Snowdonia walks. On the Monday, I was still off work and so was my brother so we decided to head out to hike locally in the Western Brecon Beacons. I don't have many photos to share of this walk as it was quite a misty, dreary day and my camera is still broken and probably not worth fixing, so I am relying on my crappy phone camera and other people's better phone cameras (Ciaran's in this case)! Van conversion funds are really draining any and all money at the moment but it's all for a good cause!
We picked a route we haven't done many times before and decided to walk up the Roman Road (Sarn Heledd) and take in 3 peaks - Fan Frynych, Fan Dringarth & Fan Llia. If you drive to the village of Ystradfellte and keep going straight on the road, you'll turn left around the New Inn pub in the centre, then pass a few farms and Blaen Llia forestry car park on your right - about a mile or so up the road, the road forks and this is where the Roman Road begins (it's signposted as no access except for vehicles). You can park on a small stretch partially off road here (see photo above).
The walk is pretty straightforward to start with - head up the Roman Road and just follow the path for around 2 miles. If it's been raining a lot, it can be very wet underfoot or turn into a stream in places. It's not particularly difficult walking for this section. As you approach Fan Frynych, the path winds around to the left - keep following it and as you get closer, we decided to just break off right and hike up the side of the mountain. Alternatively, you can keep going and follow the path up the mountain (we started off late in the day and were trying to maximise daylight hours).
You join the path at the top and begin the boggy stretch towards the trig point at Fan Frynych. On a clear day, there are awesome views in all directions - from Sennybridge all the way to Pen y Fan. We stopped for a short lunch break and then moved on sharply because we cooled down very quickly and it started drizzling.
Heading back off, you follow the path southeast until you come down to a metal gate and stile. Climb over. This section is very muddy and Ciaran waded through a load of mud heading southwest to follow the Beacons Way waymark but I carried on hugging the fence to the left until I was a bit higher up and then crossed over. If you keep heading southwest, you'll pick up a path which will head towards Fan Dringarth. There's a gradual climb up to summit but it's not really marked with anything other than a cairn.
We kept going straight in thick fog and drizzle at this point and visibility was poor. Fan Llia has no distinctive features other than a cairn as well, once you hit this area, head directly west to drop down the side of the mountain. It's a fairly steep descent over marshy grass but at the bottom, you come out where you've parked and just have to cross a small stream to finish up (nothing technical).
We were cold and wet and it was almost dark by this point, so I was super grateful to jump in the van and get the kettle on the boil so we could have a cup of tea to warm up. The perks of having a van to dry off in and sit down to rest up after a walk are a novelty that won't be wearing off any time soon! The dogs were freezing as well, so appreciated snuggling up under a few blankets and resting their legs.
The route we had planned to follow was about 8 miles but we ended up covering around 9.15 in total. It was a good walk and quite challenging but not too strenuous. All training ready for the longer distance hikes we are planning next year! We didn't see any other walkers all day - this is a really quiet area of the Beacons and not as often frequented as the eastern summits, so it's great to spend a day exploring and getting lost in nature knowing you'll likely only come across a handful of people at most.
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