After an overnight stay in Monmouth and fortified by a Prego breakfast, we drove to Brecon and parked at the National Trust car park below Pen y Fan. We had not previously walked in the Brecon Beacons and we wanted to walk there as it is our closest mountain range. The plan was to start with Cribyn then move on along the ridge to Pen y Fan and possibly Corn Du. This posting is the first of two on the walk.
We set out from the car park actually descending then heading east before picking up a road and path towards Cribyn. On one of the roads Mrs O disturbed a buzzard on the road and it flew off over the woods.
The Met Office mountain forecast warned of strong winds and sub zero temperatures on the summits. However in the walk from the car park across to Bailea the conditions looked pretty tame. Snow was down to about 500 metres and the cloudbase seemed to be around 600 metres.
We went up the path that follows the Bryn Teg ridge and came up to the snowline. On the way we disturbed a bird that was reminiscent of a curlew but definitiely had a straight beak; we assume it was a woodcock or snipe. It did not seem that cold and the snow was initially soft. We came up into the cloud and initially there was 50-100 m visibility. There was presumably a stone path but it was hard to see with the snow. The main path looked icy so a lot of people had gone into the snow on either side. However you must be careful as there is a substantial drop to the right. Some walkers were really slowing down.
Closer to the summit we were exposed to a very strong NE wind. This made you feel substantially colder. There were also amazing formations in the snow which had been shaped by the wind. Occasionally the crystals would break off in the wind.
By the time we reached the summit we were getting the full force of the wind. With a significantly increased wind chill we did not feel like hanging around so followed the path towards Pen y Fan. Some walkers raced down through the soft snow though they kept very well clear of the north facing edge.
© Copyright Nigel Davies and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
After returning I looked for photos of Cribyn on the Geograph website that had something approximating to the conditions we had on 1st November. The above photo shows the route we took to the summit on the left then the onward path towards Pen y Fan on the right. It is also interesting to see the substantial drop!
Click here for part 2 of the walk.
