On Tuesday Mark took us out to the Brecon Beacons. I've grown up hearing about the Brecon Beacons so it was nice to finally be seeing them.
To be completely honest, I was expecting to go for drive around, see some mountains, grab some lunch in Brecon, take some photos and head home. But this is not what Mark had in mind.
After packing our bags full of snacks (for Shannae, mostly) and swinging by Tescos to grab a sandwich and a drink, we headed out to the valleys. We drove for about an hour through Caerphilly, past Merthyr and a heap of roadside reservoirs to a parking lot out the front of the Storey Arms outdoor education centre. From there we started walking and... well that was it; we walked, heading for the top of the highest peak in the southern United Kingdom, Pen Y Fan.
Someone at some point laid a stone path through the fields, across the streams and up the side of the mountain (well done for that). So we followed this stone path up a mountain for what seemed like hours, saw some sheep along the way who were happily grazing, and true to my form I was sounding like Darth Vader by the time we got to the top - to see an amazing view of Pen Y Fan about 4 kilometers away.
To be completely honest, I was expecting to go for drive around, see some mountains, grab some lunch in Brecon, take some photos and head home. But this is not what Mark had in mind.
After packing our bags full of snacks (for Shannae, mostly) and swinging by Tescos to grab a sandwich and a drink, we headed out to the valleys. We drove for about an hour through Caerphilly, past Merthyr and a heap of roadside reservoirs to a parking lot out the front of the Storey Arms outdoor education centre. From there we started walking and... well that was it; we walked, heading for the top of the highest peak in the southern United Kingdom, Pen Y Fan.
Someone at some point laid a stone path through the fields, across the streams and up the side of the mountain (well done for that). So we followed this stone path up a mountain for what seemed like hours, saw some sheep along the way who were happily grazing, and true to my form I was sounding like Darth Vader by the time we got to the top - to see an amazing view of Pen Y Fan about 4 kilometers away.
We kept going, down the other side of that first little mountain, across a stream, and then all the way up the side of Pen Y Fan. Stopped for a sandwich about half way up as I hadn't had breakfast, saw some breathtaking views, and eventually made it to the top.
We hung around for a bit, took some photos, added our stones to the cairn, and Mark enjoyed the company of a sheep who'd learned that grass was pretty average tucker compared to the sandwiches, chocolate, chips and fruit that humans took to the top of the mountain.
While the views are absolutely incredible and on a clear day like ours you can see up to 200km away, I was blown away by what happens when some cloud cover comes in. One minute we were looking out across the Beacons; the next all we could see was the small plateau we were standing on - everything else was completely white as the clouds came over.
Really cool, also really hard to photograph.
We hung around for a bit, took some photos, added our stones to the cairn, and Mark enjoyed the company of a sheep who'd learned that grass was pretty average tucker compared to the sandwiches, chocolate, chips and fruit that humans took to the top of the mountain.
While the views are absolutely incredible and on a clear day like ours you can see up to 200km away, I was blown away by what happens when some cloud cover comes in. One minute we were looking out across the Beacons; the next all we could see was the small plateau we were standing on - everything else was completely white as the clouds came over.
Really cool, also really hard to photograph.