Edgey

At the Storey Arms I could see one of the paths that go up to Pen-y-Fan. This would be one of the quickest ways up. A group of dozen walkers crossed the A170 towards me. I thought they were going to go up the stone staircase to Pen-y-Fan, but they turned down the Taff Trail that I'd just come up. I crossed the road and started the gradual ascent of the Beacon's Way. The rain started again and I put my waterporoofs on. I was already nearly up to cloud level. It was not going to be the best of days.

The hillside got steeper until the path was next to an almost vertical drop. I'm not a big fan of these sorts of path. I prefer to let my mind wander rather than have to concentrate on the path. I entered the mist and the rain had now been accompanied with a strong wind.

Pen-y-Fan

The path contoured along the hill and eventually at a wire fence and broken stone wall that headed off uphill. I actually wasn't that far from my car now and I'd half a mind to head down and call it a day. I'd come a long way to walk here though and so I started plodding upwards following the fence. The other side of the fence was Craig-cerrig-gleisiad, an impressive cliff face. Not so impressive from this side of the fence, although I could see the top of the crags through the mist. Visibility was so bad I almost missed the summit cairn. It was too wet to take a selfie.

I followed the fence down the other side and it headed off to the right on to flatter ground. The mist occasionally cleared and during one such period I caught sight of the trig point on Fan Frynych. I headed across to it. It had red dragons painted on each of its sides. As I was taking photos of it, two chaps appeared and asked me to take a photo of them both stood next to the trig. They didn't hang around and strode off towards Fan Fawr. I had my lunch sat on the trigs base with a red dragon looking over my shoulder.

Local Knowledge

I headed off along the broad ridge to Twyn-dylluan-ddu. On my way down I stopped to chat to two local fellows. I told them I was down here for a week and they gave me some details (now forgotten) of their favourite walk. One of them told me about an event in which he particpated involving ascending Pen-y-Fan ten times from Storey Arms.Crikey, that's some achievement.

The mist had cleared now and the sun was out. A day of two halves. I could even see the top of Pen-y-Fan. At one point some horses were around the path. A fowl was in the group and I thought the adults might get a bit protective, but there wasn't a problem

Cliffs Revisited

The path brought me to the bottom of Craig Cerrig-gleisiad, the cliffs I'd walked along earlier in the day. The face was certainly impressive now that I could actually see it. It was just a short walk back to the car from there.

It had certainly been a day of two halves. First half rainy and the second sunny. The view across the valley to Pen-y-Fan was superb. It was a shame about the mist and rain in the morning, but half a day of sun is better than none.

As I started driving back along the A170 I noticed two large birds flying near the path next to the steep drop, I walked along, earlier in the day. I pulled into a layby to get a better look. They were two red kites using the updraft of the crags to soar up and down the hillside. What a great way to end the day.