Robert Mcgrady - 164217

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Details

Date : 22/01/2020

Duration : 8+ hours

Style : Leader / Supervisor

Type : Quality Mountain Day (QMD)

Weather : Light Rain - Poor Visibility

Wind : Moderate Wind

Camping Type : N/A

Nights Camping : 0

Mountains : Bwlch y Ddwyallt [Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion] Corn Du Cribyn Fan y Big Pen y Fan

Flagged :

Description

So myself and Luke set out on a cold morning to walk the Pen y Fan circuit in reverse and hopefully get to play in some snow.
We parked up at the Lower Neuadd Reservoir Car park and headed South east, following the Taff Trail to Coetgae-llwyn Torpantau Station. From here we headed North East towards the waterfalls. Visibility was about 50 feet as we made our way over the moorland and negotiated the stream crossings towards the waterfalls. From here it was a short sharp ascent, north, following the Beacons Way to the top of the plateau. The plan from here was to follow the path for 700m before turning sharply south west, to find a path leading to a pile of stones and a cairn. Visibility had dropped to approx 20-30 ft. But I was confident that I could successfully navigate through the clouds.
I was using OL12, a 1:125000 map and compass. I did however forget my pacing beads and pace cards. Which would prove to cost me later.
As we went on our way, it started dawning on me that it had taken an awful long time to walk 700m... and then I remembered that I had made a schoolboy error of taking a bearing and measurement, but not been counting our pacing. I knew we were still up on the ridge, but where. Not entirely convinced that we had walked the 700m, we decided to press on, following the ridgeline. Having consulted the map, I knew that if we had missed our South west path, there would be another about 1km ahead.
We eventually found ourselves on a junction of paths, and visibility had dropped further. I got Luke to stay at the crossroads, while I took a bearing of every path leading to where we were and got a bearing as to where we had ended up... only 1.6km off course, just North east of Bwlch y Ddwyallt. This detour had cost us time and conditions were deteriorating. We stopped to put our waterproofs and gloves on as our hands were becoming numb from the constant wind chill and water vapour. Rain showers were also hitting us.
We headed South West following the ridgeline to Fan y Big and made good time. We stopped here for lunch and to re-assess our situation. We had about 3.5 hours of daylight left and having stopped for a hot cup of tea and some food, we left re-energised. The rain had become more constant at this point and visibility was less than 20ft. From here I was constantly counting pacing and taking bearings everytime we came to a feature that I could use. I know the path well, but wasn't going to stung a 2nd time in the day by overconfidence.
We made our way down to Bwlch ar y Fan and headed west, up the southern flank of Cribyn, we stopped briefly on the summit for a photo and pressed on to Pen y Fan. Again a brief photo stop on Pen y Fan and then Corn Du, before heading South West to the where the paths cross, taking a bearing and heading south east along the Craig Gwaun Taf ridgeline. Walking this last leg was punishing! The winds had gained strength, turning the ice cold rain in to sleet. Which hammered us constantly. It was a slow 3.2km walk into the wind to the cairn that marked our exit off the ridge. This was down into a steep gully and eventually leading to the Lower Neuadd Reservoir and back to the car.
Things learnt from this day:
- Always double check your kit before heading out. My pacing beads and pacing cards would have been useful in the conditions we were in.
- There is no excuse for not following your navigation procedure. Even if you know your route inside and out. Take your bearing, measure the distance, work out your approximate timings, count your pacing!!
- Bring more food and water. - By the time we had got to the car, we had drank all of the tea and I had drank all of my water supply of 2L. The food wasn't high enough in energy, something I realised when I started to flag whilst driving. We had to pull in and demolish a massive order of McDonalds before I woke up. Through the detour, the stress and the conditions, I had exhausted my energy reserves.
- Layer properly. Because the wind was so high, I was reluctant to remove my mid layer when I had my hardshell on, in fear that it would be whisked away by the wind, never to be seen again. Because of this, I sweated and sweated lots. By the time we had got back to the car, I needed to change all my clothing as I was soaked through. In hindsight, I could have taken my microfleece off earlier in the day to negate the overheating.

Area : Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park

Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons) is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of Old Red Sandstone peaks popular with walkers which lie to the south of Brecon. Sometimes referred to as "the central Beacons" they include South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan. The range forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog), a designation which also encompasses ranges both to the east and the west of "the central Beacons". This much wider area is also commonly referred to as "the Brecon Beacons".

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