So I managed to con Ellis into agreeing into walking up a mountain as part of a wild camping weekend. We were going to go to the Lakes, but after a close review of the weather I decided that the Brecon Beacons was a better bet, I settled on Fan y Big as being a suitably achievable focus to our endeavour - particularly as the car park was reasonably high on the hill!
We arrived reasonably late in the day, each of us having our suitably sized rucsac (small, medium and large), filled with food, clothes and tent.
Ellis started bemoaning the activity pretty quickly but luckily I knew the worse bit was the start and sure enough, once we got going a bit it got easier and he started to get into the groove. The bogs provided some entertainment and I even saw a lizard. We reached the peak of Fan Y Big reasonably quickly (the name was cause of some amusement), my only regret was that it lacked the kind of drama that might be required to get him hooked.
We wound our way down into valley (the sun was pretty warm now), and past the reservoir. We were approaching the point where I wanted to start looking for somewhere to camp. This was a balancing act between finding somewhere fairly soon and finding somewhere where we wouldn't have a massive walk the following day. It also soon proved difficult to find somewhere level enough - the forest was far denser and wilder than I'd expected and the edge of the river was far steeper. The boys were starting to get tired (Ellis in particular) and I was starting to panic a bit. Ellis fell in a bog at one point while crossing over a plank bridge - luckily this caused amusement rather than distress.
We eventually found a flat bit of land, but it was right by the path and was lacking in any character or charm. We stopped for something to eat - beans and soup. Fortunately this gave everyone an energy boost so we decided to soldier on. We passed by an excellent site by the river, but it was already occupied. Before long we were on the road. Luckily I asked for directions from someone before proceeding the wrong way down the road.... By now were were just a mile or 2 from the car - I was starting to think we'd reach the car before finding anywhere suitable and that once we got that far we'd end up just jumping in the car and going home. However, we saw some more people camping by the river and this gave me confidence that the river was starting to become campable.
We had once last chance to find a spot as the road crossed over the river and luckily it was both perfect and unoccupied, slightly near the road, but that was fine. We scurried down to it and quickly setup camp. Fire wood was plentiful and we got a nice fire going in no time.
It was going to be a beautiful starry night, but everyone was too tired to stay up. I panicked a little when some local kids/yobs drove past and heckled us - made me think of my car back there in the car park and whether it would get broken into.... I was in my new bivvy and the boys were in the 2 man tent. The bivvy turned out to be pretty comfy, but was cold on the hips where the material just laid on the body - I need to get a better sleeping bag!
I woke pretty early and it was only then that I realised how beautiful the forest was. The trees were straight and elegant and bluebells covered the floor.
The boys didn't wake for a couple of hours, so I got another fire going. We cooked a breakfast of roasted frankfurters when they eventually woke up and then packed up camp. I just walked with them to a nearby car park and then left them there while I walked back to the car. Was a good job because it was all uphill.
Ellis summed up the trip on the way back to the car - "That was really good fun,.... but I'm never doing it again."
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