Hike in Brecon Beacons part 2

Hello again,

Now its time for the second part of our epic adventure to Brecon Beacons National Park! When we woke up on Sunday, we met with Rob and went through our plan for the day. We had a couple of options: some less strenuous than others. We, of course, all opted for the hardest route, which involved climbing the three highest peaks in south Wales. Our drive was short and easy, despite several warnings that the hilly roads were icy and dangerous. We only saw evidence of this in the form of a car that had driven off the road.

When we reached the trail head, we started our hike next to beautiful waterfalls, then ascended steeply to the top of a long ridge. At that point we were all panting for breath and unwilling to show how nervous we were that the rest of the hike was going to be straight up massive mountains. We all made it, however, and enjoyed spectacular views of large gorges surrounded by plunging cliffs. Our views were obscured by a snow/ windstorm, but this didn't stop our hike. We continued through the almost surreal landscape of grasses, rock, and ice all the way to the top of Crybin (sp?). By now the snow and wind was almost like a good old fashioned Hamilton or Cleveland blizzard, and despite our lack of views, we enjoyed ourselves. On the way down, Jackie slipped and slid a good deal down the hill on her bum, and then just sat there laughing, as is characteristic of her personality. We took a lot of epic photos, and made it to the saddle between Crybin and Pen Y Fan, the largest peak in South Wales. We stopped for a delicious lunch of PB J in the middle of the blizzard. Much to our surprise, we were greeted by a energetic collie-type dog that made a bee-line for Paikin. Paikin attempted, but tragically failed to save his second sandwich from the jaws of George. Needless to say, we all laughed as George scarffed down Paikin's lunch. Paikin said that the dog was cute, so it was ok, no harm done.

Instead of hiking up Pen Y Fan, we decided to head down, as the weather was getting worse and our fingers getting cold. The walk down was, at first, hazardously slippery; I was the only one not to fall thankyouverymuch! After the ice, we enjoyed a long and leisurely walk down to the car park where the weather had miraculously cleared. We headed back to the hostel, all satisfyingly exhausted. That night, we feasted (meaning we scarffed down more food) in the pub again, and ended our trip watching Uncle Buck before heading to bed.

The next day, we successfully finagled the bus system, and ended up back in Cardiff so John could make it to his class covered in mud and without a notebook.