Climbing this mountain is a must when visiting Wales
LAST weekend, I decided to take my English classmates on a hike to Pen y Fan, one of the highest peaks in the Brecon Beacons.
For tourists and locals alike, climbing Pen y Fan is a must while in South Wales.
As most of my classmates have only visited Cardiff, I wanted to continue the tradition and take them up the idyllic Welsh mountain.
On Saturday, March 12, we left a sunny Cardiff at 10.30am and drove an hour to the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The weather was a lot cooler than it had been in Cardiff and we instantly regretted not bringing warmer jackets, gloves, hats and scarfs.
At 886m, Pen y Fan translates to “the top peak” and there are several routes that you can take to reach the summit.
We decided to take route one, which begins at Pont ar Daf car park and is a 6.4km round trip.
We started our hike at 12.30pm. The average time to get to the top is two hours, but we decided to challenge ourselves to complete it in a quicker time.
As we reached the top of the footpath, we were close to Corn Du, the second-highest peak in the Beacons – and this is where the weather began to worsen.
The wind got stronger the higher we got, and we witnessed the Mountain Rescue team airlifting a woman to hospital.
The conditions were difficult and we needed a lot of breaks, but we made it to the top in 1 hour and 15 minutes.
To celebrate our success, we treated ourselves to a much-needed McDonald’s on the way home.
Most of the group enjoyed the experience and I hope to show them more scenic spots in Wales before they leave Cardiff this year.
