The weather was shaping up nicely for the weekend.  It was looking like a final mountain fling for the year was possible before the weather closed in.  With the decision made we were going back to the South Wales, back to Brecon.  During my time in the army I had spent countless days and weeks in South Wales, but electing to go of my own free-will made the experience all together more enjoyable.  On arrival conditions were perfect not too hot not too cold.  We were in the Goldilocks zone and this time we were going to wild camp in a fairly remote location.  A quick check of the gear and we were off .

We set off through a wooded plantation before making our way up to a boggy plateau.  The conditions were great, sunny with the occasional cloud.  Underfoot conditions were quite horrible.  I was again trying to get us to our camping destination without getting soaking wet feet.  We squelched our way over several kms of boggy ground, stopping to talk to the people we occasionally passed.  It was great.  After a few hours we approached the trig point we had been heading for.  There was a massive group of people, maybe 15 or more heading towards us.  We looked at each over inquisitively.  Them at us like ‘you’re going the wrong way’ and us at them like ‘you’ll never make it back to the car park before dark’. Finally at the trig point we were greeted to a spectacular view of the countryside.  It was time to set up camp.  It was getting dark quickly and a strong wind had picked up.  I believe it was the tail end of a storm that had been raging over the Irish Sea.  Where we were there was no cover and it was not a suitable place to camp.  I checked the map.  There was a little gully about a km away, this looked like our best bet.  I beasted Arthur over the this km, keen to get the tent up before dark.  We found a patch of ground just flat enough and big enough to get our tent on.  It was reasonably well sheltered.  This was home for the night.  We got in and snuggled up.  I recall eating our way through a lot of cheddar biscuits and sweets whilst listening to Spotify (Bonobo – Black Sands had become our settling down sound track).

It wasn’t long and it was dark.  Arthur was lovely and warm all night but I was quite cold.  The wind was immense and this stopped me from sleeping well.  I was certain the tent was going to be torn to shreds.  Another thing that prevented a good sleep was that all the local wildlife took refuge in our gully.  Ponies were only a few feet away and when I got up in the night I wasn’t sure who was more startled!!

When we woke in the morning the sun was shining.  Unfortunately this only lasted for about 10 minutes before it got very foggy.  Heading to the summit relied on navigating by contours.  But this meant it was very important to pay attention at all times so as not to miss a turning.  When we got to the summit we met a guy called ‘Mikey’ who had also overnighted on the mountain but had managed to drop a lot lower into the valley as the weather turned.  We spent the rest of our time on the mountain together and we were all glad of each others company.  We talked about many things and the hours passed quickly.  The fog didn’t really start to shift until we were most of the way back to the car, but when it did it was glorious again.

Our first camp had been a success and a lot of fun.  It was time to start planning the next trip….