After hiking for several hours in blistering heat we reached the high point of our first encounter with Fan Brycheiniog. It was a great moment but slightly strange. I could only remember this place as being so utterly full of menace. The intense savagery of our two previous trips had been replaced with a picturesque [...]
Crawling into a small depression in the ground I held Arthur tightly by his shoulder and shouted to make myself heard above the roaring wind. "Are you cold?" We had decided to give Fan Brycheiniog a second shot. 'Beast from the East 2' was upon us so our attempt wasn't going to be straightforward. We [...]
Over Christmas I met up with my old pal Oli and that was that - he was coming to Helvellyn on our next adventure. Great; what a team we were going to be. Arthur really liked Oli and during our first night car camping we had a right laugh. This turned out to be a [...]
"We're heading back", "We can make it Daddy, I honestly believe we can make it", "I know but we need to make if off as well; we only have one rule - safety first, please trust me. We're heading back" As temperatures dropped in the wind, fog, sleet and hail, we turned back. We had [...]
We parked. It was darker than dark. Not a soul in sight. Hadn't even seen another car for miles. I put on my headtorch and got out of the car. Spindly leaves remained on a branch of a tree battling against the coming winter. It brushed my face - illuminated by my torchlight. I was [...]
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 [...]
Car camping was becoming a theme. Arrive late, sleep in the car, set off early. It's a system that works well but usually means you are shrouded in fog as you set off up. This day was no exception (apart from the car park which was fog free). We had spent a while picking [...]
Buoyed by our success on Skafell Pike we decided to drive to Snowdon ready for an early start the next day. There was no 3 or 4G reception so we followed a crazy winding route out of the Lakes in glorious sunshine heading vaguely south. We arrived in the dark around midnight for our second [...]
Could a five year old get to the top of Scafell Pike? It was a question I didn't think much about. We mostly just cracked on with it; the answer seemed an obvious yes given Arthur's normal level of energy and enthusiasm. In the week leading up to our trip we set up 'Mission Command' [...]
Mountainous Memories 