Cribyn and Fan y Big

On the Sunday we headed into the main part of the Brecon Beacons hills for our walk. From Merthyr Tydfil it was a short drive to reach the car park in the forests near the Neuadd reservoir. From the car we walked along the road for a spell heading towards the reservoir, before taking a track to our right, which gradually climbed up giving us excellent views of the peaks ahead.

 Having already climbed Corn Du and Pen y Fan on an earlier trip to the Brecon Beacons, our aim this time was to go up Cribyn first, and then decide after that. The track was easy walking, but was largely covered in snow and some frozen snow, which made it slower going. Having reached the head of the valley on this track, we then turned left to start the steepish climb up to Cribyn.

 There had been plenty of people there before us, and there was an obvious route to follow through the snow. However after the climb, there was a gradual slope back to the actual summit, and here the snow was frozen and slippy, and more care was needed. Views from the summit were excellent, with blue skies and good visibility. There were plenty of other people out, particularly on Pen y Fan.

 We retraced our steps back down to the head of the valley, then climbed steeply up again to reach the summit of Fan y Big. The route up through the snow to this summit was a lot steeper and less obvious, so rather than descending this way, we carried on along the ridge for a way before finding a much more gradual path back down to the head of the valley. From there we retraced our steps back down the track to the road. However by then, what had been frozen snow on the way up had melted a lot and turned into slush. An easy road walk then took us back to the car.