9 June 2022 Pen Y Fan , the highest point in , South Wales in Brecon Beacons

Pen Y Fan, here we come! First off, we have to seek the famous Pont ar Daf car park, that was in the news that parking rates will be jacked up by many folds. Oh well, we only live once.

Here is the cheat sheet; Pont ar Daf is 400m, which meant it will be a 440m ascent to the peak, God willing. Even so, it is many times Bkt Timah, so it won't be a walk in the park.

Here's the planned great climb :

We did an early start. Both of us had 4 layers of clothes and 1 single layer of tech (North Face) pants. because weather forecast wasn't great.

After an excellent breakfast at The Old Rectory Hotel, we made a 30 minutes drive to Pont ar Daf carpark. The weather was bitterly cold, at around 9C, thought it felt much colder.

Grill King truck has just started for the day. Comforting to know that we would have a hot drink after we are done!

We crossed the famous wooden bridge near the carpark and followed several groups of walkers up the slate paved trail. Ascent was consistent, steep. The mountain top before us was obscured by clouds. Wind whipped left and right in spurts.

It was tough pushing myself upwards, even with 2 trusty sticks. I made countless stops to catch my breath.

Corn Du, the wrong summit

Corn Du, mistaken as the summit

In the distance, we saw a silhouette of a man on some peaks. Without consulting the map, we made a very difficult climb up the 'peak' with bare hands. Winds and rain buffeting made the process dangerous. My water bottle slipped off, so did my stick. Pat screamed that I leave it behind in the mayhem or risk rolling them after them. Nothing was visible beyond 5 meters.

A young girl and her dog walked came down the narrow steps , opening our eyes to a easier path for the last 10 meters. 

It was mind boggling to see a cairne with no trig point. At once I realised we have made a mistake!

We retraced our steps down the treacherous slate steps back to the ridge. 2 men told us we have just done Corn Du. Pen Y Fan was reachable by the dirt path looping past Corn Du.

Weather cleared as soon as it started. The other dirt path at the fork that led us to Corn Du was an easy path to the summit. Patrick suggested checking out the terrain though we were open to giving up.

The dirt trail led to a bigger summit, a sort of plateau. Pen Y Fan at once! We were so grateful that we actually made it. An entire vista opened before us; a little lake and green valleys dotted with sheep surrounded us.

The lady did a bad job of taking our photo, so we had none of ourselves at the summit.

We helped a couple take a picture and sent their pictures by email from the phone. Theirs had just died before the summit.

Too exhausted!

Apart from the usual photos, I made a video to inform my friends, Joey and YXiang, that I loved them. I must have gone nuts with excitement.

The weather turned again. It was 9C and wind chill was 5C. The wind was howling and whistling at 30kmph.

The walk down the mountain seemed forever. I tripped a couple of times, short of injuring myself. The walking sticks came into action again and brought me safely back to the car. By now, we were dripping wet. 

A little rest and a cup of hot instant coffee from the truck later, we went Brecon for lunch, a 10 minutes drive. Brecon wasn't as bustling as it looked on Google Map. We ate an excellent meal of Morissons Fish and Chips. We managed to have a simple wash up and bought some snacks as well.

We walked up and down the town, ate a tiny tub of pistachio ice cream (£3). Then it was back to the hotel, a 30 minute drive.

It was 3pm. We had a long nap until 6pm. Dinner was at the overrated Vine Table restaurant just down the road (duck breast with wild rice and bok choy! swimming in soy sauce). It was not expertly done , in my opinion.

Packing night thereafter because we would be on the move the next day. Llandudno, here we come!