The hills have been calling for me! I’ve desperately been wanting to hike and get out in the countryside for some freedom from everyday life.

I find spending the day in the hills hits my reset button and it mentally refreshes me!

Just 6 months after we were last here when we hiked up Sugarloaf mountain in Brecons for my 21st birthday (read that post here), I turned to my favourite hiking buddy, and on Thursday my Mum and I went on a socially distanced hike in the Brecon Beacons.

On Thursday morning we did a quick food shop and then set our sat nav to Pont ar Daf Car park.

As Mum and I are socially distancing from one another (I’m still staying with my boyfriend) I wore one of my Wiltshire Masks face masks on the journey to the car park- under the mask I can assure you I had an excited smile in anticipation for our Brecon adventures

We had a few navigational confusions when we set off. There was lots of fern overgrowing across ‘paths’, but we got back to where we wanted to be — it just meant crawling up the edge of a steep hill (sorry Mum!).

Once we located the footpath, we headed straight up the hills to Pen Y Fan (with several breaks in the sunshine along the way).

The views were breathtaking.

886m of height gain later, we made it to the top!

The downward clamber was a lot more exciting due to the wind, although it did cause us lots of wardrobe changes—aka. jumpers off and then back on again.

I highly recommend putting on your walking boots and clambering up Pen Y Fan (although make sure you find the right footpath to save your legs from unnecessary scrambles) and witnessing the astonishing panoramic views.

We had been hoping to wild camp at Llyn Cwm Llwch but we opted for a campsite at Rhydywernen Farm.

There was a lovely river that ran right along the edge of the site which gave me a great opportunity to squeeze in a brisk wild swim (which I had originally been hoping to do at Llyn Cwm Llwch — will save that one for another day)

If you couldn’t tell by my huge grin, I was very pleased to have got in a wild swim; it’s something I’ve been longing to do for ages!

Post swim we made some well deserved dinner and played card games -whilst munching on Minstrels – as we hung out the porches of our separate tents.
Was lovely to enjoy the sunset and calmness at the end of our lovely day in the Brecons.

So, that concludes yet another post. I hope you are all keeping well.

Have you managed to get out exploring? Let me know in the comments x