For a bank holiday weekend adventure, myself and my beautiful friend Amy headed into the Black Mountians to walk the Carmarthen Fans and Llyns in the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog).

This walk has been on my radar for a couple of years. I think since I first really began properly cold water/wild swimming, I had researched Llyn y Fan Fawr and decided that I really wanted to swim in this beautiful lake surrounded by the dramatic and impressive hills.

I’d tried to walk it earlier in the year but the weather was not on my side, so when Amy said she’d love to go on a wild camping adventure, I could think of no better place for us to go! And thankfully, the weather forecast gave us the perfect hiking conditions, allowing the trip to go ahead this time.

We set of Saturday morning, arriving at lunchtime to park near the Tafarn-y-Garreg pub.

It was pretty humid when we set off so we enjoyed a lunch break earlier on by the river to cool off.

By time we arrived at Llyn y Fan Fawr, we were very ready for a swim to cool down again. It was a super refreshing swim. And, it lived up to my expectations of being a beautiful wild swim in the heart of the hills. Such a stunning place to swim.

From Llyn y Fan Fawr we carried along the Beacons Way path which offered incredible views of the hills towering above us to Llyn y Fan Fach reservoir.

We then finally headed up into the hills and past Bannau Sir Gaer to Cwar-du-back where we pitched our tent and enjoyed a wild camp.

Taking the boots off and putting on the warm layers felt well-deserved after 12km of walking and 639 meters of elevation gain.

We were able to seat ourselves on an incredibly smooth and flat rock to cook our hillside dinners on the trusty Jet Boil, and watch the sun set behind the hills.

We weren’t alone on the hills, as the sun went down we could see other tents illuminated by head torches by the reservoir and along the ridge line — clearly others had the same good idea for the sunny bank holiday weekend.

It was such a peaceful evening, watching the sunset and just enjoying being sat on top of the hillside!

When morning came, we enjoyed breakfast on the rock too. It was great to soak up the view and feel so so lucky to have woken up in such a beautiful place.

Once the tent was packed down and a quick sweep to check we hadn’t left anything (Leave No Trace), we carried on our adventures.

Our walk took us to Cwar-du-mawr, Picws du cairn , Bwlch Blaen-Twrch, Fan Foel, Twr Y Fan Foel and Bwlch Giedd, before we decided to follow the track back down to Llyn Y Fan Fawr for another wild swim. It felt chillier on this occasion, we think because it was less humid and more breezy. We still enjoyed a swim, soaking up the scenery and enjoying how peaceful of an experience it was.

After the swim, we went back up the track to Bwlch Giedd which certainly did the job of warming us back up.

We followed the ridge line to Fan Hir and then followed the path back down and off the hills and back to the car.

We clocked in at 10km and 369 meters of elevation gain for day two.

Such a beautiful and dramatic route!

I highly recommend heading to the Black Mountians to walk the Carmarthen Fans and Llyns in the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) – it’s a hike you won’t forget!

Feeling very lucky to have such a beautiful National Park within such a close driving distance.

A huge thank you to Amy for the adventure!