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iguana
In July I climbed Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, despite several factors trying to stop me again! On the last weekend visited Al in London for his birthday, and took cookies which went down well. In between, I started a course of being shot in the face by lasers.
The Curse of Pen Y Fan II: Tonsillitis at 886m
I attempted to walk Pen Y Fan in October a couple of years ago and was thwarted by bad weather (though I had a lovely time curled up at the YHA Danywenallt) – I nicknamed this the Curse of Pen Y Fan. This time I took some time out a couple of months before PyCon UK, in the hope of better weather, which paid off.
I had a couple of plans based on which day was going to be the better weather day, but once again the Brecon Mountain Railway thwarted those by, apparently arbitrarily this time, deciding not to run on one of the days despite previously advertising it, so that fixed my plans of taking the "bad weather day" on the better of the two days.
I walked along a bit of the Taff Trail from the hotel to Cyfartha Park, along the river Taff. The park itself was a decent enough place to spend the middle of the day, and I read on a bench in the wood there, next to a pond, watching the wildlife while I read a book.
In the afternoon I walked to the bus station and caught the bus to the YHA Brecon Beacons (which does have its own stop that isn't publicised anywhere but the driver knew about, rather than the otherwise nearest stop at the Storey Arms activity centre 2 miles away). By this point in the afternoon I was reasonably certain I had picked up a bug of some sort, no doubt on the plane back from Norway a couple of days prior.
The YHA Brecon Beacons was comfortable, though less cozy than the Danywenallt one on the other side of the mountains, but at any rate I crashed immediately after dinner (I continue to be impressed at the YHA's in-house meals which are way better than they need to be) with my alarm set appropriately.
Next morning I felt utterly atrocious and a look in the mirror confirmed my suspicion: full blown tonsillitis, which if you're like me and get it semi-regularly you'll know how exhausting it is.
I desperately didn't want to abandon my plans though, so I dosed up with ibuprofen and immodium, and resolved to at least walk back to the bus stop at the Storey Arms, which was en route to the main trail up Pen Y Fan.
The walk there across country was pretty lovely as it was, and having climbed a few Pen Y Fan-equivalents around Tromsø the week before, my fitness levels were a little above usual and at the bottom of the trail leading up from the Storey Arms I actually felt I could give it a go!
So up I went.
Pen Y Fan soon came into view – clouds just touching the peak!
I reached the peak of Corn Du, which was just into the cloud, ("I thought there would at least be a sign!" declared a red-faced middle-aged guy who had perhaps mistaken it for Pen Y Fan itself) and otherwise deserted.
Moving on, the mist really closed in and visibility got down to just a few metres. Then all of a sudden, there were people. So many people! I was at the peak and it seemed to be a busy day.
Between Corn Du and Pen Y Fan I'd taken the opportunity of a moment of phone signal to phone Brecon Mountain Railway and check they were still running today. They were, leaving the option of a 10km walk to Torpantau station, or 3km back to Storey Arms for the bus. I calculated that I would just miss a two-hourly bus if I returned, while I should comfortably make the afternoon BMR service, so onwards to Torpantau!
As it happened, today was the day of the Breacon Beacon Fan Dance, an event organised by the SAS where people basically walked from the Storey Arms to Torpantau and back! So that explained why the car park had more cars than I thought there were people:
The event must have started before I had left the YHA, because the SAS's elite were only just making it back to the top from the opposite side, the one I was descending down, when I started my descent. It was a pretty nasty few vertical metres to the top from that side, and even the SAS looked like they were suffering.
I was out of the clouds almost immediately on the way down, which was nice as the views were really quite impressive.
Regrettably I didn't have time to do the detour to climb Cribyn too, despite it looming above me with its promise of more views. Maybe next time?
Turning around, Pen Y Fan was still in cloud, and I very nearly got all the way to Torpantau while progressively slower Fan Dancers brought up the rear.
I was the only person at the station waiting for the train, though, so well done to them all for not giving up half way along!
I got the guard's cabin in the train on the way back, which I think is borne of necessity since the main carriages are often booked out, plus getting to ride in the roof compartment is a nice treat for a weary walker.
And that is how I beat Pen Y Fan, which defeated me two years ago.
The curse had one last hurrah, though. I met up withsgsabbage for late lunch/early dinner on my return to Cardiff, and aimed to get the last train of the day home to Nottingham. Sean dropped me off at the station and just after he left the board came up with the train having been cancelled!
I messaged him and he kindly came back for me and let me sit exhausted with them while he and Aled had sushi with a friend (really good sushi, at that! Thank youuuu) before crashing in his spare bed. I felt surprisingly better the next day, though with quite a runny nose, and got home fine later that morning.
I attempted to walk Pen Y Fan in October a couple of years ago and was thwarted by bad weather (though I had a lovely time curled up at the YHA Danywenallt) – I nicknamed this the Curse of Pen Y Fan. This time I took some time out a couple of months before PyCon UK, in the hope of better weather, which paid off.
I had a couple of plans based on which day was going to be the better weather day, but once again the Brecon Mountain Railway thwarted those by, apparently arbitrarily this time, deciding not to run on one of the days despite previously advertising it, so that fixed my plans of taking the "bad weather day" on the better of the two days.
I walked along a bit of the Taff Trail from the hotel to Cyfartha Park, along the river Taff. The park itself was a decent enough place to spend the middle of the day, and I read on a bench in the wood there, next to a pond, watching the wildlife while I read a book.
In the afternoon I walked to the bus station and caught the bus to the YHA Brecon Beacons (which does have its own stop that isn't publicised anywhere but the driver knew about, rather than the otherwise nearest stop at the Storey Arms activity centre 2 miles away). By this point in the afternoon I was reasonably certain I had picked up a bug of some sort, no doubt on the plane back from Norway a couple of days prior.
The YHA Brecon Beacons was comfortable, though less cozy than the Danywenallt one on the other side of the mountains, but at any rate I crashed immediately after dinner (I continue to be impressed at the YHA's in-house meals which are way better than they need to be) with my alarm set appropriately.
Next morning I felt utterly atrocious and a look in the mirror confirmed my suspicion: full blown tonsillitis, which if you're like me and get it semi-regularly you'll know how exhausting it is.
I desperately didn't want to abandon my plans though, so I dosed up with ibuprofen and immodium, and resolved to at least walk back to the bus stop at the Storey Arms, which was en route to the main trail up Pen Y Fan.
The walk there across country was pretty lovely as it was, and having climbed a few Pen Y Fan-equivalents around Tromsø the week before, my fitness levels were a little above usual and at the bottom of the trail leading up from the Storey Arms I actually felt I could give it a go!
So up I went.
Pen Y Fan soon came into view – clouds just touching the peak!
I reached the peak of Corn Du, which was just into the cloud, ("I thought there would at least be a sign!" declared a red-faced middle-aged guy who had perhaps mistaken it for Pen Y Fan itself) and otherwise deserted.
Moving on, the mist really closed in and visibility got down to just a few metres. Then all of a sudden, there were people. So many people! I was at the peak and it seemed to be a busy day.
Between Corn Du and Pen Y Fan I'd taken the opportunity of a moment of phone signal to phone Brecon Mountain Railway and check they were still running today. They were, leaving the option of a 10km walk to Torpantau station, or 3km back to Storey Arms for the bus. I calculated that I would just miss a two-hourly bus if I returned, while I should comfortably make the afternoon BMR service, so onwards to Torpantau!
As it happened, today was the day of the Breacon Beacon Fan Dance, an event organised by the SAS where people basically walked from the Storey Arms to Torpantau and back! So that explained why the car park had more cars than I thought there were people:
The event must have started before I had left the YHA, because the SAS's elite were only just making it back to the top from the opposite side, the one I was descending down, when I started my descent. It was a pretty nasty few vertical metres to the top from that side, and even the SAS looked like they were suffering.
I was out of the clouds almost immediately on the way down, which was nice as the views were really quite impressive.
Regrettably I didn't have time to do the detour to climb Cribyn too, despite it looming above me with its promise of more views. Maybe next time?
Turning around, Pen Y Fan was still in cloud, and I very nearly got all the way to Torpantau while progressively slower Fan Dancers brought up the rear.
I was the only person at the station waiting for the train, though, so well done to them all for not giving up half way along!
I got the guard's cabin in the train on the way back, which I think is borne of necessity since the main carriages are often booked out, plus getting to ride in the roof compartment is a nice treat for a weary walker.
And that is how I beat Pen Y Fan, which defeated me two years ago.
The curse had one last hurrah, though. I met up with
sgsabbage for late lunch/early dinner on my return to Cardiff, and aimed to get the last train of the day home to Nottingham. Sean dropped me off at the station and just after he left the board came up with the train having been cancelled!I messaged him and he kindly came back for me and let me sit exhausted with them while he and Aled had sushi with a friend (really good sushi, at that! Thank youuuu) before crashing in his spare bed. I felt surprisingly better the next day, though with quite a runny nose, and got home fine later that morning.
