Where: Brecon Beacons National Park, south Wales

Distance: Multiple routes available, this one is 15 km

Navigation: Trails are not marked, but super easy to follow in good weather

How to get there: Depending on your starting points there are buses from Brecon to Storey Arms Outdoor Centre, but a car is needed to get to the Neuadd Car Park where we started from.

Pen y Fan, pronounced Pennivan, is at a modest 886 m the highest mountain the southern UK. Do not let its title deter you from bringing the kiddos along though, it is a very manageable hike for anyone of average fitness and mobility. The traditional route from the Storey Arms Outdoor Centre, dubbed “the Motorway” is very doable and hence very busy. The good news for solo hikers is that there will be plenty of people around to take your summit photograph. Variations such as this loop from Neuadd Car park are longer and steeper, but offer a more scenic and well-rounded experience in my opinion. Situated in the wonderful Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales, PYF is an easily accessible trip from big cities like London, Cardiff, and Birmingham.

The Brecon Beacons are both beautiful and charming. Littered with castle ruins and quaint little towns (a hot scone with clotted cream is a must for anyone going through Abergavenny!), rural fields extend upwards into vast mini-mountainscapes. The Beacons are characteristically table-top shaped, making for incredible views on good weather days. There are plenty of classic B&Bs throughout the park, we stayed at the Celyn about a 40 min drive away. We hiked Pen y Fan on a crisp October day, the valley floors were covered in whisps of mist in the morning, and scattered clouds drifted along the mountaintops before melting away into glorious sunshine in the afternoon.

After a Google maps confusion we ended up at Neuadd car park located just south of the Neuadd water reservoirs. Marked as lakes on the map, they were completely dry and transformed into lush grasslands bordered by a scenic old stone dam. The car park warden described the route ominously as “steep and rocky” – but honestly, after the GR20 it felt like a highway. Even the steeper section up from the valley floor up towards the spine of the Beacon was carved into a stone staircase, not by any means what comes to mind when I think of “steep and rocky”.

This hike was a big deal for me. Life post-pandemic was still constantly interrupted by minor disasters. My planned thru-hike of the Coast2Coast during the summer of 2021 was disrupted by family illness, I was (am) having a genuine thru-hiker identity crisis, and my brain had grown numbingly immune to disappointment. This round was no different. 13 days prior to the Wales trip I’d had emergency surgery to remove an ovarian cyst the size of a tennis ball. While keyhole surgery is said to be minimally invasive, I was pretty fucked for over a week afterwards. The physical pain from the incisions and the CO2 in my body was much worse than I thought, and psychologically the act of standing up straight made me feel hideously like my sores would rip open. Ick! I had asked the hospital doctor whether he though Wales would be doable. After jabbing me with morphine and seeing me inch myself to the toilet he wasn’t exactly optimistic. However, once I was properly back on my feet I had pushed hard to take proper walks around London, never mind my open zipper. Pants or no pants, I was determined to make this work. The act of constantly disengaging your abs 1) feels weird and 2) leaves you with an unsightly fatty pouch. But needs must!

Once past the steep section from the valley, the glory begins. Tracing along the western spine of PYF, you’re treated to amazing views in every direction. The two peaks loom ahead, and you join “the Motorway”. Again, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Upon stopping and sitting down to enjoy a moment of sunshine with closed eyes, my face was engulfed by tongue and fur. Surprise dog embrace! Happy days – if you’re into that kind of thing. Sweet springer spaniel Millie was enjoying her day as much as we were, bless her.

The track climbs steadily for a while before dipping down and shooting up towards the two peaks. You can climb both or pass the first to climb the second, the main one. If you’re lucky you might also meet a tiny blonde dachshund. Oh the love! The main peak literally has a photo queue leading up to the summit plaque, and 360 views of the mountains and the town of Brecon below. I should add that almost the entire trail features a massive drop on one side. Do not arrange your boozy bachelor party here. One stumble and you’re gone. The trail itself is incredibly comfortable though, soft dirt with occasional flat rocks. Views for days all along.

Truly, the highlight of PYF comes after the main peak. If you came from Storey Arms car park, you unfortunately have to turn back at the top. However, if you chose the Nuadd adventure loop, you get to traverse the edge of the mountain going northeast. After a steep climb you reach the summit of Cribyn, a pointy lower summit with stunning views of PYF and the eastward Beacons. This was probably the most scenic spots on the whole route, I highly recommend summiting Cribyn rather than taking the low-level route around it. What a place of freedom. As hikers, we all treasure different kinds of landscape. Many of my friends prefer the cosiness of forests. While I enjoy a foresty patch, particularly beech, I live for the mountains. There is just nothing like the freedom of vast open spaces. Seeing for miles and miles until you feel like you can embrace the whole horizon.

After Cribyn all you need to do is drink in the splendour. The terrain is so gentle, the path so smooth. Let your legs surf along the trail. Honestly, if I didn’t have three holes in my belly, I would have just kept going to climb every Beacon. Each outcrop is a movie location-style lookout. The sun shone warmly enough for me to drop my fleece for most of the way, and the grass was still a bright emerald despite the changing seasons. It had been a long time since I had felt much euphoria to speak of, but the Beacons make you stretch your arms up high and fling yourself at the world. Most Brits I’ve met are partial to the Lake District, but I had never felt as free on this mostly flat island as I did on Pen y Fan. It’s a wild place of wild beauty. Do not miss out.

Following the trail downwards back towards the valley, we met a small heard of Welsh ponies. Although they were completely disinterested in us (no doubt disillusioned after countless encounters with fake treats), they were so perfectly sweet-looking that we sat down just to admire them for a while. Two of the foals eyed us curiously despite their best efforts, they were fluffier than woollen mittens turned inside out. Welsh ponies are exceptionally good-looking. Their Arabian-like profiles with large eyes and wide foreheads, slender muzzles and longish legs give them an elegance normally reserved for sportier breeds. This herd complemented the landscape so beautifully, their long tangled manes blowing gently in the afternoon wind.

All that’s left to do as the trail drops back towards the car park is enjoying the waning golden light. I made it!