Four Peaks & A Spitfire
Recently, my brother-in-law invited me on a day’s walk in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Being unable to resist the allure of the mountains, I immediately agreed. So, on a cold, crisp November morning I found myself in the carpark just below the disused Neuadd reservoirs.
The plan for the walk was to combine our shared love of walking the mountains with some bird watching and a sneaky detour to find the wreckage of a crashed WW2 Spitfire. During the winter months Snow Buntings leave their ‘summer’ breeding grounds in the Arctic and head south. They can occasionally be found on the high moorlands of the Beacons – parts of our walk would take us through some perfect habitat. We also wanted to keep an eye out for Red Grouse.
The day we’d chosen turning out to be a stunning day. The temperature hovered around freezing all day with plenty of frost and ice around. But thankfully there was very little wind, making it a perfect day for walking.
We set off at 9:30 from the carpark and immediately left the main path (the old Roman road) and headed east up the small footpath following the Nant-y-Gloesydd stream. This path climbed quite quickly and led us up to the limestone pavement on Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion. This was probably going to be our best opportunity to find some Snow Buntings. Sadly, there were none to be seen so we turned north and headed to the ridge looking down the Cwm Oergwm valley.
Following this ridge we soon arrived at our first peak – Fan-y-Big (717m). Despite living near Brecon for many years, this was a peak I’d never climbed. The views from Fan-y-Big were stunning, both down the Cwm Cynwyn valley, and ahead of us toward the next three peaks on our walk. After the mandatory photo standing on ‘The Diving Board’ we turned west for the steep descent down to the pass at Bwlch-ar-y-Fan where we crossed the Roman road and continued east toward Cribyn.
The next part of the walk was maybe the toughest. The ascent up Cribyn (795m) is quite steep and seemed to go on forever! But we were rewarded with even more dramatic views along the Bryn Teg ridge and down toward Brecon in the distance.
Another steep descent followed down to the boggy ground separating Cribyn from our next target, the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons – Pen-y-Fan (886m). The climb up to the peak was quite short and sharp with a bit of a scramble at the end. The nearer we got to Pen-y-Fan, the more walkers we encountered, with the summit being quite busy. But the views were again dramatic, enhanced by the beautiful blue sky and wispy clouds.
After a brief lunch stop we headed south-west, making the short hop across to our final peak – Corn Du (873m).
After another quick photo stop at the summit, we descended Corn Du and started the final leg of our walk following the ridge south-east along Gwaun Taf and Graig Fan Ddu. This is probably the easiest part of the walk. The path is relatively flat and the crowds seen on the summit had vanished – most seeming to head back down the Beacons Way to the popular carpark at Storey Arms. The ridge provided a fantastic view back to the four peaks we’d climbed – we felt a real sense of achievement.
There was one final task – to find the crashed Spitfire. Spitfire X4588 crashed on the 23rd May 1942 whilst on a training flight, sadly killing the pilot Sergeant Donald Perry Carruthers. We knew the site was only around 300m west of the path, so with GPS in hand, we veered off the path and headed out across the tufts of moorland grass. There is little wreckage left – just a small pile of torn aluminium along with a wreath and a note about the aircraft.
Carrying on along the ridge, we were soon at the point where we needed to make the descent back down into the valley and toward the old reservoirs. The descent was steep and treacherous due to ice on the steps that had been laid. We ended up abandoning the steps and climbing down through the grass next to the path! Once at the bottom, we crossed the new bridge built in place of the old reservoir dam before joining the road back toward the carpark.
Total distance covered: 11.3 miles in just under 5 hours. It was a truly amazing day out - although my legs ached for two days afterwards! For me, climbing the mountains is such good therapy. It clears my head, relaxes and reinvigorates me. Throw in some bird watching and aviation history – and what’s not to like!
Contributed by Steve
(Published on 1st Dec 2023)
