1. Saturday 4 August.
Walk 1 : The Black Mountains Ridge : 10 miles
We started near the village of Pengenffordd, did the ridge walk and finished at the town of Crickhowell.
Near the start of our walk we gain height, heading north to south.
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2. We reach the first top at 618m and here is the view looking back to the north, with purple heather on the slopes.
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3. The second top we aim for ahead of us is Pen Twyn Glas at 646m.
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4. We have lunch at Pen Allt-mawr at 719m. The weather is warm and pleasant, it's been a long hot summer and no sign of it ending.
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5. The third top we visited was Pen Cerig Calch at 701m, the highest point for the day. In this image we are descending towards the iron age celtic fort of Crug Hywel. The distinctive hill called Sugar Loaf can be seen to the centre left.
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6. Finally, we descend to the town of Crickhowell on the River Usk where we have a coffee and then get back on the coach.
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7. Sunday 5 August.
Walk 2 : Waterfalls : 10 miles
We start in the village of Pontneddfechan and do an anti-clockwise loop, mainly along river courses with several waterfalls.
The waterfall at Sgwd Yr Eira was the most popular, it was possible to pass behind the falls. This site is close to where the Afon Hepste merges into the Afon Mellte, which in turn becomes the River Neath at Pontneddfechan.
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8. We saw this waterfall further north, I'm not sure what it is called, perhaps Sgwd Clun-gwyn on the Afon Mellte.
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9. This site is the cave system near Porth Yr Ogof.
You can actually walk into a pitch black gallery to the right of the cave entrance.
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10. Monday 6 August.
Free day : A gentle walk around the north of Brecon : 6 miles
I did a stroll up the River Honddu to Anod Bridge, just after which I took this photo and returned down the other side of the river.
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11. I then headed west to climb the hill to Pen-y-crug, the site of an ancient fort. Here I've started to descend south east towards the town of Brecon.
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12. A little further on I reach the outskirts of the town where there is an old well at Maen-du. I spent some further time exploring the town, including a short trip to the military museum and a coffee and cake at the theatre near the canal head.
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13. Tuesday 7 August.
Walk 3 : Western Fans Traverse : 11 miles
A ridge walk beneath the Western Fans past two lakes and then ascending and returning back along the escarpment.
We leave the coach on a remote road and head in a south westerly direction towards the lake called Llyn Y Fan Fawr.
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14. We follow the Beacons Way skirting the escarpment which we would later walk around.
The second lake, somewhat dried up in the recent drought, is Llyn Y Fan Fach.
In this image we are climbing west of the lake to reach the ridge of Bannau Sir Gaer which we follow east.
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15. We continue on along the ridge.
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16. Near the top called Fan Foel we look down at the first of the two lakes we passed earlier in the day - Llyn Y Fan Fawr.
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17. Another angle shows our gentle ascent to come up to Brycheiniog (802m), the highest point in the day's walk.
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18. The rest of the walk continues along the ridge at Fan Hir in a SE direction along the Beacons Way.
The destination was the pub called Tafern-y-Garreg, where a nice pint rounded off the day.
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19. Wednesday 8 August.
Walk 4 : The four main peaks in the Central Brecon Beacons - another classic ridge walk. : 11 miles.
Today it rained most of the time, a contrast to the very warm days earlier in the holiday.
Here I am at the summit of the first of the peaks - Corn Du (black cairn).
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20. In no time at all we had scaled the second peak - Pen Y Fan (886m) which is 2907 feet and the highest peak in South Wales.
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21. In the shelter just below the summit of Pen Y Fan we had elevenses. Corn Du is on the left and the little lake is Llyn Cwm Llwch.
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22. Another view from our snack stop.
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23. The third peak to tackle was Cribyn. To get there we had to descend 220 metres and then ascend 130 metres.
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24. Down in the dip and soon we'll be up on Cribyn.
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25. Looking west back to Cribyn as we finally close in on the fourth and last of the four tops, Fan Y Big.
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26. The genteel and unimposing summit of Fan y Big (719m).
Soon after this it had started to rain again, so we took a quick lunch break nearby.
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27. The wide valley of Cwm Oergwm.
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28. We continue on the ridge with the rain and low cloud. Soon we'll be leaving the escarpment and heading east towards Talybont.
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29. Well here we are at a spot where we can see the four peaks we have successfully scaled during the walk, all lined up, with Corn Du, Pen Y Fan, Cribyn and closest to us, Fan y Big.
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30. Now heading past Carn Pica and Twyn Du towards Talybont Reservoir.
Once we neared the latter we walked on the road to Aber, crossed the river to the Taff Trail and finally arrived in the village of Talybont-on-Usk.
Here we had a coffee and the coach picked us up soon after. A nice way to end a lovely 5 day break in the Brecon Beacons.
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