Monday
A change on "activity" for Monday, and another scorching hot day, saw us heading for a shopping day in Cardiff.... too hot to do much else!! (28°C)
Just over an hours drive away from Brecon, we parked in a multi storey near Mermaids Quay (£8 for about 6 hours I think it cost). From there it about a 20 minute walk into the city centre, and after a few hours of shops and TGI lunch, we headed back to the quay area, Cadwalders ice cream sundaes and then back to Brecon.
Tuesday
Today was a walking day, despite the forecast of scorching hot again. So we set off early and a short 30 min drive from Brecon to Llangenny (East of Brecon). The roads leading to this very small village were VERY narrow and overgrown, slow progress.
We parked on a steep hill opposite the church, though there was only room here for 2-3 vehicles. The objective of the day was Sugarloaf, a 2000ft popular hill with excellent open views, and we set off walking through the village and over the stone bridge opposite the Dragons Head pub around 8am.
Despite the fairly early start the day was already warm and humid with hardly a breath of wind. Good job the first few miles were easy with no uphill......... that was coming!
The path was pleasant, follwing the banks of the small river, opening out into grassy wild meadow.
The grassy tracks gave way to a narrow lane and after another half mile or so sign for Sugarloaf, leading up a gradually ascending more rocky track.
Beautiful clear blue sky.... getting a bit warm now though!
After the rocky track the view ahead opened out to less distinct fern covered tracks (there appeared to be a few), before joinnig a more distinct grassier track heading towards Sugarloaf top.
The views back were very expansive and open, and the sheep below decided it would pose for a picture while my camera was out. A good shot with the wide views in the background. Nice!
The heat was beginning to take its toll with the uphill toil. There was also a surprising number of flies buzzing round, even above 1500ft here. The conical summit of Sugarloaf could now be seen.
A small tarn, and a good rest point to eat a sarnie, the flies had gone too.
Its got a bit of everything.. even a rocky bit near the summit.
We arrived at the summit (2000ft), it was still very warm, with no wind at all, and those flies had returned, more than ever.
We decided not to hang around too long as they were really buzzing around and biting. A few pictures and we headed off down, taking a different path down to complete the loop.
Nice view though!!
Heading back down, and a fairly pleasant path down, though even going down the going was tough with the heat of late morning increasing towards mid-day.
Once below 1000ft and in the valley, the heat was really baking us, and the last couple of miles were spent wishing we were back at the car with air-con on full! We arrived back in the village around 12:30, and the last stretch up to the church up a very steep hill I did alone, while Sue waited at the pub car park for me to bring the car down. How good am I? An excellent walk thats not too taxing (on a cooler day) and fantastic open views. We were pooped though, not used to the heat, the air con was set to max for the drive back to Brecon.
Our Walk Score: 7.5/10
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