Brecon Beacons, day 2

Not quite as early a start, but good for it being a holiday. We went for a longer walk today: a circular route around Pontsticill Reservoir to the south of Tal-y-bont (the town our holiday home is ostensibly part of). The road down to the reservoir was typical for rural Wales: basically single track with infrequent passing places and far more frequent blind bends. When we visited Wales last year, we actually got wedged in on a similar road, so proceeded very cautiously to Pontsticill. As it turns out, no hazards were encountered, but we still took the precaution of returning to Bwlch a different route.


The hike started at the northern margin of the reservoir (actually where it met a smaller reservoir), and proceeded down its eastern flank, at times following a railway, before turning inland and upwards. This gave us really good views over the water, which seemed mostly being used for sailing and other water sports. This inland portion also had a number of nice little streams to photograph endlessly. After eventually locating the Gate Of The Blue Handle we descended towards the reservoir’s dam and the adjacent village of, surprise-surprise, Pontsticill. With faultlessly impeccable timing the rain started just as we reached a friendly looking pub (The Red Cow), which afforded us an ideal stopover while it passed over. The latter part of the hike was a lot less interesting, consisting of a long cycle track through the forested western flank of the reservoir. Fine for the 10 minutes that two wheeled transport would make of it, but exceedingly dull if you’re tramping through it on foot. The forest also blocked our view of the steam train running on the far side of the lake. Ace.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading (C) or sleeping (moi) back at the house. Weather was, again, great. Probably managed to over-irradiate myself though. Dinner took us to a no-nonsense pub in Tal-y-bont (The White Hart). Cheap and cheerful was the order of the day.