April 4th

What an absolutely fun weekend we had with Guy’s cousin Phil and his wife Becky at their place, Dan Y Bryncoch, in Llandyfan. We were an hour later than we thought, travelling from Cardiff to their village outside of Swansea, due to traffic on the motorway and it being Friday afternoon. Phil brought us in over the phone because Google didn’t understand the address “Dan Y Bryncoch”.

After a warm welcome including from their dogs Piper and Misha, we had a beautiful alfresco vegetarian dinner on their deck as the sun went down. Then Phil lit a fire and we sat out under the stars on that beautiful early April night (that could have been mistaken for an early June evening weatherwise).

April 5th

After a not too early start, we ventured up to the hills behind their house to get a sense of the area and to catch the most awesome views, even one of Carreg Cennen Castle off in the distance.

Back at the house, we had lunch and then headed out for a longer walk in the hills with the dogs, a 15 minute drive away. Tair Carn Isaf is a moderately challenging hike in the Western edge of the Brecon Beacons that offers glorious views of the area. It was quite windy when we were up there but enjoyable.

Our walk was followed by refreshments and then an absolutely crazy couple of games of croquet. Christine set the course which included interesting and challenging angles with various props implemented such as rakes, a child’s car seat, a beer box, and a toy crocodile (that you had to knock off a clay pot). Not your normal croquet set up😆 Unfortunately few pictures were taken because the game required intense focus.

That night we were treated to another wonderful vegetarian meal, again alfresco. Then we chatted under a starry sky until bedtime.

April 6th

In the morning after breakfast, we said goodbye to Phil and the dogs (Becky was already off to work early). Christine and Seb were on their way home to Cheltenham and Guy and I were on our way to Cwmdu, further into the Brecon Beacons to the county of Powys in Wales.

We arrived at our campsite at about 1pm after a drive through insanely beautiful countryside and quaint villages. We settled in, had some lunch, then set off on a wander to a nearby castle, called Tretower built in the 12th century. The route to the castle was mostly on public footpaths through farmer’s fields and these fields were full of new born lambs. It was a delightful sight to see.

After a look around the castle, we had a beautiful walk back to the campsite through the fields and on village roads. It was the loveliest of spring afternoons.

April 7th

We walked up Pen y Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons. To be fair, we didn’t hike from the very bottom. That would have been an 8 or so hour hike. We started at the Brecon Beacon National Park parking lot. To the top and back down was about 3 hours. Talk about a popular walk. It was just April and there were lots of walkers. Think the weather had something to do with it . 🌞 It is stunning from the top and the 360 views of the area is amazing.

After the walk, we went into the town of Brecon for a look around and a coffee. Then we drove out to the little hamlet of Cradoc to take a look. It was just houses and no markets. Guess folks go to Brecon for their services nowadays. When we were in Cardiff, Guy and I stopped in at a booth to get the history of our names. Apparently Craddock is a very old and very rare Welsh name and the name comes out of the Cardiff area.

Then back we went to the Cwmdu Campsite for the evening.

April 8th

Arch and Sarah came to meet us for the day. They picked us up at our campsite and we headed to Crickhowell, still in the Brecon Beacons. We went out for coffee and then headed out on a canal walk on the other side of town, making our way to the picturesque outskirts of the village.

We stopped for a picnic in the woods.

After our picnic, we headed back to Crickhowell to have a look around and saw the 13th century Crickhowell Castle. Not much is left but it captures the imagination.

We headed over to Abergavenny, another beautiful village nearby. After a cuppa, we wandered the streets and shops, and tried to see a castle but that was closed. We got pics anyway.

Afterwards, we headed back to the campsite and sat in the sun with a beverage as the sun retreated and then Sarah and Arch headed back home to Kington in Heredfordshire. We will see them next at the end of our journey late June. I left one of my water bottles in the backseat of their car so I can get it then. I have another one with the same message😁.