An east wind is no good for man nor beast.

The weather forecast for the Brecon Beacons National Park was:

Screen shot from Met Office https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/mountain-forecasts/brecon-beacons

The windchill of -10C at 600m something to consider.

Screen shot from https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/mountain-forecasts/brecon-beacons

Nic was suitably enthused by the forecast that she decided to accompany me with the enticing prospect of a good walk with late light illuminating the bleached moorland vegetation, rock outcrops and a possibility of twilight alpenglow. A check on other forecasts indicated the wind might well be stronger than the met office forecast and before leaving a check on the visible satellite imagery indicated there was cloud moving across the park from the east. The trip destination would be decided en route determined by the prevailing weather with the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons and Fforest Fawr all in play. At Abergavenny the Black Mountains were ruled out by cloud and haze. From the highpoint of the A465 the visibility was excellent and the wind very 'fresh', ruling out the Brecon Beacons. Fforest Fawr would be the end destination. The walk was delayed waiting for a helpful farmer to pull the car from less firm ground, sigh, wheel mats under the tyre had proved useless.  However if you were going to get stuck, then this was a good place and time, sheltered from the wind, views, warm sunshine to bask in and a road only used by the farming community who were pro-actively preparing for a sustained cold blast of air from Siberia. After heartfelt thanks and lightening my wallet to reward the good samaritan farmer, I managed to park the car on more firmer ground, not my finest hour and Nic was less than impressed.

Exposed moorland, Devonian sandstone glacial erratic, limestone pavement, sink holes and haze.

Finally underway and on reaching the exposed moorland the wind was a tad stronger than expected, the windchill very noticeable, haze obscured views of the Brecon Fans and haze/cloud bank on the western horizon scuppered any hope of sunset light or alpenglow. A small positive was that the peat bogs were frozen.  A place of relative shelter was sought near a viewpoint and a cunning plan concocted. The plan involved minimising exposed walking and maximising taking in the views from sheltered sites, whilst basking in the warmth of sunshine.

Google satellite view illustrating the density of sink holes.

The area has one of the highest density of sink holes (dolines) in Britain and the geology of limestone, limestone overlain by quartz arenite sandstone and areas mantled by glacial till and peat, means there are good expressions of many sink hole types.

Sink hole (doline) types. Illustration from http://www.bgs.ac.uk/caves/sinkholes/home.html

To successfully photograph the extent of the sink holes requires very low angled side lighting and not for the first time the desired lighting failed to materialise at this location. Nevertheless there were views and limestone pavement to offer some foreground interest and relief from late winter moorland vegetation.

A good walk, decidedly fresh air, geology interest and some moorland visited which would otherwise have been overlooked in better weather.

The attrition of hill walking.

Probably the best book on hill walking I have read is the "The Black Cloud, Scottish Mountain Misadventures 1928-1966" published in 1993. The Introduction sets the scene and importantly covers the effects of severe weather and hypothermia on human physiology, factors that directly contributed to fatalities in 5 of 7 misadventures covered in the book:

1928 - Baird and Barrie in Gleann Einich
1933 - MacKenzie and Ferrier on Cairn Gorm
1934 - Norman MacLeod on Ben MacDui
1951 - Death and Survival at Corrour
1959 - The Loss of Five Men on Jock's Road

The misadventures have been thoroughly researched, with expert opinion sought on the prevailing weather conditions and accounts presented from the survivors and representatives from volunteer search parties. Where no witnesses survived or memories obfuscated by the effects of hypothermia, trauma and time, plausible scenarios are explored and the most likely narrative put forward. Fatalities in 5 of the misadventures resulted from the capricious nature of weather, poor judgement and those fated to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The combination of wet clothing, high windchill, fatigue and low morale appears to accelerate the effects of hypothermia and death occurs in a matter of hours as indicated by the tragedies at Corrour and Jock's Road. The misadventures occurred well before the advent of fairly reliable mountain weather forecasts, freely disseminated information on the internet for hill walking safety and relatively affordable technical outdoor gear. Sadly there still seems to be a reluctance by some individuals to make themselves fully aware of the potential for a misadventure whilst hill walking before setting out.

Hills in winter condition

Grough reports on UK outdoors news and winter 2017/18 highlights the rescue of some very fortunate individuals.

Yorkshire Three Peaks walker found suffering hypothermia on Ingleborough
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2017/12/24/yorkshire-three-peaks-walker-found-suffering-hypothermia-on-ingleborough

"A lost walker attempting the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge was found suffering from severe hypothermia on a fell top by rescuers."

Map omission 'could have cost lost Cairn Gorm climbers' lives'  https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2017/12/28/map-omission-could-have-cost-lost-cairn-gorm-climbers-lives

“Despite having the best of gear, this simple omission could have cost them their lives. Nowadays mountaineers spend huge sums of money on tremendous gear, but it’s the few quid spent on a basic map and compass that is often the best investment.”

Ill equipped hypothermic Dartmoor walker 'very lucky' to be found by rescuers
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2018/01/23/ill-equipped-hypothermic-dartmoor-walker-very-lucky-to-be-found-by-rescuers

“She had no map or compass, no spare clothing, was dressed in jeans which were totally inadequate for both the terrain and weather conditions and certainly contributed to her situation and mild hypothermia." 

Lost Blencathra walkers' lack of compass 'could have had serious consequences'
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2018/02/13/lost-blencathra-walkers-lack-of-compass-could-have-had-serious-consequences

"The group was caught in bad weather without navigation equipment on Tuesday on the summit of the mountain."

The risks to the volunteers of the Mountain Rescue Teams attending call outs in rescuing the feckless are also reported on:

Helmet saves rescuer from serious injury after incident on Tryfan
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2018/02/04/helmet-saves-rescuer-from-serious-injury-after-incident-on-tryfan

The clean air of Coed-y-Rhaeadr

After days of wind and rain the weather forecast offered something quieter, still blanket cloud but with the wind easing.  Coed-y-Rhaeadr would be worth a visit with high water flows and there's also something of interest as the area is covered by the Coedydd Nedd a Mellte SAC designated for its old sessile oak woods and ravine woodland. Parking up and a group of walkers arrived back from their outing and were coated with mud to their knees, indicating the paths were in a poor condition.  The enthusiasm for a walking mudfest wasn't that great, so a walk  was made to an area with less footfall i.e sans waterfalls and one that straddles the geological boundary of Carboniferous sandstones (quartz arenites and conglomerates) and underlying limestone lithologies.

Coppiced oak and pollarded beech tree.

The geology also influences the flora with oak, hard fern (Blechnum spicant), common hair-cap moss (Polytrichum commune) indicating sandstone bedrock, whilst ash, wych elm and sycamore indicate limestone bedrock.

Veteran pollarded sycamore adjacent to a derelict track.

Within the woods there is also evidence for past habitation with long abandoned derelict trackways leading to equally derelict buildings. One substantial pile of rubble was intimately associated with several mature pollarded sycamore trees (neophytes) playing host to a visually impressive covering of native epiphytes including polypody ferns, bryophytes and macro-lichens. A nearby veteran ash tree trunk provided suitable habitat for an old growth forest lichen - Peltigera horizontalis.

Peltigera horizontalis

The attrition of wind and recent snowfall had brought down plenty of lichen covered twigs, branches and trees and in one area a beard lichen - Usnea Florida was conspicuous on the woodland floor and high up in the canopy. A lichen indicator of very low levels of atmospheric pollutants.

Usnea Florida

With dusk approaching the walk was cut short and the end to an interesting wander.