i don't take a van out as often as i'd like — turning round vans for guests eats most weeks. but charlie and i had four nights free in march, and graham was sitting in the garage between bookings, so we took him out. somewhere quiet, somewhere wet, somewhere with stars. that was the brief.
we came back four days later with mud on the wheels, an empty moka pot, two ordnance survey maps with new pencil marks, and a route i think is worth writing down.
night one — crickhowell.
we pulled into the bear at half-five on the wednesday and a corner table opened up by the fire ten minutes later. stayed for two pints and the slow-cooked lamb. graham was parked on the high street the way he often is — the bear has a small layby round the back you can sleep in if you've eaten there and you ask the bar nicely.
by ten we were up table mountain — crug hywel — the iron-age hillfort above the town. it's only 451m and the path is short and brisk; you can be at the top in 45 minutes from the high street and back down for last orders if you're quick. lights of crickhowell laid out below us, the moon doing its job, the diesel heater purring through the night with the window cracked an inch.
morning two — into the heart of it.
we drove west on the a40 to cwm gwdi. it's the back-road approach to pen y fan — the connoisseur's route via cribyn, about 11km round, a fraction of the people that the pont ar daf motorway path gets. brewed coffee in the layby before we set off. moka pot, two enamel mugs, the kettle whistling at quarter past eight. on the summit by twelve and back at the van by half three.
from there it's a slow forty minutes down to talybont reservoir — the long narrow one in the southern beacons, sat between two ridges that block the wind. we parked at the southern end near the dam wall and walked the western shore. bracken yellow as a november match. ravens cronking from somewhere overhead.
for dinner we walked half a mile to the white horse, on the canal at talybont-on-usk. dogs in the bar, fire going, a three-pump cellar that's small but well-kept. ate the pie. charlie had a half. graham was waiting in the field car park when we walked back.
day three — the wet bit.
charlie wanted a swim. i said yes the way you say yes to things you don't really want to do. we drove twenty miles west on the thursday morning, parked at cwm porth on the four falls trail, and walked the path round to sgwd yr eira — the fall of snow — the one you can stand behind. the path is slippery in patches and the rocks under the falls are greasy and the water is dark. charlie went in for thirty seconds. i went in for ten. stood on the bank afterwards laughing, towels round our shoulders, hot chocolate from the cwm porth kiosk.
charlie went in for thirty seconds. i went in for ten.
that afternoon we drove for the dark sky country. the whole national park has been a designated international dark sky reserve since 2013 — one of the best in britain — and the western edge near usk reservoir is genuinely empty after dark. cooked on graham's hob: pasta, a tin of tomatoes, the last of the parmesan. by ten the milky way was a strip down the middle of the sky. we stood outside the van for half an hour, no torch, eyes adjusting.
day four — vale of ewyas.
the last day was a slow drive east toward llanthony priory — the 12th-century ruin in the vale of ewyas, the unfashionable corner of the park. there's a lay-by above the priory with a view down the valley that the os doesn't quite show. we walked the ruined cloister, ate cheese from the hay-on-wye farmer's market off the bonnet, and drove home that evening reluctantly.
what we brought back.
muddy boots. half a tin of biscuits. two os maps with pencil. one polaroid of charlie standing under sgwd yr eira looking like she'd done something quietly mad. and four nights' worth of the kind of week the vans are built for — the reason i started doing this in the first place.
a few notes if you want to copy us.
- the bear at crickhowell is good but the white horse at talybont is better for night two. the bear is for arrivals.
- the four falls trail closes its lower path in winter occasionally — check the welsh government access notice before you set off.
- bring towels twice as big as you think you need. the air dries you slower than the swim does.
- the pen y fan motorway path (pont ar daf) is fine but it's busy and it's flat. cwm gwdi via cribyn is the route.
- if the dark sky bit matters, check the moon phase before you book — a full moon ruins it.