My excitement for the upcoming trip quickly turned to panic when we saw the weather forecast: lots of gray clouds and large drops of rain.
After settling into our cozy room in Brecon, we put on our waterproof pants and hiking boots and braved the elements. A short drive brought us to the Dragons Back trailhead in the Black Mountains, whose peaks and valleys resemble the scales of a sleeping dragon. The steady rain cooled as we climbed the steep grassy slope, first trying to avoid the sheep droppings and then forgetting about them. In fact, the weather gave the landscape a cinematic look, with the gaps between the low clouds revealing the hillside below like a curtain drawn across the big screen. The air was so fresh that I felt like it was washing all the dust and grime of London off of us.
The only building in sight was the Dinas Castle Inn, the tallest pub in the Brecon Beacons National Park. So we drank a pint of Bale, ate garlic bread by the fire, and wondered which waterfall we were swimming in that day. the next would be as cold as our beers.
On the day of the wild dive, the air was 10°C. I ran back to the hotel and poured a few bags of hot chocolate into a thermos of hot water, a decision I would brag about later. We continue along the four waterfalls trek, passing Sgwd Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn, Sgwd y Pannwr and Sgwd yr Eira. This area has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the UK and we visited them all, walking along rainforest paths flanked by glowing scarlet mushrooms.
Sgwd yr Eira was a rumbling white blanket. We walked along the narrow ledge behind the falls where we could hear and feel its power. Maybe not the one for swimming, we decided. The surrounding forest was alive and silent. When we finally reached Sgwd y Pannwr, or 'Fuller's Fall', we saw a sheet of water descending a wide staircase towards an inviting pool. I had previously labeled myself "someone who doesn't go to British seas" because it's so cold there. So when I found myself in a bathing suit and hat at the foot of a Welsh waterfall in October, I wasn't sure I could do it. But I approach slowly. After about three minutes, my skin felt like it was on fire. I walked out and felt so euphoric that I came back two minutes later. Drying myself on a rock while drinking hot chocolate, I kept smiling.
Sunday hikes led us to find (and swim) the Nant Sere waterfall, nestled in a valley near South Wales' highest peak, Pen y Fan. Following instructions and photos we found online, we glided through low-lying trees into an area of lush forest covered evenly by a soft, mossy carpet. With no one else around, we dove, our cries of excitement echoing in our throats.
Our reward for this display of bravery was one of the best Sunday roasts of our lives at the Felin Fach Griffin pub, with its exposed beams, fireplace and stone floor.
But we saved the best for last. The crown jewel of the land of waterfalls in Wales is Henrhyd Falls, which was used as the entrance to the Bat Cave in The Dark Knight Rises and is the tallest in South Wales. A five-minute walk from the parking lot is a rainforest lair with overhanging ferns. The waterfall was in full swing due to the days of heavy rain, making swimming inadvisable, but behind it was a spacious cave, not big enough for Batman to live in, but perfect for watching the sunset and the gigantic cape. bright water in front of us.
"When we have guests here it's amazing - their faces are completely different at the end of the weekend because they've relaxed and their muscles are doing something different," Kayt Cooper, owner of our B&B, told me. She and her husband Hugh run the beautiful Coach House in historic Brecon. It is the ideal place to access all areas of the national park, take a hot shower and rest between hikes.
I felt more rested after two nights in the Brecon Beacons than after many of my vacations abroad. Immersed in stunning nature and plunging into cold water, we couldn't help but be completely in the moment. I took the natural beauty of South Wales with me on the M4 to London, and felt the chaos of the past month was something I could handle. After all, he was now the sort of person to take a wild Welsh bath in the rain.
Accommodation has been provided by Coach House, Brecon and is available from £92 per night with a two night minimum stay.
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