Donaldson Crew Adventures

With good weather this weekend, I thought it might be good to let Hunter and Noah attempt their first real mountain summit.  Noah came down with a sore throat and flu symptoms during the night Saturday, so it was just Hunter and me.  My target peak was Pen-y-fan in the Brecon Beacon area of South Wales.  At 2907 ft it is the highest peak in south wales and the highest in southern Britain south of Snowdonia.  Of course we were up Snowdonia in North Wales last summer, but as we gained the summit by train except for the last 100 ft, it doesn't really count:).  

Hiking was great.  Sunny, breezy, turning quite gusty at the summit.  Hunters first mountain summit!  Note the sheep in the pictures beside Hunter.  This was an uber friendly .... and smart sheep that has figured out that people will feed it on the summit of Pen-Y-Fan.  If you made eye contact with this friendly creature it would head your way.  

There was an apple festival being held this weekend at a place called Tretower castle up in the Brecon Beacon so we decided to take Saturday afternoon and check it out.  The festival was ok - it could have been a lot better with more vendors but the kids still had fun trying some unique types of apples, watching the entertainment, making apple bird feeders and exploring the grounds.

Probably the highlight of the day was the medival garden and what we found out to be a mulberry tree growing with mulberries ripe for the picking.  Kelly and I had only ever heard of a mulberry bush in the nursery ryme.  Why these trees are not more popular is supprising.  The sweet juicy berries are spectacular.  The darker the berry the more ripe it is, and the sweeter it is.  

With White puffy clouds floating around south wales Sunday, we decided to take the afternoon and drive up to the Brecon Beacon.  This is a mountain region in south Wales that is also 1 of 3 national parks in Wales.  Here are some shots as we drove through the the region to and from the village of Brecon.  A couple of the pictures feature the mountain Pen y Fan - the highest point in south wales, and southern Britain.

Or main goal for the afternoon was a visit to the market village of Brecon at the northern edge of the park.  A great village to explore.  We wandered some of the streets and visited St. Johns Cathedral, where we also had a late lunch on the greens.  The river that you see in the pictures is the river Usk.

We decided to take a different way home and on the way I stopped to find and take a photo of Tretower castle.  Kids were tired so we didn't stay, but there is an apple festival here in mid September that we want to go to. Now know how to get there!