Brecon Beacons Hike in Wales

In March, we decided to take a hiking trip that Outdoor Rec was offering - "Welsh Waterfalls Walk".  It was a day trip, but after realizing it was a 3 hour drive each way, we decided to drive ourselves and stay overnight in Wales.  One of the things we noticed right away on entering Wales, was that every road sign was in Welsh as well as English.

After seeing a bunch of private business signs in English only, we realized that this is more of a political conceit than a necessity.  Indeed, one of our guides (who works for Scott at the fitness center on base) grew up in Wales, but doesn't speak Welsh at all. 

The girls, ready to hike

The hike was great, I think the area would definitely be prettier when the leaves are out on the trees, but it was still very nice.  We saw many waterfalls, and felt accomplished after some pretty steep grades (like you have to hold on to tree roots to pull yourself up).  :) 

Cambria on the trail, with Scott

Meridian on the trail... she did a great job!

Our group on the trail, Meridian determined not to fall behind, lol

The climax of the trip, the waterfall you can walk behind!

Meridian was among the first of us over behind the falls

Scott and the girls - It's the Backside of Water!!  (just like on the jungle cruise)

Pretty neat!

Cambria and Scott pause by the trickle of falls she named "Cambria Falls"  :)  

After this, we had lunch, then when we were leaving along the river side, I slipped on some rocks and fell, injuring my tailbone, elbows, forearms and palms.  :(  I bruised pretty well over the next few days, but didn't take any pictures. 

At our next stop... so many falls!

So pretty!

Another family shot...

My little daredevil, climbing down the rocks

One more really good falls - nearby there was a rope swing into a deep pool.  Brrrr.

Everyone else went over the log... Cambria knew she could fit under.  :)

Finally at our Bed and Breakfast, it was a great old house - Sir George Everest (of Mount Everest) was born there in 1790!

 The central staircase was really impressive

Cambria at the top of the stairs

We were all tired, and I was really sore, so we opted to have dinner at the hotel.  Meridian is showing the butter tubes she and Cambria enjoyed so much.  :)

Scott and Cambria at dinner, it was lovely

We came down for breakfast the next morning, and admired the view out of one of the dining rooms.

Somehow we were early for breakfast - anyone who knows us will be justifiably shocked.  The kids wanted to hit the pool, which had been refilled the day before and was too cold to swim in until the next day. We had a chance to relax a little before breakfast. Then they did get to swim (and Scott and I got to sauna, steam and jacuzzi) for over an hour before we had to check out.

My "Full Welsh" breakfast, minus the black pudding.  Finally, a good shot of the ham everyone here calls "bacon".

Cambria's breakfast - we call them "dipping eggs", here they're "Eggs and Soldiers"

Cambria also loved the little jam jars, she sampled a couple.  You can barely see the toast rack in the bottom right corner - I had never seen a toast rack before moving here!

Outside of the Manor hotel.  It was very nice. 

Another dual language road sign

We had seen Raglan Castle on our way into Wales the morning before - we decided to stop there on our way back home. Note the Wales flag at the top of the castle tower remnants.

In front of the moat around the main tower.

Main entrance to the castle remnants

Raglan Castle was built in the 1400s. During the Civil War the castle was held for the king, and in June 1646 came under attack from the Parliamentary forces led by Sir Thomas Fairfax. After suffering heavy bombardment for several weeks, in one of the longest sieges of the war, the castle finally surrendered. The castle was slighted by the victorious Parliamentarians, and after considerable effort they managed to topple two sides of the Great Tower. Further damage was caused when the Duke of Beaufort ransacked the castle for fittings for his new home at Badminton, leaving Raglan a derelict ruin.

Inside the main castle, near the courtyard

Courtyard, well on the left

Meridian, in the remains of the kitchen.  The castle was 3-4 stories high.

Me, in the largest of the kitchen fireplaces

One of the oddest things to see there was the fireplaces on higher levels of the castle... you can imagine what the rooms must have been like from the remains of the windows and the fireplaces.

The rounded window in the great hall, overlooking the courtyard.  This is where the Marquess of Worcester (loyal to King Charles I) and his family supposedly watched the Parlimentarian army finally breech the gates to take over the castle.

I liked this international sign for "watch your head".  LOL

On the steps heading up to the top of the main tower.  Cambria and I both lost our nerve after seeing large gaps between many of the stone steps.  Scott and Meridian made it to the top.  :)

Great Hall and window, seen from the courtyard

Maybe I am a huge dork, but I really enjoyed the dual language signs.  :)

And we arrived back into England.  We had seen a sign on our drive out for The Amazing Hedge Maze.  We had some time... why not?

After making it through the maze the first time, we took a picture on the overlook deck.  We went through it at least 4 more times, racing.  It was super fun, for a bunch of hedges.  :)

Meridian hits a dead end.

Cambria gets a boost from Dad, to see me over the hedges.

The girls did the maze on their own while we watched from the deck.  Cambria got stuck and Meridian went back to find her and help her out.  :)

We went to a pub across the street for lunch, totally forgetting that it was British Mother's Day. 
Fortunately, they were still able to seat us. 

And that was our very short trip to Wales. 
There is so much more to see and do there, we will definitely be back!