Brecon Beacons
On Tuesday I spent 3 days in the Brecon Beacons riding some Welsh ponies, and it was one of the greatest things ever. If you've never been on a hack before you wouldn't understand how therapeutic it is, but even more so when you're surrounded by nothing but the countryside and mountains.
My uni riding club organised a riding holiday for us with various different packages available, I chose the one with the most riding (of course). So, on Tuesday I set off from home and got picked up en route by the girls and drove to the Brecon Beacons, we stayed in a bunk house at Cantref Adventure Farm and one of the first things we did was so easter-y!
WE ALL HELD DUCKLINGS!!
It was one of the cutest things, and I'm pretty confident in saying it brightened everyones day. They were so small and fluffy and warm and just oh so cute!
We also said hi to some baby goats...
After our dose of cuteness we weren't allowed in the house yet so we went and did something super adult!
The slide was so much fun, and after a few of us had a go, the house was ready for us.
Again we were super mature with what we did first...
How many can we pile on?!
Once we'd decided on rooms the group that were doing an extra half day ride went over to the horses and we met our new buddies.
The ride was wonderful, amazing views, good ponies and lovely guides. We had a couple of canters on the hill, but was told it was their first canter up there this year so expect it to be a bit wild, surprisingly, it was really controllable!
That night we had a hearty meal of spaghetti bolognese and a hilarious game of cards against humanity (isn't it always?). I didn't sleep great but the next morning it was going to be a good day for two reasons:
1) My birthday!
AND
2) We had a whole day ahead of us in the hills
What better way to spend your birthday than on horseback?
I had my trusty stead Kit again and we had a great day riding around the hills, the views were absolutely magnificent. We saw some wild ponies and hikers on Pen-y-Fan. Here's some of the highlights...
We all pretty much crashed out when we got back, it was such a tiring day! We had pizza for dinner and all the lovely girls signed a card for me and a few backed a cake (which was delicious!), so all in all a pretty good birthday!
On Thursday it was forecast to rain and the guides had to be back at lunch time as the farrier was visiting so instead of doing a full day ride we did two half days. It turned out this was the better option and we had a chance to break for lunch back in the bunk house which was nice.
I really enjoyed Thursdays rides because we got to see the local village, even more lambs and went through some streams.
When we came back we had time to chill out in the house and then for dinner we went to a local pub which was really nice, all the food looked great and tasted just as good! And I found out that Captain Smith of the Titanic stopped in the pub just before he sailed the Titanic and the room we were having dinner in was the original bar, whilst the bar today would have been the family living room.
I think when Friday morning came we were all a bit sad to be leaving. It was such a good little holiday, very refreshing to be in the countryside and practically off-grid (there was no phone reception in the house and very patchy wi-fi), so it was nice to escape the bustle of modern life and be around both beautiful creatures and beautiful scenery.
Whenever I have simple holidays like this it really opens my eyes and makes me want to do more productive outdoorsy things and it spurs me on to have another adventure and travel to new exciting places!
Full highlights video:
I'd love to hear what you have planned this easter and hope you get lots of chocolate eggs! If you have been to the Brecon Beacons at all then I'd love to hear from you, and also if you have ever done a riding holiday similar it'd be nice to share your experiences 😄
