Gorge Walking - Beacon Breacons, Wales

Reposted on 2012-02-23 from defunct blog

Ok this entry is slightly out of date - still getting use to posing on a blog, also been bust trying to pack (but that's for another entry).

On the 3rd of February I expressed interest in joining the white water rafting at the SWAG (Somerset Walking and Activities Group - could be Somerset Hiking and Activities Group, but that acronym might attract the wrong people) committee meeting (of which I am Membership Secretary).

The rafting was to be on the 6th of March. I signed up no problem, but found out that if the water levels were to low we would be doing gorge walking.

Sure enough when we got to Black Mountain Activities (www.blackmountain.co.uk), in Three Cocks, Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, the water levels were too low to do the rafting.

The gorge walking was fun though. Even though I still have bruises and scratches.

For those that don't know what gorge walking is, this is what the Black Mountain pamphlet says:
Another from the 'wet and wild' collection, an absolute must for the adrenaline junkies!
This is no ordinary walk in the park! Traversing along rock walls, jumping across boulders, climbing cascades, exploring dark holes in the ground (only for the intrepid) and that's just the morning! As the day progresses the adventure continues. With rivers to cross, rope slides are set up and the turn of every corner produces something different, leaping across mud pools and jumping from great heights into deep pools, while viewing the magical beauty of Wales. Sounds good? Its not good...its great!

That summarises it nicely, and up to the 'dark hole' I was the driest of our group of 7 (plus 2 guides), which after walking through mid-shin water my gators and boots were great at keeping the water in! After that was fun climbing inside part of the mountain to come back down head-first through a hole about a meter wide - the main guide splashed mud on my face as I climbed up, but hey it's all fun.

I continued to stay dry, and shocked myself, as I was the only person (excluding the guides) to traverse a rock wall with out falling into waist deep water - surprising myself as I have not done any rock climbing and managed to find the appropriate hand and foot holds (well the guides pointed out a few). My dryness ended when we had to walk under a waterfall, then either traverse a rock wall with virtually no hand holds or walk through the river (I was some what successful in staying reasonably dry). The fun ended with attempting to climb a rock wall from waist high cold water (hardest getting the first foot hold), crawling through another waterfall, and jumping into the river from about 5 meters up. I did not do the jump, only because I was wearing my glasses (which cost ~£300) - so instead I crawled through the waterfall twice (brrrr).

At the end of it all we were all nicely cold (it was the end of a very cold weekend - actually snowed briefly Saturday night), and a quick change in the car park we headed back to Somerset. After I got information to inquire about assisting in some of their activities later in the summer.