Riding into the storm — Black Mountain crossing

With a couple of spare days to play with and inspired by my good friend Cass' Black Mountain Crossing write up on Bikepacking.com, I rallied the troops for a Welsh overnighter from deep in the valleys of South Wales.

Despite being early August, the weather was not on our side, with Storm Ellen rapidly approaching as we disembarked the train at Aberdare on our first day. Our journey deep into the heart of the Black Mountain to the west of the Brecon Beacons became a race against the incoming storm, hankered by the rough chunky byways of the ancient Sarn Helen 'road' and then a multi-hour hike-a-bike over the moorland.

Our initial plan to wild camp on the shores of the high Lyn y Fan Fach were dashed; lightning storms were incoming and it didn't seem like a good idea to head up the mountainside. Instead, we got lucky with a wonderful semi-wild campsite in the valley where we could shelter from the worst of the storm overnight.

Although most of the rain had fallen in the night, there were still huge winds battering the open landscape, so in fear of swollen rivers and unsafe mountain passes, we quickly made the decision to stick to the roads for our return leg on day two. Even that, it would turn out, would be pretty thrilling through the storm!

Photography by ForTheHellOfIt.cc