On 28th May 2005 the "Right to Roam" was implemented across Wales. That day also saw the formal inauguration of the Beacons Way, a 100-mile footpath route through the National Park.

To celebrate the occasion I went out in the early evening up to Tafarn-y-Garreg in Upper Swansea Valley to exercise the new Right by roaming a country-mile along the Beacons Way up towards Llyn-y-Fan Fawr.

A glance at the just-published Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Explorer Map (Sheet OL12) was sufficient to confirm that I knew pretty much where the route went, although I hadn't actually walked it before. The map was left in the car.

All went smoothly for the first few hundred metres - gateposts waymarked, the path obvious.

Next thing I know, I'm fighting up a vanishing animal track through knee-high bracken thinking "I'm sure the map didn't show anything this steep."

Then I'm up on high ground heading towards Fan Hir ridge - not on the Beacons Way.

That was the moment this website was conceived.

CB