What a day!

The Brecon Beacons is one of those areas that can really capture your imagination. I speak as one who has had his imagination captured. There is something about the sheer northern faces, the incredible sense of space and peace, and the seriousness of their ascent that keeps me coming back for more. They didn't disappoint yesterday!

From the beautiful approach along the Brecon and Monmouth canal, the view across the Talybont Reservoir, the stunning vista of the northern ridges illuminated by a neon sunset and the crystal clear view of all the stars you can imagine, we could very easily have suffered from Awesome Overload. However, the crack Spa2Summit team does not get overloaded easily. We girded our loins (particularly Chris) and got on with it!

Like some of the other guys, I was feeling a little apprehensive after the last walk. My chronically blistered feet really made me concerned about my ability to go the distance. Well, yesterday, I switched back to my Scarpa ZG10s and voila, no blisters. As a team, I think yesterday had a big impact on our morale; things that we had doubts about have been cleared up. Hydration (or Drinking, to the lay person), footcare, food, navigation and pace have all been fine tuned. We're ready to go. Ish.

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I would just like to add one thing before I go. The climbs up into the hills from the Talybont reservoir, and the final push up on to the summit of PyF are steep and unremitting. We'll be doing them after 65+ miles. They will hurt us, they will hurt us very much indeed. In fact probably everything from mile 15 will hurt us in way or another. We know this, and yet we're still doing it. Why? For Macmillan Cancer Support. Please donate so that our effort is well rewarded!

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OK, two more things! Yesterday, as has been mentioned, we were two men down. Self-supporting even this small part of the route was a real faff and made us truly appreciate the benefit of having a Gadget Wrangler of Jonty's quality on board. Also, Olly was away somewhere in North Africa (yeah, I bet) and we missed him for two reasons. Firstly, the extensive and bizarre selection of noises he can generate provide much amusement, and secondly, he is the transporter of the official Spa2Summit mascot, Wilson. Succesful as our walk may have seemed yesterday, without Wilson it just seemed a little empty... A further post on Wilson, and maybe even his own section on Spa2Summit.org must surely follow.

"Come On Wrighty!"