well, I did promise I'd try...

If you ask me where my top five landscape locations are, very near the top would be Waterfall Country high above the Neath Valley nestled in the lower slopes of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

I've posted about my trips to the falls on here many times, and a while back I did say that it was a massive bucket-list ambition of mine to get back there one day.

Dexy and me at the falls :-)

The problem is though, that on an average day I struggle to walk very far without excruciating pain.  On a good, no brilliant, day I can manage a short stroll so just last month, when such a day dawned, I dosed myself up on painkillers, packed light and walked to the most easily accessed fall - the upper Sgwd Clun Gwyn, or Fall of the White Meadow to give it its English meaning.

Luckily for me the path there has been improved massively since my last visit some eight years ago or so. Dexter led the way as I walked very slowly, stopping every few yards until eventually, after around an hour, we hit the falls.  It was a sight I thought I'd never see again, and I cried unashamedly.

We stayed for a couple of hours, taking pictures and flying the drone as well as answering questions I'd invited on my YouTube channel.

Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 10-24mm f4 @ 14.5mm
0.5 seconds @ f11, ISO 160
Haida circular polarising filter, Good 3-stop neutral density filter
Tripod, self-timer release

But all too soon it was time to pack up and walk back to the car - uphill this time.  And a walk that would have taken me 10-15 minutes when I was fit took well over an hour again.  But I'd made it!

Dexter and I enjoyed some water and the last of our food before heading home.  I think anyone I passed would have been able to see the glow of contentment on me.

It didn't last!

I paid for my exertions for a week or so after, and got really ill on a trip to Craig y Nos which I really shouldn't have made so soon.  

I have to remember I am not Superman!

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You can watch my Q&A video right here:




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