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Brecon Impressions


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Friday –

  • Leave Oxford, drive to the Brecon Beacons and arrive at base.

Saturday –

  • 9am to 4pm, work on drainage ditches, with breaks for tea and lunch
  • Drive back to base
  • Prepare and eat a delicious pasta Bolognese dinner
  • Make a bonfire, have a few drinks and play some games

Sunday –

  • 9am to 2pm work on drainage ditches, with the usual breaks
  • Take a walk up Pen Y Fan, and over to Corn Du
  • Have leftovers from the night before in a Shepherd’s Pie, along with a Spanish omelette

Monday –

  • Long walk to Ystradfellte
  • Drive back to Oxford

When I list it like this it could be any trip to Wales, where you get to participate in some local conservation activity. But it doesn’t tell you a lot about the trip, does it? It doesn’t tell you what a pleasure it was to get to know a van full of new people, or how excited most of us new people were to be on their first resi, or how surprising it is to be woken up at 3am by a determined kitchen mouse chewing through the bread bag. It doesn’t give you the feeling of accomplishment we got from climbing into the clouds, digging out meters of ditch and wrestling with stones whilst fighting the wind, or the sense of connection to a bygone time when this was a standard practice. The list doesn’t do service to the beautiful landscape, incredibly friendly walkers, excitable dogs, and the eternally cheerful warden, Rob. And it certainly doesn’t fill you with the same delicious locally-made ice cream that we stuffed ourselves with at the end of each workday.

If it wasn’t conservation of energy, what was it? Our new stone-lined ditches will help keep the hillsides from collapsing onto the paths, and will help with water drainage. And we know they will be around for a long time to come – after all, the old Roman paths and ditches still exist! So what’s a few bruises or crushed fingers, when we’ve managed to stave off erosion, preserve the landscape for generations to come and live on in perpetuity through our stonework?


With great power comes great... enjoyment of card games? pub visits? nights of sleep? Well, with our power to lay ditches came all of the above. It also gave us great conversations, super cooks who made delicious breakfasts and suppers, and a surprising ability to share two showers between 12 people amicably.


And when all is said and done, where’s the fun? If long walks over stunning hills overlooking the surrounding landscape or through peaceful woods by clear waters don’t do it for you, then I don’t know what does. We battled through winds and tourists to get to the top of the highest mountains (and left our mark in small stones at the top). We tramped across sheep-strewn fields in search of the van and the ice cream. We braved the woodland paths and basked by the waterfalls, and managed to avoid the forest fires not so far away. It was busy, and beautiful, and so worth it.


Emma Burnett

Return to Weasel Summer 2011