The Crickhowell Walking Festival takes place annually around St David’s Day, (1st March) and is based in our lovely market town of Crickhowell.
The Diving Board Rock
Most of the walks, which range from easy strolls to full day treks across the mountains are in the eastern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Black Mountains and river Usk Valley, but there are some walks in the Brecon Beacons as well. All the walks are led by local experienced guides and are graded according to difficulty.
Running alongside the walking programme is a series of Events, ranging from guest speakers, through training sessions on map reading to concerts and dancing. A very varied selection is on offer for those that do not wish to walk as well as walkers staying for the week. This year, the programme includes inspirational speakers Tim Emmett – an adventurer talking about how he survives his life of adventure – and Tori James – an amazing young woman, who was the first Welsh woman to ascend Everest. There are also many interesting talks by local speakers, with subjects ranging from climbs and treks in the Himalayas or Sierra Leone through to talks about Welsh churches, local geology or artists, alpine flowers, and our local mountain rescue teams. But not all the events are passive – you can learn how to improve your map reading and navigation, explore the joys of walking barefoot or with Nordic poles, spin wool, write poetry or prose, go hedgerow foraging, draw a picture on your tablet or smartphone or go star gazing in our wonderful dark skies! Music is not neglected with a wonderful St David’s Day Concert with harpist Katherine Thomas and the Crickhowell Choral Society and, to finish the week, a Twmpath (Welsh Ceilidh.)! As if that were not enough, we are showing the award winning adventure film Britrock – featuring many daredevil climbers and cyclists showing off their paces. Booking for all these events is now open through the festival website.
The 2015 Walking Festival starts on the 28th February and runs to the 8th March and there are over 80 walks to choose from. A special feature this year is an attempt to light up seven of the mountains around Crickhowell with torches. You can also participate in a challenge to ascend all 13 peaks over 2000 feet in the Black Mountains over two days. Or if you prefer something a little more gentle then you could learn about the history of the area whilst walking alongside the picturesque Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal, or bird watching near one of the lovely tributaries of the river Usk. Booking for walks is essential via the Festival website.
For more information on the Festival go to www.crickhowellfestival.com and for more on Crickhowell go to www.visitcrickhowell.co.uk.
David Thomas
