Black Mountain Pass

Unless you are an elderly lady looking through the window, counting the amount of people that have walked past your house today and then complaining on social media, you don’t have much to do. Or it is indeed the perfect time to reminisce about past ludicrous ideas that turned out to be worth shouting for. In October last year, I didn’t have much planned for my birthday and came up with the ambitious plan to see the whole of Wales in a couple of days.

What do we associate Wales with? Sheep, words you can’t pronounce and some of the best driving roads in Europe. Fact. When you whisper the words ‘Evo Triangle’ to an avid car person, they’ll start drooling. To non-petrolheads it’s a set of roads, which look like a triangle. Evo Triangle was stamped by EVO magazine as their favourite road for testing performance cars. There is a good reason behind it, which we’ll revisit later. In usual fashion I quickly drew a route on the map, placing a few pins or ‘places of interest’ – Black Mountain pass, Snowdonia and a touch of the aforementioned Evo Triangle. In all fairness, I was most intrigued by the Black Mountain pass in the Brecon Beacons area, simply because it’s been featured numerous times on car shows like Top Gear, funnily enough mostly in the rain. Expectations for roads like those are always high, so to keep them at that level I set off early, covering about 130 miles of motorway driving. And you know how much I love this.. it was around 11am and as soon as I left a village named Brynamman, I knew instantly what all the fuss was about. The view cleared, sort of, it was wet and gloomy but there wasn’t a single car in sight and I was already over the moon. What’s special about those roads is that there is gorgeous undulations, your car’s floating the surface and if you are enthusiastic enough you can get your wheels off the road. Not to mention the tight corners, hair pins, the lot. I wouldn’t say the Megane is face-bending fast but on those narrow roads it feels like you’re flying, which could be great ..or terrifying. I didn’t for a second feel that I need more power, I guarantee that you won’t be having more fun in a Ferrari there, which let’s be honest, no one with their right mind would take on a wet, foggy Welsh road. Long live the hothatch!

• 

• 

I might’ve forgotten to mention that this journey would be around 500 miles, to be covered in 2 days. I did say it was ambitious, but I was determined to explore as much possible. Before I continue, Black Mountain pass in Welsh is.. wait for it – Pas Mynydd Du. Moving on, with those thrilling roads in my rear-view mirror, I decided to take a diversion towards the Carreg Cennen Castle for some sightseeing or sheep-watching.  The miserable weather did not spoil the incredible views this place put on show. The Castle is mostly in ruins but still maintained, with hidden passages going into dark holes, which I didn’t feel brave enough to throw a glance at. I was also in a village called Trapp, I don’t imagine anything good came out of there..

• 

• 

Foot on the brake, start button and acceleration were my next steps of action.  I was 3 hours away from my overnight stay in Groeslon, which was just on the outside of Snowdonia National Park. Must admit, the roads to my destination were incredible, but you don’t get any close to the emotions of driving in the South of France. Might be because of the weather(mainly), but nevertheless it was, what an adrenaline-junkie like me loves all day long. Join me for part 2, where I will be sharing how I made sandwiches in the boot of my car, climbed up a mountain called ‘Electric’ and burnt more fuel.

Chao