Wild swimming in Wales

I've had an incredible weekend exploring waterfalls, rivers and lakes in the Brecon Beacons with my awesome old friend Jo. If you're after an outdoorsy, restorative weekend with lots of beautiful wild swimming spots that aren't too challenging to reach, I highly recommend this area!

We stayed in Brecon, spent a day in 'Waterfall Country', and then swam in Llyn Cwm Llwch (nestled underneath Pen Y Fan) before heading home on the Sunday.

We set off after work on Friday, checked into our lovely little Airbnb in Brecon, and headed out to get food (if you go to Gurkha Corner in Brecon, be prepared for delicious Momos and super-spicy paneer).

A bit of map-poring back at the Airbnb and we had a plan for Saturday - the Four Waterfalls Walk and the Elidir Trail. Both routes are detailed here.

Our drive down to the start of the falls walk was shrouded in mist, but it cleared as the morning went on and we found waterfall pools to dip in, and a glorious spot with a little seat where the sun broke through the clouds for the first time.

You can even walk behind one of the waterfalls (and take selfies)!

It got busier as the sun came out and the day went on and we decided to head to the Elidir Trail for some more waterfalls, but also caves, old silica mines, and entrances to fairy kingdoms. The trail delivered on all of these apart from the fairy kingdom which we'll never know because we were too scared to go into the cave...

It was such a rewarding and restorative day, full of nature, walking, dipping and talking.

Back in Brecon we had some great tapas and Brecon gin at Hop Inn Beer & Gin.

For a change from waterfalls, we decided to head for a lake on Sunday, Llyn Cwn Llwch at the base of Pen Y Fan.

It was a glorious walk up with spectacular views all around, and Pen Y Fan looming in front. We briefly had the luxury of the lake to ourselves. An amazing spot to swim!

We had great fun exploring, dipping, being in nature, documenting our fun with selfies. It was a brilliant way to spend some quality time with an old friend, we talked non-stop, we reminisced, we laughed, we made new memories.

I think many of these spots would also be good for reflection and solitude, if you picked your times right - we didn't have any of our swimming spots purely to ourselves for longer than a couple of minutes, they're all definitely ON the beaten trail!

If you'd like any more info about where we went, maps and blogs we used for planning, what we took with us etc please just get in touch!

Anita x