Welshcakes can be traced back in time to one of the earliest forms of baking, where a flatstone would be placed onto an open fire and small flat cakes would be griddled on top of the hot stone.

It is a shame that they are not more widely available outside of their native Wales as they make a fine accompaniment to a nice cup of tea.

Welshcakes are made from the simplest of ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and currants, and are roughly circular, a couple of inches in diameter and about half an inch thick. The cakes can be eaten hot or cold, with or without butter and/or jam, but are seldom split in half like their scone cousins.

With so many variations, and just one packet of cakes, I was unable to test all the permutations for which I apologise (I promise to do better next time).  However, and without doubt, I can already confirm that these little cakes from Wales are worthy of a place beside a nice cup of tea.

Toffee waffles are impressive biscuits: two waffles sandwich a layer of lightly-spiced toffee. There are said to be chocolate species, which are entirely coated in either milk or plain chocolate, though I have yet to track these down.

The toffee centre to the biscuit adds an intriguing dimension, as the properties of the toffee change with temperature. At room temperature it is soft and gooey, though at the top of a welsh mountain in early spring the toffee is much firmer and deliciously chewy. These properties can be manipulated when coupled with a nice cup of tea – a little heating over a mug of tea will cause the toffee to become runnier.

Toffee waffles are native to Wales, where they are probably more abundant. Outside of Wales they are fairly rare but can be order directly from the Tregroes Waffle web site.

David invited me to visit Dyffryn Crawnon in the Brecon Beacons for a week, and while he set about on repairs to the bunkhouse I have the opportunity to stretch my legs over a beacon or two.

The first amble was up and around the head of Dyffryn Crawnon valley, but from there I caught glimpses of Pen-y-Fan to the north and a few interesting looking mountains closer to home.

The second stroll was making my way back from Crickhowell, where David had gone to pick up the new mower. After a brief stop at the remains of the Castle I headed off to find the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal which could provide some good walking. It was very good walking, though it seemed someone had removed the plug and let all the water out.

Then it was up and over Tor-y-Foel with its views across Talybont Reservoir, back along the ridge, down into the valley and along back to the bunkhouse in time for afternoon tea – David will have to try harder to get rid of me!

The longest walk was to be to Pen-y-Fan and back, almost 20 miles up and over several mountains and through valleys. The weather was good though and with the light evenings I would have plenty of time.

The views were quite amazing, with excellent visibility. With my legs aching I decided that in order to make it back I could contour round a few of the peaks on the way to Pen-y-Fan and contoured round them – so there will be more to walk if I get invited back.

More pictures from the walks can be found here.

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Big Pit is a real coal mine, and above ground felt strangely eerie – like an enormous ghost of the industrial age was still present from a time when the site was in full production.

It has stopped producing coal and now allows visitors to be guided around some of the underground tunnels. All of the guides are miners who have at least 5 years experience of working underground, their enthusiasm and passion for mining was almost overwhelming while being most engaging.

You need to be at least 1 metre tall to be able to go on the underground tour, for those above 1.5 metres tall you will be stooping and bumping your head at regular intervals!

The mine almost seemed magical – when we entered it was raining, cold, and low cloud hung over the valley. When we made it out the sun was shining and it was a very pleasant autumn day.

It was late on friday night when we passed over the River Severn and paid our £5.10 to get into Wales. Why is it £5.10 and not an even £5 which would be so much easier? What was the need for all those 10p pieces? are the Welsh trying to undermine the GBP£ by hording all the 10p coins??

We continued on, passing Merthyr Tydfil and up into the Brecon Beacons – and it started to rain. We caught up with the minibus from NIMR and spent a little while in sunken lanes looking for the bunkhouse…

The morning was overcast, and the cloud was getting lower as breakfast was eaten and discussions continued about the walking options. Eventually we all started to head off to Pen-y-Fan, the highest point in South Wales.

By the time we were up to the Obelisk the wind had picked up to gale force and the cloud was very low. I even had to find my woolly hat!

Perhaps heeding the salutary tale from the obelisk some of the group headed off to find lower ground, while others continued up.

The obelisk is a memorial to Tommy, a five-year-old boy who lost his way while visiting his grandparents. It was almost a month before his body was found as his family and the army looked for him in the valley, never thinking that such a small boy would manage to climb so high onto the ridge.

We stopped at Corn Du and found some shelter, at the top of the sheer north escarpment, out of the wind to have lunch. It was then a cheeky little climb up a steep staircase to the top of Pen-y-Fan (886 metres). We did not linger for long in the wind and rain at the top and headed down along the broad path of Cefn Cwm Llwch.

Descending down the long ridge we finally got out of the wind, and some of the more optimistic people in the group even thought they saw a patch of blue sky in the thinning cloud.

It was then a short walk along the road, at the foot of the hills, back to the bunkhouse to dry out.

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