It's The Climb.

Now, the music channel in my gym has been playing the new Miley Cyrus offering an awful lot of late, and it's with not a little embarrassment that I confess to rather liking it.

It was also a rather fitting song to be stuck in my head as I trudged, thighs burning, gasping like a landed fish, to the summit of Pen Y Fan this afternoon.

We had a lovely day, joined by our friends Kay and Aled. We set out at the filter house at the lower Neuadd reservoir and followed the path along the side of Tor Glas, past Bwlch Ar Y Fan, skirted around the base of Cribyn before ascending Pen Y Fan via Craig Cwm Sere. It was a relatively easy walk until we reached the sharp ascent to the summit of Pen Y Fan - this was the point where I started channelling Miley to distract myself from the pain! It was unbelievably worthwhile, though - I'd never made it to the summit of the mountain before and the sense of achievement was amazing. The views alone were also worth the slog, and I took plenty of pictures.

It was nice to have a rear-guard companion - Kay and I let the boys stride on when we reached the steep bit, and climbed at a slower pace. It made it easier than being alone, scrambling after someone that's charged off without you and struggling to keep up. It also made for a giggle when the guys related how they reached the summit and sat down, smugly muttering about "waiting for the girls" - and then realised that we were carrying all the food, and the coffee!

Freya loved being out in the carrier, as well as all the attention from Kay and Aled; and had marvellous fun scampering around the summit and giving me heart failure as she careered towards a 300-foot drop!

We will definitely be back to tackle Pen Y Fan again soon - maybe next time I won't clock up a 2 hour gym workout the night before, though!



I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming but
There's a voice inside my head saying,
You'll never reach it,
Every step I'm taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing,
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on, cause

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb