The Brecon Beacons is the chosen testing ground for one of the most revered fighting forces in the world – the Special Air Service.

A deceptive and gruelling environment, the deadly extent of its pitfalls was brought into sharp and shocking focus on Saturday 13 July, 2013.

Early morning, three supremely fit, experienced soldiers set off on a 16-mile timed march.

It was a relatively short exercise in a series they had volunteered to undertake in a quest to being accepted into “The Regiment”.

None of them made it back.

A month-long inquest into why these soldiers collapsed delivered a conclusion of neglect on Tuesday.

Here BBC Wales news website takes a closer look at one of Wales’ last true wildernesses, its significant role in the history of the SAS and why it is no stranger to tragedy.

On bank holiday weekend August 1900, five-year-old Tommy Jones left home with his father, a young Rhondda miner, to visit his grandparents’ farm in the Brecon hills.

Wearing new boots, his best sailor suit and collaret, they caught the train to Brecon before they both set off on a four-mile walk to the farm set in a deep valley below the highest summit in south Wales, Pen-y-Fan.

With only a quarter of a mile to go, Tommy and his father stopped at the Login, a building now in ruins but then a busy camp for soldiers training at a nearby rifle range.

Mr Jones bought a drink from the canteen and a penny’s worth of biscuits for his boy.

Read the rest on the BBC.

(lead picture courtesy of wikipedia)