ABOUT Brecon Beacons Tours
Brecon Beacons Tours offer sightseeing and walking tours within the Brecon Beacons National Park and surrounding areas. Brecon Beacons Tours is a trading name of GeoWorld Travel Ltd, a private company based within the National Park, and is run by James and Abby Cresswell. The company has no formal connection with the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, although James is an accredited ambassador of the national park authority.
James Cresswell - Your Guide
James on the 'diving board' on Fan-y-Big in the Brecon Beacons. The peaks of Cribyn, Pen-y-Fan, and Corn Du are seen behind. The photo was taken on our Pen-y-Fan: The Horseshoe Walking Tour
James is an accredited ambassador to the Brecon BeaconsNational Park, the Fforest Fawr Geopark and the Brecon Beacons International Dark Skies Reserve
James is a holder of the Summer Mountain Leader qualification, Rescue Emergency Care First Aid certificate, and has Public Liability Insurance.
James is the founder and Director of both Brecon Beacons Tours and GeoWorld travel. He lives in the Brecon Beacons National Park where his family have lived for generations. James is a geologist, gaining his 2.1(Hons) degree in Geology from the University of Bristol, and his Masters in Oceanography from the University of Southampton. He holds his Summer Mountain Leader Award and is also an accredited ambassador to the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Fforest Fawr Geopark and the Brecon Beacons International Dark Skies Reserve.
James established Brecon Beacons Tours in 2016 and prior to setting up Brecon Beacons Tours and GeoWorld Travel he traveled to around 100 different countries and used to work as the geologist guide aboard expedition cruise ships. Countries and areas he previously guided in include: Antarctica, Svalbard, Canada (Arctic and Rockies) Greenland, Russian Arctic & Geographical North Pole, Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Caribbean, the South Pacific, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha.
James's passion for communicating geosciences began when he started his career working in the television documentary industry. He was the researcher on a Discovery Channel geological series, and was part of the BBC’s ‘Blue Planet’ series. However James's passion for the Brecon Beacons began as a small child when his grandfather would take him to see some of the same amazing places, that he now take you to see, and it gives him considerable pride to be able to feature some of his ancestors in the tours. For example his great great grandfather was general manger the Blaenavon Ironworks in the Blaenavon World Heritage Site, which is visited on the Hobbits & World Heritage sightseeing tour, and his grandfather has a plaque in the Cathedral which is visited on the History & the Whole Park sightseeing tour.
To read more about James and to see theselection of talks he can give, please check out his Public Speaking, Publications & Photography website here:
ABBY Cresswell - FINANCE MANAGER AND ARCHAEOLOGIST GUIDE
Abby in Craig Cerrig-gleisiad, with the peaks of Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du behind. Photo taken on our Fan Fawr walking tour.
Abby is both James's wife and a qualified archaeologist. At Brecon Beacons Tours she manages the finances and helps with the answering of emails. In addition to her work at GeoWorld Travel and Brecon Beacons Tours, Abby works as an IT Consultant in the Heritage Sector. Abby gained a 1st in her MA (Hons) degree in Medieval History & Archaeology at the University of St Andrews, and she gained a distinction in her Masters in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bristol. From time to time she also accompanies James on the tours or leads them herself, adding an extra dimension with archaeological guiding.
Brecon Beacons Tours is a Trading Name of GeoWorld Travel Ltd
