Brecon Beacons summer day out
The day started early, with a 4.00am alarm and before I knew it, I was up and going to start the journey towards the M4 heading for South Wales. We made good time and soon were navigating the small roads to the south of the Brecon Beacons, making our way to the car park at Taf Fechan. I was expecting the car park to be full as the weather was set to be good, but there were only a few cars present, making the parking easy. We shouldered our rucksacks and began down the access road towards the lower Neuadd reservoir. On reaching the end of the track we followed a path across the dam wall
through a gate and onto the hillside. The going was a bit boggy at first but was drier higher up as we passed the edge of the forrest. The final haul up onto the Graig Fan Ddu ridge was a little steep but short and we were soon walking over to the Trig point were we stopped to take in the view.
After a few photo’s we continued along the ridge mainly taking in the views but also chatting about the landscapes history, from the Sandstone rocks we were walking over to the effect that ice has had on the mountains.
We arrived at the col and joined the busy path from Storey arms car park, with having only seen a handful of people to this point, it was quite a different experience to be surrounded by crowds all moving towards Pen y Fan. A lot of people were bypassing Corn Du on a path traversing to the south, but we headed on up and after a short rocky step were on the summit.
We stayed briefly to enjoy the view and watch the crowds pulse towards the higher summit, and then swiftly made our way down to join the masses moving up to the high point of the, day Pen y Fan.
After a short stay on the summit we headed south east down the ridge towards another Col, and this path, although still busy, was a lot quieter. We crossed the Col past a small pool of water and began to ascend Cribyn, after about five minutes we stopped for a snack and to admire the view of Pen y fan’s north east face, which in winter holds some climbing routes.
A steady pace saw us arrive on the top of Cribyn, more terrific views were to be had and the weather was improving with a lot more sunshine and a gentle cooling breeze.
The final part of the descent off Cribyn down to Bwlch ar y Fan is quite steep and we passed a few groups heaving themselves slowly up the slope, but the crowds were now no longer present as we moved up to the summit of Fan y Big and the obligatory standing on the “diving board”.
I fell into conversation with a man who said that the last time he had been up to these mountains, he had been part of a group that had been struck by lightning on Pen y Fan. After discussing current weather patterns, we left the gentleman and headed of to have some lunch in a stone built shelter a bit along the ridge. The sun was now very warm out of the wind and we didn’t hang around for long. The next part of the walk was less strenuous and more undulating, but with fantastic views back to the mountains already crossed.
It wasn’t long before we were walking towards the waterfall at Blaen Caerfanell, now only seeing the occasional other person. We crossed the stream and headed over Craig y Fan Ddu and then the steep descent towards the waterfalls and car park near the road.
Once on the road it was a short walk on the tarmac, then onto a trail that bought us back to the car park, the only thing to do now was to go and have some tea and drive home. A good day out in fabulous weather, this is a great route which can be adjusted to suit available time and ambition.