Length: 21.4 km (13.3 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 989/872m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours
Toughness: 8 out of 10
Take the 09.20 Bus T6 from Brecon
Interchange Stand 5, direction Ystradgynlais (for Abertawe/Swansea). Bus calls Llanfaes,
St David’s Church and arrives Glyntawe/Craig y Nos – Adelina Patti
Hospital at 09.55.
Return buses (line T4 from Storey Arms or Llwyn-y-celyn Youth Hostel): 16.26, 18.26 (journey time 18 minutes). Buy separate
single tickets. A taxi won't cost the earth.
This is a traverse of the dramatic massif of the Fforest Fawr (‘The Great
Forest’, with ‘Forest’ here denoting a former Royal Hunting Ground, rather than
an area full of trees), one of the least frequented parts of the Bannau
Brycheiniog National Park, linking the Black Mountain to the west with the
Central Beacons to the east.
From the Craig y Nos Country Park, an idyllic spot on the banks of the Afon Tawe (River Tawe) with its
Victorian Gothic building, the route follows the Tawe Valley for a short
stretch to rise steeply up a hillside to the Penwyllt Quarry, from where you
follow old tramways up through the limestone terrain of the Ogon Ffynnon Ddu National Nature Reserve, a large area of shakeholes and caves. You rise further along a good track and then trackless on up the slopes
of Fan Gyhirych to its summit, the highest point of the walk, from where you have stupendous views of the surrounding
upland moorland, the giants of the Beacons, the Black Mountain and of the Tawe
Valley.
Follow a steep glacial escarpment above the Senni Valley down to a saddle and ascend Fan Nedd and then Fan Dringarth, from where the route turns to another
dramatic glacial bowl in the Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad a Fan Frynych National
Nature Reserve for a descent to the A 470.
Walk Options:
An alternative finish at the Storey Arms Centre bus stop follows the Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad in
a southerly direction and then the Craig y Fro escarpment high above the A 470.
A
1 km out-and-back from the main route leads to Maen Llia, an
impressive Bronze Age standing stone.
An
alternative route through the high plateau (adds 1.1 km) follows the Beacons Way between Penwyllt Quarry and Fan Dringarth,
through the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu National Nature Reserve of Shake Holes and caves
and along Sarn Helen (an old Roman Road) past an ancient standing stone (Maen
Madoc) and an old Roman Camp.”
Lunch:
Picnic lunch.
For walk directions, map, photos,
height profile, and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.307
Alternative Walks for today:
Waterfalls and Bluebells - SWC 280 Henrhyd Waterfall/Sgwd Henrhyd from Craig y Nos. Take the same bus to the same stop. Return buses: 15.48,
16.20, 17.20, 18.23 and 19.23 from Craig y Nos
Country Park, a few minutes later from Glyntawe. Or, if that’s too
tame: SWC 278 – Brecon Beacons Horseshoe; walk any of the
variants straight from Brecon to the ridge and back down a different route.
3 comments:
Bus times updated, after our very own Sherlock Holmes found a site saying that (despite what bustimes.org says) a Sunday schedule will run on this Bank Holiday. Hence a 10 mins later start than initially posted, but an earlier last return bus.
Seeing that bustimes.org was wrong last Monday for the Bedwyn walk, this is probably the best assumption of what is going to happen. But to be 100% sure, we will check once in Brecon with a knowledgable person at the Bus Interchange.
Update: in light of the weather forecast (see mwis.org), the replacement walk SWC 280 will be walked. Same bus, same bus stop, but no mountains, not much ascent, a wooded gorge, lunch pubs, bluebells and South Wales's highest waterfall.
N=6 plucky walkers assembled in the rain to head for Craig y Nos after saying goodbye to some who were heading home today. The bus passed through some grim weather and thick mist on the way, justifying the decision to do a lower level walk. In fact it turned out not too bad for a valley walk, #damp-with-some-dry-spells-and-some-heavy-showers.
The stretch on cliffs above the river was spectacular, the rainforest on the way to the falls was beautiful and we saw an amazing vertical wall of wild garlic. None of us was tempted to walk under the falls in the wet slippery conditions.
It was dry for a good hour but we encountered drizzle on the hill after the falls, then a very heavy shower as we rushed to the pub, only to find it was jam/packed with no chance of a table for food.
As there was only a 10 minute wait, we therefore piled on to the 1406 bus. One alighted at Craig y Nos to pick up his car and drive home; 4 others had drinks and/or paninis in the friendly Hop Inn on Brecon high street. That’s all from me for this trip:
Many thanks to Thomas for his excellent organisation
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