Length: 21.9 km (13.6 mi), with options to shorten or lengthen
Ascent/Descent: 781/684 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness: 7 out of 10
Take the 09.04 Bus Line 43 from
Crickhowell Square (leaves Abergavenny 08.43), arrives
Llangynidr Village Hall 09.19.
[From the direction of Brecon:
take the 08.45, arrives 09.15.]
Return buses:
- to Crickhowell and Abergavenny: from Llangynidr,
Village Hall (line 43): 16.38, from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43): 17.14
- to Brecon: from Llangynidr, Village Hall
(line 43): 15.19, from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43): 16.34, 17.47
and 18.13.
This walk leads from Llangynidr village up along a
tight valley, the Cwm Cleisfer, and onto the open limestone uplands of Mynydd
Llangynidr, initially along a lane then through pastures, in the latter stages
with some difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open
moorland. Mynydd Llangynidr is a basically treeless undulating mountain of open
limestone uplands with numerous depressions, shake holes and pits, as well as
many ancient cairns (burial mounds) dotted across the moorland. You climb to
the source of the Cleisfer, a perfect picnic spot, and then across the scarred
landscape (map and compass come in handy) to the Chartist Cave, arguably one of
Wales' most important historic monuments. The Chartists were a 19th
century working-class movement for political reform and this cave is where the
local group met and stored weapons before the Newport Rising of 1839.
You cross the top of the moorland hill and descend
to a remote road by an active limestone quarry and pick up a former tramway for
transporting goods to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal to skirt around the
rim of the picturesque wooded Crawnon Valley. A stretch along a ridge high
above the Talybont Reservoir is followed by a descent through lush pastures
back to Llangynidr. To complete the walk, cross the Usk River and ascend to
Bwlch on the other side for a return bus.
An Extension near the end over the Tor y Foel hill adds 250m and 113m ascent.
A Variation of the route near the end through Llangynidr leads along the rivers Crawnon and Usk to Llangynidr
Bridge rather than along the canal. This is flood-prone when The Usk is in
spate and has some steep and rocky bits.
A finish at the start point in Llangynidr is described.
Lunch: Picnic.
Lunch Off-Route: Tafarn-Ty-Uchaf
(Top House) in Trefil. The Top House pub is located 1.8 km off route, after 9.3
km/5.8 mi of walking.
Tea: The Coach &
Horses Inn (open all day, 3.1 km from the end) and The Walnut Tree
Café Bar (open to 17.00, 2.2 km from the end) in Llangynidr; The New Inn in Bwlch
(open from 17.00, right by the bus stop). There is also The Red Lion in Llangynidr,
at the end of the Llangynidr ending, close to the bus stop (open all day)
For summary, walk directions, map,
height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.332
3 comments:
I will explore an alternative on the ascent to the "difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open moorland", which every time so far have proven energy-sapping and a little frustrating. The alternative is the light blue line shown on the route map.
The day started with a couple of transport snafus: 2 Abergavenny-based walkers waited in vain for the 8.43 bus to Brecon (Non-School Days only), which according to Stagecoach's online timetable and the info displayed at the bus stops should have run. Some locals thought so as well. It didn't. So the walkers had to take a taxi to the walk start. In Crickhowell meanwhile, the bus driver confirmed that he had indeed driven up from Abergavenny, but on a Dead Leg-journey (that's bus industry jargon for a planned empty drive to the start of the scheduled journey). Quietly infuriating. Stagecoach will get an email. ..
Secondly, one walker (all the way from Dublin) who had been on the bus to Crick with us the evening before, was not at the bus stop and has still not been heard of.
So, 3 took the bus, 2 joined at Llangattock, 1 was waiting in Llangynidr having arrived on the bus from Talybont and 2 arrived a few mins later by Taxi: n=8.
The weather was perfect for walking: mainly blue skies with some clouds, then more clouds than sun around lunch, then blue skies again, all the time with a breeze. Views were superlative. Everyone walked the alt. route mentioned in the previous post. We had elevenses at the 'usual' spot, by the source of the Cleisfer, then lunch on the rim of the Crawnon Valley with terrific vistas. We saw plenty of wild ponies with and without foals on the limestone plateau.
Later all went over Tor y Foel.
The group split in Llangynidr, with 3 swimmers moving on swiftly to do their thing and 5 retiring to the Coach & Horses pub and deli for drinks, coffees and pasteis de nata.
On along the river route ourselves then, where 2 paddled a bit. We saw a heron and an egret in close-up fly-by and all 5 got to Bwlch with 5 mins to spare to the 17.14 to Crick. The 3 swimmers were picked up at The New Inn. A rather perfect day out apart from the bus nonsense.
w=sunny-with-some-clouds
Turns out that Dublin man missed the bus by minutes, walked to Llangynidr! And then did the whole walk. Hero of the day, no doubt. N=9
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