Ascent/Descent:
455m or 299m on the short walk
Net
Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours or 3 ½ hours
Toughness:
6 out of 10 or 3 out of 10
Meet
at 15.00 in the south east corner of the Morrison’s car park in Brecon’s
town centre, next to the Markets Tavern and near the four-way road junction by
the Bus Interchange. Meet an hour later
for the shorter walk, meet two hours
later for the very short woodland gorge loop.
From
the pdf: “This short excursion from the heart of the busy market town of Brecon
leads out along the Promenade along the Usk River and then through fields and
woods to the remains of Y Gaer (CICVCIVM
Roman Fort), built around AD 75 and established as a Roman cavalry base for
the conquest of Wales. Rebuilt in stone during the 2nd half of the 2nd
century AD, it still features interesting remains of walls, gatehouses and
turrets. Follow
the Ysgir River north up the valley and onto Battle Hill, a modest grassy ridge from where you nevertheless have
extensive views of all the spectacular
mountain areas around Brecon. A
descent through woods and across pastures leads to the remains of Pen-y-crug Iron Age hillfort, with its up
to five surviving ramparts, located on The Crug (pronounced cree-g), a
hill overlooking Brecon. Despite
its modest height, it has extensive views of the central Brecon Beacons, and
also views to a number of neighbouring hillforts. En
route back down to Brecon and past the
cathedral and Norman castle remains, you pass the covered well of Ffynnon Maen-du, one of several springs on the
slopes of Pen-y-crug.
A
shortcut cuts the long ascent to
Battle Hill and the remaining short walk still provides an interesting
introduction to the area with its rivers, woods and views from the Pen-y-crug
hillfort site.
An
extension through the Priory Groves
Woodland Gorge, starting from the cathedral, and going up the Honddu
valley, is a fascinating excursion up this lovely gorge, which – in parts – is
almost alpine in character, despite being only a stone’s throw from the town
centre. This can also be done as a (very short but rewarding) standalone walk.”
Tea: there will be a group dinner at 19.30 hours (i.e. right
after the walk) at The Clarence pub, at 25 Watton, 3
minutes away from the start point of the walk.
T=3.306
3 comments:
Hi,
Anyone interested in the evening meal on Friday at the Clarence who has not yet contacted me, please drop me an email at goepfertkarenATyahooDOTcom. See you there!
As far as could be ascertained at the group dinner, 8 started the walk at 3, 2 walking the 13km version, 6 the full 18km. 4 others started about an hour later and walked some version of the shorter walk, 3 + 1 walked the woodland gorge walk only, so n=16 in total in w=dry-and-pleasant weather. Whatever clouds were present earlier, had lifted by the time we got to the minor ridge in the middle of the walk, and we had splendid views out to all the tops being walked this weekend.
As one of the late starters: we followed the main route to the Roman fort then walked to Cradoc and then back on the main road as we'd run out of time - not very edifying but the suburbs of Brecon were quite pleasant. I wonder what's the story behind the twin chapels at the cemetary?
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