Length:
21.6 km (13.4 mi) or 19.4 km/12.1 mi if walking the short walk
Ascent/Descent:
816/820m or 556/560m on the short walk
Net
Walking Time: ca. 6 hours or 5 hours
Toughness:
10 out of 10 or 7 out of 10
Take the 10.06 bus (line X43) from
Bus Stand 3 at Brecon Bus Interchange.
Arrives Bwlch 10.21.
Return buses (X43 or 43) are on: 16.34, 17.29, 18.19 and 19.19 (journey time 15 or 21 minutes). Buy
a Bwlch return.
From
the pdf: “This is a varied walk from
the small settlement of Bwlch
(‘pass’ in Welsh), starting
from a low col high above the Usk Valley
onto the rolling moorlands of Cefn
Moel and Mynydd Llangorse. The following long
ridge walk along this outlying peak’s plateau – and the subsequent optional
ascent to Mynydd Troed –command panoramic
views across to many of the much higher giants of the Brecon Beacons
National Park: across the Rhiangoll valley to the south-western flanks of the
Black Mountains massif, west to the Central Beacons and south to Mynydd
Llangynidr and Mynydd Llangattock. A
road descent leads to Llangorse village
for lunch and around its iconic lake, of glacial origin and the largest natural lake in South Wales,
with its watersports centre – and the only
crannog outside of Scotland and Ireland. This is a busy touristic site in
season. Leave the crowds behind to further circumvent the
large lake to a remote bird hide and an even more remote church-with-views
in Llangasty-Talyllyn and then up the Allt yr Esgair ('wooded slope of the
ridge' in Welsh). It is crowned by an Iron
Age hillfort and a Roman road and overlooks the valley of the River Usk to
the west and south and Llangorse Lake and the Black Mountains to the northeast.
You
then follow the Roman Road back down to
Bwlch.
Cutting
out the steep out-and-back up to Mynydd Troed makes this a 7/10 walk.
A
more easterly loop back to Bwlch from Mynydd Troed via its long plateau ridge
and down into the Cwm Sorgwm and back up across Pen Tir makes it a more serious
outing.”
For
a visual assessment of how much tougher the alternative route via Pen Tir is,
have a look at the two height profiles at the bottom of the walk’s webpage
linked below.
Lunch: The Castle Inn and
The Red Lion, both in Llangors (12.0 km/7.4 mi if walking the
full walk). Picnic lunch if walking the extended
walk via Pen Tir!
Tea: several options en
route (see the pdf for details), and The New Inn (CAMRA South Wales' 2017 Pub of the Year) right by the bus
stop in Bwlch.
T=3.308
2 comments:
3 car loads and half a bus made the journey to Bwlch, and the group stayed together to the split off point, where 8 turned left to Llangorse for the short walk. All others ascended Mynydd Troed (a bigger ascent than the total height of the highest hills in the SE). Only 2 then went back down the hill to walk the main walk route, the other 20 - after picnic on the top - turned right for the map led route with more ups and downs. Half of those bailed out after the next steep ascent to gain the outbound route and retrace to Bwlch. The others descended to Cwmdu, where the newly reopened - and now community-owned -The Farmers pub provided liquid refreshments. One last ascent and we just missed the 18.19 bus. Off to the New Inn. It was a w=sunny-and-hot day, with hang gliders, glider planes, cuckoos, bluebells, lots of gorgeous lambs, wild horses, fantastic views. A brilliant day.
The main walk route was reported to still be flooded in the NW corner of the lake, although some waded through it, others apparently took the long flood diversion.
n=30
To be clear, the man route after Llangorse village was impassable, it was deeply flooded. The two who descended after lunch actually followed "diversion 1" which edged along the side of the flooded fields and was still extremely squelchy. We then intercepted those who took the longer diversion.
On the whole I wouldn't recommend any version of this walk section, but the Allt yr Esgair hill at the end was very nice. Most tried to follow the lower route but a sign pointing walkers to the left (and horses to the right) took them to the top anyway. Best to stick to the left hand (higher) route.
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