The Black Mountain

Friday 4th September 2009

Finally on this walk I had some good weather during my holiday with hardly any rain at all. I had now moved south to an area I visited frequently five to ten years ago, the Brecon Beacons National Park, and coming back to the area was really bringing back memories of the many trips that I had used to make there. My first mountain walks were in the Brecon Beacons and now I’ve moved on to bigger and better things! It has been three years since I was last there, but on this walk I was visiting an area I’d not been in since 2003. The Black Mountain covers a vast area on the western part of the park, but I’ve only ever walked in one corner of the mountain, and this walk was no different as most of the Black Mountain is a vast featureless upland with little of interest. The most interesting point on the Black Mountain is its highest point at its north-eastern corner so that has always been my target for any walk there. This walk was in fact a variation of the one I made in 2003 except that it was being walked in the reverse direction.

As before I parked near the Gwyn Arms pub but the walk was started at the foot of the long ridge of Fan Hir, rather than ending there. Once into open country I veered away from my 2003 route by staying below the steep slope of the ridge, rather than on top of it, following the course of the Beacons Way as it climbs up the hillside with the steep slopes of Fan Hir ever to my right. The weather was fantastic as I climbed beside the stream, Nant Tawe Fechan, until I neared the top where the wind picked up. While braving the cold wind I made my way up to Llyn y Fan Fawr, which is a really picturesque lake in its mountain setting. I hadn’t visited this lake on my previous visits to the Black Mountain, so it was extra special for me to be able to finally visit this most beautiful lake. A manufactured path beside the lake had clearly not being able to cope with the excessive rain of the previous days and was showing signs of erosion as a result. I found it bizarrely amusing that the path had failed to cope with the bad weather, how malicious am I! Climbing up the steep path by the lake I reached the summit of the Black Mountain at Fan Brycheiniog, where I had lunch in the shelter.

Moving on I kept to the edge of the escarpment as I walked around the high tops at the north eastern corner of the Black Mountain. The views were stunning and the walking was great despite the strong winds. All too soon unfortunately I came to the end of the escarpment at Bannau Sir Gaer so I moved away from the edge across the featureless, boggy moor trying to find a path. Eventually I found a faint one and followed it down over a stream, the infant Avon Twrch, and on for hours across the moor as the path gradually became better and clearer while the terrain became increasingly more interesting. To my right the upland stretched for miles across featureless moorland crossed by few paths with little variation in height. Once my path improved however, I was able to enjoy the walk across the vast moorland passing many shake holes and rocky outcrops as I made my way back to my car. In 2003 I visited many of the tops of the significant outcrops along the way rarely touching the path, but this time I stuck to the path all the way as it slowly dropped down to the main road. I quite enjoyed this walk, if only because the weather was good, which was a welcome change. The climb up to the lake was good in the sunshine while the walk alongside the edge of the escarpment was spectacular and the traverse of the moorland was very relaxing. So a good walk then.