Cambrian Way rerun: Brecon Beacons Youth Hostel to Llyn y Fan Fawr

Wednesday 21st May 2025

My previous day on the Cambrian Way, while climbing over the Brecon Beacons, had been very tiring so I was glad when I finally reached the Brecon Beacons Youth Hostel at the end of the day, despite a relatively early finish that gave me a chance to rest. I appreciated sleeping in a bed and in the morning I felt refreshed as I set off on the seventh stage of the Cambrian Way, which still traverses wild mountain scenery in Bannau Brycheiniog, but is less strenuous that the sixth stage. Technically the seventh stage starts from the Storey Arms car park, but my Cicerone guidebook offers a shortcut from the youth hostel through the Graig Cerrig Gleisiad National Nature Reserve, which I was more than happy to take, initially through woodland decorated with bluebells before emerging onto the open hillside with the impressive crags before me and immediately I crossed the stream to climb steeply up to the top. This was an enjoyable path that snaked ingeniously up the hillside while behind me were stunning views down the valley of Glyn Tarrell and towards the town of Brecon. The rain when I got up at the start of the day had soon ended and I already had blue skies and sunshine for my walk, which was much better than the overcast weather that had accompanied me last year on this stage when I first attempted the Cambrian Way. My path took me around the top of Craig Cerrig-gleisiad before turning left to head into the Fforest Fawr, which is a quiet, less trodden part of the national park and lies between the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountain.

Feeling upbeat and more energetic than on the previous two days, I made my way along the clear path of the Beacons Way crossing bare grassy slopes before climbing onto the northern ridge of Fan Dringarth and over the other side to rejoin the Cambrian Way but with no path to follow. Eventually I reached the Roman road of Sarn Helen, which now appears to be little more than a toilet for sheep so I came off the track at the earliest opportunity and headed west ignoring the diversion that the Cambrian Way makes to the south towards the standing stone of Maen Llia. I did that path last year so I had no hesitation in cutting the corner now, which I hoped would avoid the boggy ground in the area, though some bogs were still encountered on my new path. Soon I reached a road where I stopped for my lunch just as I had done previously to take in the stupendous views that are available from this point down the valley of the Afon Senni. This was a mesmerising sight, so I was more than happy to stop for a rest before setting off again across the northern slopes of Fan Nedd with the valley behind me continuing to attract my notice while ahead of me, beyond the steep hillside, I could see the highest point on this stage of the trail, Fan Gyhirych, while a strong wind encouraged me to put on my cagoule. With nothing but grass covering the hillsides I had nothing to interest me except for the distant views, which were mostly behind, so I just kept going focusing on the music I was listening to and when I reached the far side of Fan Nedd I crossed the col up the dull grassy hillside of the eastern ridge of Fan Gyhirych.

I ignored the wide, gravel track at the top of the ridge to follow a faint path beside the edge of the escarpment with views north over Cray Reservoir while behind me the twin peaks of the Brecon Beacons, Pen y Fan and Corn Du, dominated the skyline. I was becoming conscious of the need to not take the same pictures as I had last year, though on this walk the better weather was encouraging me to do just that. I took loads of pictures of the valleys of Glyn Tarrell and Glen Senni, and from this point back to the Brecon Beacons, but since I had used those same angles on this blog last year, though the weather then was not so good, I feel the need to find some different pictures this time that showcases other parts of the walk, even though they may not be as spectacular as the aforementioned. When I reached the trig point at the summit of Fan Gyhirych I sat for a rest while several people passed by and were the first I had seen all day, which made the top seem busy. The Cambrian Way descends the southern slopes of Fan Gyhirych to eventually end the stage in Glyntawe, which is what I did last year, but my Cicerone guidebook also describes a direct route for those not seeking accommodation in the Swansea Valley. So, this time I turned north, after avoiding the steep northern slopes, crossing the gentler western slopes following a line of boundary stones that were not prominent enough to aid navigation, and so I constantly felt the need to check my location to ensure I was keeping on route.

A final, very steep and tricky descent brought me to the A4067 road where my difficulties continued over a tiresome, uninteresting ridge, Cefn Cul, which had to be traversed with hardly any path to follow. Eventually I reached a narrow road on the other side where a clear path now led me up the hillside beside the Nant y Llyn stream and though it started to rain this was ultimately short-lived and it was the strong winds that were my biggest problem. It is much more pleasant walking when it is not windy, but the winds are always stronger at the top of a hill, so they are often unavoidable. Eventually I reached the lake of Llyn y Fan Fawr where I spent a good while wandering around trying to find some shelter from the wind, but eventually I found a spot beside the eastern shore of the lake where I put up my tent and spent the night. I believe this is a popular place to wild camp and though this was my first time, I could immediately see why it appeals, especially in sunny weather. Except for the climb up to and around the crags of the nature reserve, there was nothing particularly interesting or fun about this walk as the rest of the terrain has been ruined by overgrazing that has left the hills as bare grassy mounds. It was all just dull, dull, dull, immensely dull grassy hills with no redeeming features at all for me, apart from the sunny weather that at least provided me with stunning views in all directions.

Cambrian Way rerun: Chartist Cave to the Brecon Beacons Youth Hostel

Tuesday 20th May 2025

Before this walk I spent the night in the Chartist Cave, Ogof Fawr, which was not a pleasant experience as I had trouble sleeping and it made me want to reduce the nights I was planning on sleeping out as I prefer to sleep in a proper bed. It was a fabulous location and I spent a lovely evening there in warm, sunny weather and the following morning it was soon just as warm when I set off again along the Cambrian Way while trying to avoid my mistakes of last year when I first attempted to do the trail. However, soon after the Chartist Cave the Cambrian Way comes off the clear path and it is difficult to keep precisely to the sketchy path that crosses the moorland, passing Garn Fawr cairn and heading west. Eventually I successfully crossed the moor and onto a wide quarry road where I turned right and followed it to the edge of a conifer plantation where a track skirts the wood with many fallen trees blocking my way. I was feeling very tired and in need of a drink, so when I reached a stream I stopped to have a rest and a long drink of water while gazing at the calming views ahead of me into the secluded valley of Dyffryn Crawnon while behind me were the exposed rocks of Cwar yr Hendre limestone quarry. Last year the weather had been poor at this point with low cloud but now I enjoyed blue skies and warm sunshine.

After a long rest I set off again beside the stream between a field and the quarry until I eventually emerged onto pathless grassland where navigation had been difficult last year due to low cloud and this year, despite much better weather, I still had difficulty keeping to the trail until I surmounted a rise and had a view across the head of Cwm Callan with a faint path, merely an indentation in the grass, heading towards the ridge west of Bryniau Gleision. A tedious, exhausting slog across the grassy hillside brought me onto the ridge that undulated with views to my right into Glyn Collwn and down to Taybont Reservoir over terrain that was no better than what I had seen the year before due to the scarring from off-road vehicles. I ploughed on passing the trig point on Pant y Creigiau and steeply down to the Torpantau Pass where I crossed a road and headed up a path that had been very wet last year, but was now dry and eventually brought me to the Nant Bwrefwr and the clear path of the Beacons Way. The path uphill was torture in the hot weather and my weakened state, sweating buckets and struggling to keep going, so when the gradient finally, mercifully eased I stopped to have my lunch. The weather from this point on cooled as clouds began to build overhead, which made my pictures less spectacular, but made walking easier for me. When I set off again I followed the eastern edge of Craig y Fan Ddu until upon reaching Blaen Caerfanell I turned left onto a sketchier path that led me across the hilltop to a cairn and then north until on the edge of the escarpment awesome views were suddenly revealed to me down Cwm Oergwm. 

Sunnier weather away from the hills and dappled sunshine in the valley made this a stunning sight that had me gazing in awe, while taking many pictures until eventually I turned towards the Brecon Beacons where dark clouds lingered above Pen y Fan. Slowly, I made my way around the escarpment edge heading towards Fan y Big, however, the Cambrian Way avoids the top, which I was more than happy to do, crossing the slopes on a gradual descent to reach Bwlch ar y Fan. The Cambrian Way now climbs Cribyn, which I did last year, but now I elected to follow the Beacons Way around the southern slopes slowly climbing to the col and beginning the ascent of Pen y Fan. I took my time on this, stopping frequently for a rest while the dark clouds above me dropped their rain. The cloud cover and light rain made this climb much easier than it would have been if the hot weather had persisted, to which I was thankful, but it didn’t seem to have had any effect on the large numbers of people who are attracted to this particular mountain for no apparent reason. I didn’t stop on Pen y Fan, but kept going to the neighbouring top of Corn Du and down the other side, ignoring the Cambrian Way’s diversion to the Tommy Jones obelisk by keeping to the main path that descends the broad grassy slope that eventually led me down to the Storey Arms. 

On the descent I reflected that it would be a while before I climbed anything higher than Pen y Fan and I was astonished when I tried to work out when that would be. The Cambrian Mountains have nothing higher so I would have to wait until I entered Eryri, that is Snowdonia, and Cadair Idris, which is just seven metres higher. However, I had a lot of walking ahead of me before I would get that far, so it would not be for another ten days but, in fact, bad weather intervened when I got there so I didn’t do Cadair Idris, which means I didn’t climb a mountain that is higher than Pen y Fan until Yr Wyddfa, better known as Snowdon, more than two weeks later. This left me feeling happy for being tired as I had clearly just climbed a major obstacle on the Cambrian Way and it was all going to be relatively easier for the next couple of weeks. At the Storey Arms I turned right to follow the Taff Trail along a track that gradually descended into Glyn Tarell until I eventually reached the Brecon Beacons Youth Hostel. This was a very tiring day, which had started with my being very tired, so I never had a chance. Last year I had walked even further and even that was less than the recommended length of this stage, which is probably the most strenuous of the whole trail. I had gone to excessive lengths to prepare for the Cambrian Way this year after my experiences last year, so I was worried that it didn’t seem to have helped. On my first two days on the Cambrian Way I was excited to be on the trail with almost three more weeks of this, but the next two days had proven to be extremely strenuous and knocked my enthusiasm, so I was now thinking, “Not another two and a half weeks of this!”