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A first trip back to the Brecon Beacons for some time, on a rare nice day this month... This short circuit of the Caerfanell valley, taking in the summits of Fan y Big and Waun Rydd, is a pleasant and varied route, with the steep climbs and escarpment walking typical of the area mixed with green woodlands and tumbling falls.
Almost all walks in the Beacons seem to involve a very steep ascent before the easy ridge walking starts, and this one is no exception, although the path up to Craig y Fan Ddu is very well-made and makes quite light work of it. From there it’s an easy couple of miles along the tops to the ridge of Fan Y Big (looking nowhere near as dramatic from this side as it does looking up steeply from below Cribyn...) with good views – even through a slightly hazy day – opening up to the dramatic sharp shapes of the higher Beacons to the west.
- Pant y Creigiau over Caerfanell valley
- Waun Rydd from Craig y Fan Ddu
- Corn Du, Pen y Fan, Cribyn & Fan y Big from Craig Cwareli
- Craig Cwareli
- Cwm Cynwyn from Fan y Big
Typical Beacons walking after that, following a good path along the escarpment edges and over Bwylch y Ddwyallt with lovely views of the cliffs and valleys below, although once you strike out east through the peat-hags to the flat and featureless summit area of Waun Rydd things deteriorate a little. In an area full of lovely hills, this definitely isn’t the best of them...
- Craig Cwareli & Craig Cwmoergwm from Fan y Big
- Upper Neuadd Reservoir
- Bwlch y Ddwyallt
- Fan y Big ridge with Corn Du, Pen y Fan & Cribyn behind
- Cwm Cwareli from Bwlch y Ddwyallt
But even Waun Rydd has a nice south-western edge to walk along, before the very steep descent (just about the right side of discomforting, at least in dry conditions) to the Caerfanell valley. Although the path is steep and a little tricky in places, the walk down through the woods beside the river, tumbling over little rocky edges and through tranquil pools, is terrific. Climbing steeply back up again to the car-park, there are more falls to admire – although riddled this day with what looked like a school party on a fairly hair-raising activity trip... Most of this seemed to involve trying to climb up the middle of the falls before being swept screaming down over the rocks!
- Waun Rydd descent path
- Back to Waun Rydd
- Caerfanell falls
- Caerfanell falls
- Nant Bwrefwr falls
Afterwards, a short walk up Chwarel y Fan, which I had managed to miss out while walking the rest of the Black Mountains last year.
Again, as so often in the Beacons, the path up from the hamlet of Capel y Ffin is very clear and quite well-managed, with rocks now filling what may have been an eroded muddy track before. Pleasant views all around, with more green and less moorland than some of this area, and a straightforward walk up to and along the fairly defined summit ridge – you can look over much of the Black Mountains range from here.
- Ascent from Capel y Ffin to Y Fan
- Vale of Ewyas between Black Mountain and Chwarel y Fan north face
- Sugar Loaf over Mynydd Du forest from Chwarel y Fan
- Twmpa & Black Mountain from Chwarel y Fan
- Pen y Gadair Fawr & Waun Fach from Chwarel y Fan
The map seems to defy any thought of making a good circular of this, but the path back down into the beautiful vale below is at least one well worth retreading...
- Chwarel y Fan descent path
- Tarren yr Esgob & Nant Bwch valley
- Darren Lwyd