Fan Brycheiniog, Picws du bannau sir gaer, Fan Hir

[willywalker247]

The weather promised to be bright and sunny all day, so the prospect of a good days walking was on the cards. I had done part of this walk a couple of weeks ago. I had decided then to do this walk again but by a slightly different route. I Parked my car in a small pullin next to the Tafarn y Garreg pub on the A4067 at Glantawe SN849171. The path starts next to the pub carpark. Follow the path a little way cross over the foot bridge, keeping the river on your right and the fence to your left follow the path around the the farm and along the end of the sheepfold,at this point follow the sign for the beacons way. As you follow the path for 3/4 mile or so the walking is a bit tricky as the ground is covered with grass covered rocks. After that the path opens up and as you continue along you see some nice little waterfalls. A little way above the falls the path crosses the stream, we had had some heavy rain over the last couple of days and i had trouble crossing the stream. Once across the walking was easy and a clear path to follow. You now have great views looking up at Fan Hir ridge and another great little waterfall tumbling down from the ridge. Now the path takes you to Llys y fan fawr, where you take the path up the ridge to Bwlch giedd between Fan HIr and Fan Brycheiniog, from there is a short climb up to Fan Brycheiniog and from there on to Picws du- Bannau sir gaer. My walk back form Picws du was stright forward but with a steep climb back up to Fan Brycheiniog. A short break for a coffee and something to eat. It was then up and over Fan Hir with views down to the coast and the Gower peninsula and over to Pen y fan,with bright sunshine all the way. Great days walk. I have used some pics from the previous walk to complete the picture diary.

[john923]

I thought I'd seen some of these pics before! Like the idea of walking along the foot of the Fan Hir ridge first - there's not many routes in the Beacons that follow the base of the steep north-facing edges.

[LDPWalker]

Splendid pictures.

I walked through and over these hills when walking a large section of the Cambrian "Way" last year. The contrast between the throngs (there really were hundreds and hundreds) of people on Pen y Fan and Corn Du to the east and the emptiness of this area was amazing. Let's hope this little gem of area stays secret from the sponsored challenge groups that make the Pen y Fan area so crowded (and noisy).

Incidentally, the Cambrian Way is poor as a "route" - not signposted, non existant or blocked paths. I wouldn't recommend it.

[willywalker247]

Yes you are right this area of the Beacons is a little gem, as is most of the park west of the A470 "shh"