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From the car park opposite the Storey Arms, I headed on up the fairly obvious pass, not too steep at first but after a while the rate of climb increases. It’s roughly a mile to the top of Fan Fawr where I was greeted by large cairn with good views all round. Approx ½ a mile to the south west lies a trig point, it’s a fairly level walk so I thought I’d take a peep. The trig point is that of Gilfach-Wen other than that I’ve been able to find out almost nothing about it. Fan Fawr is 2,408ft, from there the trig point at Gilfach-Wen appears on slightly higher ground, however probably just my own gyroscope on the blink again. Anyway, I went there so if in 10 years time a survey says the trig point at Gilfach is actually higher than the cairn at Fan Fawr at least I’ll have been there.
Fan Fawr summit cairn
Trig point at Gilfach-Wen
Fan Fawr summit cairn with Pen y Fan behind in the distance
I headed back to the cairn and took a faint path east for about 50 yards and then turned north down the northern flank of Fan Fawr. The path downhill completely disappears however it can be seen in the distance heading up towards Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad so it’s simply a matter of traipsing through the grass aiming for the start of uphill path, not a problem in good visibility but take some navigating if in the clouds.
Heading down Fan Fawr towards Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad
The path to Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad starts to rise and eventually meets a wire fence and broken stone wall, beyond which is a 750-800ft drop to the floor below. There a couple of access points through the fence to take a closer look if you wish.
The broken stone wall with views beyond
Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad is a Hewitt by just 64ft and is marked by just a small pile of undramatic stones. The trig point at Fan Frynych is just under ¾ mile from here but can be seen quite clearly standing proud with the sun beaming down on it. From here its north downhill keeping the stone wall and the drop beyond on my right. Over a style where there’s a few pools here and there forming a nature reserve. Heading on up the gentle slope, the way ahead is fairly obvious despite losing site of the trig point.
The cairn at Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad
Heading down from Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad towards the nature reserve
The nature reserve
Approaching Fan Frynych
The trig point at Fan Frynych makes a comfy spot and an ideal place to have a short rest while enjoying the views and peace and quiet. Fan Frynych is also 2064ft, two peaks exactly the same height separated by ¾ mile of wilderness and a dip of about 150 feet, what are the chances?
Trig point at Fan Frynych
Nags taking a slurp at the nature reserve
Rest over and it’s time to head back to the car, re-tracing my steps back to Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad and continuing around the edge of the escarpment for a few more yards before heading down the grassy path overlooking the A470. The path soon becomes a well-worn one and on turning the corner the A470 can be seen snaking away, heavily lined with scores of parked cars, good to see so many people enjoying the outdoors although I imagine the vast majority have migrated east of the road up to the more popular Pen y Fan, certainly haven’t come across that many people on my route.
Path back to the car
The path heads south / south east keeping the road in sight as it slowly loses height heading back to the car park, crossing the occasional stream tumbling down the hill.
Water source coming down from Fan Fawr
A good day out on the hills, no overly steep ascents and easy navigating.
