walkr's picture

A great, 8 mile circular walk to reach the well known Pen y fan peak at 886m and the highest peak in South Wales.

Our route starts from the car park in the Taf Fechan Forest near the Lower Neuadd reservoir.  The path crosses the dam of the reservoir followed by a choice of two steep routes up to the ridge.  Both require a scree scramble to reach the ridge and can be 'sporting' in the winter.

Once on the ridge, it is a pleasant almost flat walk, with views either side over the adjacent valleys.

On the approach to Pen y fan, we took the slight detour to summit Corn Du before dropping down to meet the path to Pen y fan.

This route can get very busy in the summer with tourists parking at the Storey Arms and taking the shorter route up.

Once you're finished with the queuing, you can drop down the path at the back of the summit and take the quieter route towards Fan y big.  In this instance, we detoured up Cribyn and missed out on Fan y big but it's well worth the effort if you're passing.

The track then slowly descend on the far side the of the reservoir and rejoins the track back to the car park.

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Star Rating

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Distance

8 - 9 Miles

Difficulty

Moderate Hike

Points of Interest

Viewpoint
National Trust

Hazards

Steep Hill
Cliff edge

Gallery