Pen y Fan is the highest peak in the Southern UK at 886m.This walk was based around the info on the BBC Wales ‘Weatherman Walking‘ series. The walk described there is a slightly longer version of our walk.
To open this walk in Google Earth click here.
We started the walk from the car park in Taf Fechan forest walking along the road for a short way and the along a track at the side of the forest. The track then gradually ascends around Neuadd Reservoir towards Cribyn. After a while you have a choice of ascending Cribyn or contouring around the side before starting up to the summit of Pen y Fan. The summit is marked with a stone cairn. Unfortunately it was surrounded in mist obscuring the views.
Then continue south west where again you have the option to go up to Corn Du before continuing in a south easterly direction along the ridge. Eventually after the reservoir there are two steep descents, we chose the second along side the wood. Note that this area can be boggy and the steep descent tricky in icy conditions as we discovered. We then followed the track back to the car parkWe were walking for about 4 hours including stops and covered 8.5 miles. Unfortunately we forgot to take a memory card for the camera so have used a royalty free photo!