Fan Nedd and Fan Gyhirych in Fforest Fawr

This was the first of 4 day walking break in South Wales (just before the country started introducing tighter lockdown measures). It was a good early challenge in a quiet area of the Brecon Beacons, and so a far cry from the crowds at Pen y Fan this summer.

From the Blaen Llia Forestry Commission Car Park, the first and toughest climb of the walk is up onto Fan Nedd. The climb is not particularly challenging but the path is indistinct and can be quite boggy. I suggest following your own route up rather than keep to ours, because I am sure we went too far West as one point. One you reach the summit, the views are spectacular on a clear day. Pen y Fan is visible to the East, but the highlight is the valley to the North and the patchwork of fields. It really is breath-taking.
From here, the route descents reasonably gently to cross a field which also may be boggy. Then it’s a climb up through another potentially boggy field until you join a stony track. There is a detour from the track up onto the second and last peak of the walk, Fan Gyhirych which again offers some good views on the way up over Cray Reservoir and beyond.

Then it is back down to the track for a lengthy part of the walk. Whilst the track is dry, the stones aren’t the most comfortable to walk on and the walk becomes a little repetitive at this point as the views never match the earlier highlights. Eventually, the track passes some old quarries (for a bit more interest) and then we leave the main track to cross some fields and eventually back onto another track that leads to the small settlement Coed y Garreg. From here, we’re back on a stony track that passes the Maen Madoc stranding stone, which marks a Roman grave. Despite its unspectacular surroundings, the stone is impressive. Follow the track back to the road and then back down to the car park.

So, is this walk work undertaking? After a dry spell, I would definitely recommend the walk up to Fan Nedd, but if I walked this area again, I would explore whether there were routes up to Fan Bwlch Chwych to the North West and then across the valley and back to Fan Dringarth. One thing for sure, it’s a great location if you want to avoid the increased crowds we’ve seen since lockdown.