Fan y Big

This lovely 8½ mile walk in the Brecon Beacons was recommended by my ukulele-playing friends Geoff and Lyn. It begins with strength-sapping climb to Craig y Fan Ddu but after that it's a gentle ramble along ridges of the high Beacons plateau, with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside.

Legs were still strong when I took this first photo. The lower of the two track running through the distant woodlands is the Taff Trail. The level bit follows the course of the old Brecon & Merthyr Junction Railway, which would be fun to explore one day. One for my dotage, perhaps.

Still climbing. The book Walking in the Brecon Beacons is scathing about "the decimation of the Talybont Valley by conifer plantations" and their "disastrous effect on wildlife," but I suppose one has to have commercial woodlands somewhere, so why not here? They are, after all, a renewable resource.

My interest in this walk was first stirred by a photo that Geoff took of Lyn, precariously balanced on an overhanging rock and looking rather worried.  I fancied recreating the scene but chose the wrong rock. As you can see, I'm not nearly worried enough, so I guess we will have to come back and try again.

We were now strolling easily along level ridges. The unseasonably warm weather just got better and better and we could see for miles. We had certainly chosen the best day to come! That's Brecon in the middle distance.

This is the view from Fan y Big, looking north. Lyn tells me that her death-defying rock is somewhere around here.

Looking west from Fan y Big, the next ridge is Cribyn, with Pen y Fan (the highest point in the Brecons) rising above it. I climbed Pen y Fan in July 2016 and took a photo looking in the opposite direction over Cribyn. It was a lot greener in July, though I recall being plagued by midges.

From Fan y Big it was downhill nearly all the way. The track follows an old road where Roman legionnaires once marched. I wonder whether they enjoyed the lovely view back towards Pen y Fan as much as I did?

The tower of the Upper Neuadd Reservoir, built at the turn of the last century, rises cathedral-like above the trees. The modern OS maps show this reservoir to be full of water but it was actually drained several years ago to protect the grade two listed dam.

The path joins the Pontsticill - Talybont road at the site of the former Torpantau Station.  We glimpsed the nearby terminus of the oddly named Brecon Mountain Railway, which climbs no mountains.

From here it was but a short climb up the road and back to the car park.