Walks 2023: Fan Fawr, Pont ar Daf Circuit

I decided that, as it's been a while since I've done any mountain walks, I wanted to test out my legs and basic navigation skills so I decided to do a relatively long walk in the Brecon Beacons.  The route I took ended up including an AA walk (And on into Fforest Fawr), was around 13 miles, and it took me about 5.5 hours to do.

I started off at the Pont ar Daf National Trust car park and walked up to the Storey Arms before crossing the road and heading straight up hill for the top of Fan Fawr.  Most of this walk is pretty doable, but one of the last sections of Fan Fawr is a particularly steep bit which definitely gets your heart going and I'm glad I decided to tackle that first.  After a mini false summit the rest of the walk up to the top felt a lot gentler.  I then carried on west to the triangulation pillar, before turning back on myself down that steep side of Fan Fawr before heading north, skirting below a cliff edge, and joining into the path that walks along the highest point of the moorlands.

This path then connects to the Beacons Way at Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and I followed this path for a little bit before breaking off to follow the path that takes you into the Graig Cerrig Gleisiad National Nature Reserve (taking a slight detour to reach the triangulation pillar at Fan Frynych) and down towards Twyn Dylluan-ddu, passing a very handy cairn on the left.  It was then right at a cross-paths to follow a very well used footpath down into the valley, crossing the A470 and carrying on down the valley to the river Afon Tarell. 

A little crossing over the river at a waterfall (a very small waterfall) and I then walked along the Taff Trail back to the Storey Arms.  Having decided that I had a little bit more time to kill I didn't carry on along the path back to the Pont ar Daf car park, but instead went through the gate and up the footpath towards Corn Du.  There's a couple of different routes here but I decided to just follow the National Trust's path up, before cutting across on a path just below the summit as there were a lot of people there and heading back down to the Pont ar Daf car park on another well used path.

My legs definitely felt it by the time I was back at the car, probably not helped by the squats I'd done as part of my exercise routine the day before (what was I thinking), but I did really enjoy myself.  It was just great being back out in wilder lands and being surrounded by natural noises rather than just human noises.  Whilst I was there I kept forgetting to take photos, even though I had thought it would be good to blog about it, and I completely forgot that I had planned on possibly listening to some podcasts as I was walking.  The quiet, at least at the start, was just too enjoyable.  All good signs and it was also good feeling that type of terrain under my feet again.  I rarely find my feet get soar when I'm walking in these types of areas.  I'll be back as soon as I can.