Pen-Y-Fan

[email hidden] (Flat Earth Society) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Any good advice from listies who've done this summit?

Travelling from Cardiff up the A470 tomorrow afternoon.

Reading the original (2000) post to this thread, I think I remember
the program. Or at least I remember being stuck in Swansea without a
car or decent public transport and up to my eyes in coursework as a
group of "large" individuals moaned about walking up pen y Fan and
down to the amazing waterfalls at Ystradfellte!

Living in Swansea, i`ve been up Pen y fan just a couple of times...

From the Storey Arms (A470)
Easy access from Cardiff, there is a carpark on the right with toilet
and also plenty of parking in the layby on the left, opposite the
Storey Arms (Outdoor activity centre, not pub!), usualy a burger van
there. Popular, paved? and IMHO boring route to Corn Du and thence on
to pen y Fan. Havn`t walked this in quite a few years.

From the Upper Neuadd Resovoir
East of the Storey Arms, this requires a bit more of a drive to get to
but is worth it, helps you are approaching from the south. Drive past
the FC carpark and park up at the resovoir, plenty of space by road
and saves a mile or so of road walking. The path runs straight up to
the Graig Fan Du ridge (Not quite Cryb Goch but for the Brecons - not
bad). You can then take in Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Crbyn before
decending back to the car before Fan y Big. Much quieter than the
Storey Arms route and much more attractive scenery. There`s a good
pub on the road in but i can`t remember the name...

From Carpark 1Km north of Allt Ddu
Bit more hassle to get to from cardiff with plenty of narrow lanes
leading to carpark. I walked up this way last summer on a baking hot
day and hardly saw a sole going up Cefn Cwn Llwch until I reached the
summit of Pen y Fan where I counted over 100! I took the shortcut
round Cribyn and back along Bryn Teg which was also very quiete.

Storey Arms to Star Inn (Talybont)
The way I used to walk with Swansea Uni hiking club
You`ll need two cars for this or a taxi and just hope your drivers
don`t like real ale! It`s a good walk though and worth trying.
Storey Arms, Corn Du, Pen y Fan, Cribyn, Fan y Big, Craig Cwareli, Try
to find the memorial to the crashed WWII plane, Craig Pwllfa, Twyn Du,
Over the Dam of the Talybont Resovoir, North up the Taff Trail to
Talybont on Usk and sink a few pints in the Star Inn - good cheap pub
grub, a mighty fine selection of Real Ales and a miserable landlady
who always finds something to moan about. Great pub though.

There are plenty of other ways up, those are just the ones I`ve tried.

Ed.

Wednesday afternoon did start from the most southerly of the two (?)
Storey Arms (A470) carparks, as stated in previous post it is the one
on the right.

Started the walk at about 4:30pm and was immediately met with a stream
in full flow, I guess it must have rained heavily in the morning (?)
Decided to cross a little further up and scrambled up a bank to join
the paved path. Stayed with the paved path all the way to Corn Du.
Then onto Pen y Fan @ 5:30pm-ish. A few photos then skirted back on
the path below Coru Du and towards Bwlch Duwynt. Kept walking on the
ridge (?) until well past the highest point. A few more photos.

Retraced path, past Corn Du again, heading north-west to the Obelisk
and then across a boggy area to Y Gyrn (great views of both Corn Du
and Pen Y Fan). Unintentionally rejoined the paved path back down to
the north carpark. 400m walk back to my car (last in the carpark)
@6:55pm-ish.

Beautiful countryside and weather! Due to the lateness of starting the
walk meet less than twenty others on the hills.

In article <[email hidden]>, Flat Earth
Society <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Wednesday afternoon did start from the most southerly of the two (?)
Storey Arms (A470) carparks, as stated in previous post it is the one
on the right.

Started the walk at about 4:30pm and was immediately met with a stream
in full flow, I guess it must have rained heavily in the morning (?)
Decided to cross a little further up and scrambled up a bank to join
the paved path. Stayed with the paved path all the way to Corn Du.
Then onto Pen y Fan @ 5:30pm-ish. A few photos then skirted back on
the path below Coru Du and towards Bwlch Duwynt. Kept walking on the
ridge (?) until well past the highest point. A few more photos.

Retraced path, past Corn Du again, heading north-west to the Obelisk
and then across a boggy area to Y Gyrn (great views of both Corn Du
and Pen Y Fan). Unintentionally rejoined the paved path back down to
the north carpark. 400m walk back to my car (last in the carpark)
@6:55pm-ish.

Beautiful countryside and weather! Due to the lateness of starting the
walk meet less than twenty others on the hills.

Well done! That pitched path is a sod!!. Your access pint is known as
Pont ar Daf - the river being the Taf, normally easy to cross on
stepping stones.

I think the path you took up is dreadfully uncomfortable with every
possibility of twisting an ankle especially coming down.
--
Bill Grey
http://www.billboy.co.uk