Pen y Fan
| For other information about staying at Nythfa House see the page here. |
Pen y Fan is the highest mountain in South Wales and southern Britain at 871m.
I have walked to the top from the HF house (in 2023) and by catching a bus and walking back over Pen y Fan (in 2026). Using the bus is better because its a more interesting route, you start walking from a higher level and there is less road walking.
Storey Arms to HF House over Pen y Fan
Catch the T4 bus from Brecon bus interchange to Storey Arms:
Here is the bus stop at Storey Arms:
The bus leaves so time to start walking:
Without crossing the road the path goes up to the left of the woods here:
(If you can't go to the top of Pen y Fan you can contour around it by taking the path parallel to the road. See below)
As you get higher you can see the reservoirs down the valley:
There is a section where the path dips down to a stream and up the other side, so there is some extra ascent.
When I went in April the steam (Blaen Taf Fawr) was easy to cross, I guess it would only be a problem if there was a lot of rain.
There were some rocks to help keep the boots dry:
| My bird identification skills are not very good. There were a lot of these, even I could take a picture of them: |  |
 |
As I got higher there were some clouds coming in: |
Sometimes the clouds cleared and I got some views:
First we get to the flat top of Corn Du:
Then on to the top of Pen y Fan.
There always seem to be people taking selfies with the National Trust plaque at the summit. In summer there are a lot more people than this and you would have to queue if you want to take a selfie:
From the top you can see a ridge going across to Cribyn (I didn't attempt that):
Looking back to Corn Du:
views back to Brecon:
As I walked back to Brecon I went North in that direction.
The first bit as you leave the summit is a bit scrambley but it soon flattens out:
Go down over these bumps (Cefn Cwm Llwch 701m) :
Looking across to Cribyn:
As we get lower Brecon comes into view:
Looking back to Cribyn again:
The bit from the house to the base of Pen-y-Fan is very unpleasant because it goes along narrow lanes with thick hedges on each side and no passing places, every time a vehicle comes from the car park you have to squeeze past it.
There are broken wing mirrors along the road which shows how narrow it is:
Storey Arms to HF House - lower route without going to the top
If you can't go to the top of Pen y Fan you can contour around it by taking the path parallel to the road.
There is some walking along lanes but you can avoid a lot of it by finding paths like this one by a waterfall:
The route then merges with the route from the top.
Then back into Brecon.
Other Walks from Brecon
I have put more detail on these pages:
- Pen y Fan
- Talybont and the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
- Llanfrynach
- Hay-on-Wye
- Cardiff
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Abergavenny
- Y Gaer - Roman Fort
- Mynydd Illtud
- Tretower Castle
- Blaenavon and Big Pit National Coal Museum
| For other information about staying at Nythfa House see the page here. |
Other Documents on this site
Click on the following for more information
| Former HF Houses | |
|---|---|
| Conwy (1914- 2011) |  |
| Newlands (1914- 1987) |  |
| Swanage (1947- 1995) |  |
| Isle of Arran (1925- ) |  |
| Scarborough (1954- 1998) |  |
| Lulworth |  |
| Beddgelert |  |
| New Inns |  |
| Penrith |  |
| Milford-on-Sea |  |
About This SiteHere is some information I have gathered together about getting to and walking from HF houses when leaving the car at home. On these pages I have also put some history about former HF houses I have visited. The information here is based on my visits to HF houses over the years. It may be out of date so don't rely on anything here without checking. If you find any errors why not let others know by putting a post on the HF Holiday Fans ( unofficial) Facebook forum. I will try to quote such posts here so they don't get lost. This is information I have discovered over the years which would have been useful to know before. Unfortunately the travel information on the HF website, for getting to houses by public transport, is poor. I think it would be better if the information on this page were on the HF website. |
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