Peter Schrammel - Mountains

9. 8. 2025 - 10. 8. 2025

Peter Schrammel

Weather

Day 1: overcast, then sunny in the evening; Day 2: low clouds during the night, then sunny

Interest

****: Long-distance hiking challenge across a mountain range that feels largely austere, wild and remote

Route

Day 1: Ammanford, 32m - Tair Carn Isaf, 460m - Tair Carn Uchaf, 480m - Carn Fartho, 523m - Pen Rhiw-ddu, 541m - Black Mountain Pass, 493m - Garreg Lwyd, 616m - Foel Fraith, 602m - Garreg Las, 635m - Waun Lefrith, 677m - Llyn y Fan Fach, 505m
Day 2: Llyn y Fan Fach, 505m - Bwlch Blaen-Twrch, 655m - Fan Foel, 781m - Fan Brycheiniog, 802m - Llyn y Fan Fawr, 608m - Bwlch Cerrig Duon road, 362m - Cefn Cul shoulder, 530m - Bwlch Bryn-rhudd, 382m - Fan Gyhirych, 725m - Maen Llia, 446m - Fan Dringarth shoulder, 568m - Fan Fawr, 734m - Canolfan y Bannau, 435m - Corn Du, 873m - Pen y Fan, 886m - Cribyn, 795m - Fan y Bîg, 719m - Torpantau pass, 439m - Pant y Creigiau, 565m - Bryniau Gleision, 538m - Bwlch-y-waun, 410m - Llangynidr, 117m

Accommodations

bivouac at the shore of Llyn y Fan Fach, 505m

Elevation gain

+3398m/-3313m (Day 1: +1067/-594; Day 2: +2331/-2719)

Distance

73km (Day 1: 25; Day 2: 48)

Timing

20 3/4h (Day 1: 5 3/4 (1 1/2 + 1/4 + 3/4 + 1/4 + 1/6 + 1/3 + 1/2 + 1 + 2/3 + 1/3); Day 2: 15 (3/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/2 + 3/4 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/2 + 1 1/3 + 5/6 + 1 1/6 (Fan Fawr) + 1/2 + 1 1/6 + 1/6 (Pen y Fan) + 1/2 + 2/3 + 1 1/2 + 1/2 + 5/6 + 1 + 1))

Stamina

FM: given the short night it was rather a P...

Difficulty

0+: rough, sometimes very steep terrain, but nothing difficult; one step across the rocky barrier east of Bryniau Gleision 0+ (but can be avoided further southwards)

Danger

3-4: summit area of Waun Lefrith (!); descent to Llyn y Fan Fach 3; traverses of very steep, rocky slopes to Bwlch Blaen-Twrch 3-4; broad paths along cliffs from Bwlch Blaen-Twrch to Fan Brycheiniog 2-3; descent to Llyn y Fan Fawr 3; steep slope to Fan Gyhirych 2-3, cliffs in vicinity of path during descent 2; path separated from cliffs by a fence crossing north face of Fan Nedd 0; cliffs near first river crossing between Fan Dringarth and Fan Fawr 2; summit area of Fan Fawr, Corn Du and Pen y Fan (!); cliffs near broad paths from Pan y Fen and to Craig Cwareli and on Craig y Fan Ddu 2; rocky barrier east of Bryniau Gleision 3-4; beware of cracks and shake holes

Visitor frequency

be: stark contrast between near-solitude and extreme overtourism

Comments

The traverse could be extended by another day to add 25km to Abergavenny.

Report

Day 1: One of my first cycle trips in the UK led me to the Brecon Beacons, a fascinating mountain range in South Wales. Since I failed to reach its highest summit, Pen y Fan (top of the mountain range), back then, it was clear that I had to return at some point. I developed the idea that I could traverse the mountain range west-to-east along its main ridge. Due to the lack of mountain huts, I considered several options with staying overnight in the villages at the foot of the mountain or carrying a tent. In the end, I decided that I should try to traverse it in one go with a light rucksack. What I needed were stable weather conditions for 2 days and relatively warm temperatures. This is rather rare in this area which is exposed to weather fronts pushing in from the Atlantic without any protection. After having cancelled the trip at short notice a year ago because the forecast changed to rain, I tried it again this weekend: the Saturday should be sunny with some clouds, but dry, and Sunday would be mostly sunny, even hot. Temperatures at 600m could fall down to 12 degrees at night. The plan was to start at Ammanford. From there I wanted to reach Llyn y Fan Fach (lake of the small hill), a lake in the Black Mountain section of the ridge, by Saturday night. I could have a bivouac there and continue early in the morning to reach Pen y Fan at daylight on Sunday. Depending on how fast I advanced, I could reach Abergavenny, stay overnight there and take the first train Monday morning back to Oxford. Plans are good to have a reference, even though they rarely work out exactly. I took the train at 9.43am via Reading to Swansea. There I had to change to the Heart of Wales railway. However, the train - beautifully painted with depictions of the landscapes and towns it would run through - was declared broken down before it started moving. A replacement bus was being organised which took almost an hour, but finally I arrived with only 30min delay in Ammanford. I stopped at a coffeeshop in the town centre to fill up my sugar reserves a last time before leaving civilisation. At 2.45pm I started walking eastwards and hiking upwards along Wern-Ddu road (black alder) and then Heol Ddu (black road). This was actually a residential area with some posh houses all the way up until it flattens out before Tair Carn campsite and the landscape suddenly changes to sheep pasture. The summit of Tair Carn Isaf (three lower hooves) is now visible. An oncoming car stopped and warned me of some cows on the road, which I didn’t encounter, though. Taking a small shortcut across the relatively dry meadow I reached the parking at trail head. While following the path avoiding the shake holes, 15m in diameter and 5m deep), I encountered a woman whose car was probably one of those at the parking. The sky was overcast and dangerously black when looking back westwards across Ammanford from the summit with its typical large flat cairn. The path was good and well-trodden to Tair Carn Uchaf (three upper hooves). The green Trichrug hill in the north was even in the sun now. I continued at fast pace across the austere landscape. Two lonely spruce trees seemed completely out of place here. I had still some trouble estimating the distances. Everything felt so far away and only came closer slowly, but in the end I actually made quite fast progress. Soon, I had crossed Carn Fatho (hoof type) and Pen Rhiw-ddu (top of the black hill) from which I could see the Black Mountain Pass road (A4069). There were a couple of caravans on the parking that was surrounded by the cliffs of former quarries. At the horizon I could see higher mountains in the mist, probably already Fan Brycheiniog (Brecon hill), the highest summit in the western part of the mountain range. I had already walked 13km and for almost 3h. This was about the half-way point to the lake. There was certainly no time to drag my feet if I wanted to reach it before nightfall. To reach the road I had to descend through a bizarre landscape of earth heaps and trenches, likely remains of mining activity in the area. The ascent to the next summit, Garreg Lwyd (gray stone), was a bit steeper, which I preferred to these endless flats. There’s an enormous cairn on this summit. Also, I could see the lake near Brynaman across the valley that runs south of the mountain range. There were a few more hills to climb and the pattern was similar: the distances look enormous, but in the end it doesn’t take that long. Half an hour later I was on Foel Fraith (spotted baldhead). I had seen some dry peat before, but now the meadows were becoming a lot more swampier. From the distance I could see two hikers with big backpacks who were using the lower path from Garreg Las (blue stone) to Foel Fraith. I was going to use the one over the ridge. At the bottom of the next dip that I had to traverse I encountered two walkers in trail running outfit. The ridge to Garreg Las was as flat and endless as it looked on the map. When I reached the sunny summit it was 7.30pm and the sunlight already had a bit of an orange hue, which was lighting up the vast flanks of Waun Lefrith opposite. I sat down for a few minutes to eat the first of my four waffle bars. Along the path to Waun Lefrith (milk stork) I was greeted and observed by baaing sheep. At 8.15pm I finally looked over the edge of the cliff down to the dark blue waters of Llyn y Fan Fach. The rocky flanks of Picws Du (black woodpecker) were lit up in pink colour as well as the clouds that were pushing over the summit from the southeast. Two guys had planted their tent right on the summit and had a barbecue enjoying the sunset. Two further tents were visible at the west end of the lake and another one further east. I walked down quickly to locate a spot where I could rest for a couple of hours. The wind was agitating the lake. I found a place that was a bit sheltered from the wind, which was apparently also used by the day visitors who carelessly left their garbage behind. I decided that the spot was good enough and sat down to eat my dinner. There was complete silence apart from the little waves rolling ashore. At 9.30pm I prepared my bivouac. The clouds were slowly dropping down from the cliffs and the rising moon was brightening them up from behind. I had finished my first 1.5 litres of water and I had planned to fill it up here. However, there was some foam on the surface of the water which was not very inviting. Since there was no immediate alternative I filled it up regardless. Despite the soft grassy ground that was as good as a thin mattress, it wasn’t easy to find a good sleeping position. Also, slowly the cold was creeping in. Every 5 minutes a gust of wind was falling down from the mountain. I could hear it before I felt it.

Day 2: When I woke up it was 1.30am. I had originally set my alarm to 2am. I had slept a little and had had a rest for 5 hours. That was enough. I packed my stuff and continued with my head torch on. I crossed the lake’s outflow and had to find the right continuation as there was an unexpected canal that was hard to cross. A brief look onto the map revealed that I had to follow the canal a bit and actually there was a big slab of rock that served as a bridge further up. A few hundred metres further I was in the middle of a swamp and here were no traces of a path. After searching left and right, I remembered that I had my much stronger bicycle lamp as a backup in my backpack. This allowed me to illuminate the area beyond the swamp where a bunch of eerie eyes were shining back at me from something that looked like a track. So, I targeted that spot directly and indeed hit a path in continuation. My boots got a bit wet and the eerie eyes turned out to be sheep’s. The next bifurcation was unambiguous as the path traversed slowly approaching the steep north faces. In the meanwhile I was in dense fog. Suddenly the path got very narrow and passed by the bottom of a cliff. Since I was unable to judge whether I was in exposed terrain, I paid extra attention in passing. Little later I heard a river. This was the sign that the path would turn left. And indeed there were some traces ascending the slope. After a few metres the path turned right as indicated on the map – now I was confident that I was right. All of a sudden there was some movement on the ground in front of me. I froze and searched the area. The common frog that was on the path in front of me also didn’t move. I tried to take a picture. I was somewhere in the middle of that rocky face. Lighting down beside the path only showed a black abyss; so, I moved on carefully. Soon later I heard the waterfalls again and the path got flatter. Now, I should turn left and indeed there were traces of a path leading down to the brook. A paved path climbed up to Fan Foel (bald hill), following the cliff on the left that I couldn’t see, but I knew it was there. I reached the summit just after 2.45am. A panoramic view was not expected due to the fog. So, I continued straight to Fan Brycheiniog. Initially the path was still well visible, but then it suddenly ended at the edge of a cliff. I was not expecting it to go downwards so I turned right. There was no real path anymore, but rather a broad area of erosion that covered the whole summit – it seems people where just walking everywhere. There was no point stopping at the summit cairn. So, I continued and expected the path to go downhill soon, which it did – and again, the path was paved to prevent erosion, but in a way that was akin to reflexology. I advanced carefully as breaking a leg here in the middle of nowhere was not an option. I expected the path to turn left to pass through the steep rocky face again. The hiking poles proved very useful on the rough, rocky path and provided me with additional safety as I couldn’t see how exposed the path really was. Suddenly, I was below the clouds and a huge shiny surface appeared below me. This must be Llyn y Fan Fawr (lake of the big hill). The moon was hidden behind the clouds. So, the landscape around me was hidden in darkness. I passed a tent and almost forgot to turn right to reach Nant y Llyn (lake stream) on the direct path. It was a bit swampy, but the path was well-trodden and easy to follow. The water of the brook was dark, but there was no foam. So, I decided to replace the water of my bottle. The path got steeper as the brook got louder and the waterfalls got higher. Finally, I had to cross river Tawe (quiet) over a few stepping stones. On the other side I reached the road leading to Bwlch Cerrig Duon (black stones pass). It was 4.15am. There was a caravan and a tent. I hiked up the path a bit and stopped to eat my second waffle bar. I had to cross the ridge of Cefn Cul (narrow back). The path followed a tiny brook that was hiding under a thick layer of moss – audible, but invisible. Soon the path disappeared and I just continued straight up following traces through wet grass and boggy heath. The sky was becoming brighter now as a saw the lights of the cars on the A4067 crossing Bwlch Bryn-rhudd (ruby hill pass). I reached something like a path again, but lost it a little later. I had to keep further south of the stone fences separating pastures; so, I traversed the slope a bit and hit the path again, which led me down to the road. The clouds above Crai Reservoir started to take on some dark red colour as I embarked onto the steep direttissima path leading up to Fan Gyhirych (cypress hill). After a intermediate relative flat, the path steepened up into the clouds in a vertiginous mixture of grass, earth and lose rocks. The summit trig point was in the middle of a circular pond. I hiked down along the east ridge as the clouds got thinner. And suddenly, I there was the sun and I could see hills between the shreds of clouds. A tent caught my attention and made me miss the path that follows the ridge a bit longer; hence, I had to walk down the gravel road before I could turn right. The pasture was extremely boggy there. Fan Nedd (neat hill) was still in the clouds. So, I decided to skip it and use the path that traverses its steep north face. Before I did that, I stopped, put my lenses in and sun screen and glasses on. The path follows a stone fence, which also protected me from the cliffs that are directly below. The views into the Senni valley were fantastic. I crossed the road at the pass near the Maen Llia monolith. Now I had to find a path across the ridge of Fan Dringarth. I didn’t want to follow the Roman Road all the way to its northern; therefore, followed path traces that somehow looked as if they went in the right direction, but soon ended I had to switch to another trace. This was not very efficient, but I somehow hit the path that traverses down from the summit northwestwards. I crossed the ridge a bit too far north, but soon found the path that led directly eastwards. It was 8.30am and had already a usual day’s worth of hiking in my legs; and even Fan Fawr (big hill), the highest peak of the Fforest Fawr section of the ridge, was far away across a three-pronged valley. So, I decided that I would take a longer break on Fan Fawr before attacking Pen y Fan. The first river I had to cross was the most interesting as it fell over a 10m cliff into a canyon of dark red rock. A trail runner, probably coming from the A470, embarked on the ascent to Fan Fawr in front of me. I walked at steady pace and reached the summit after 9.30am. I enjoyed the view across to Pen y Fan and down to the Beacons Reservoir. Fan Fawr is a popular summit, easily reachable from the A470 – hikers were coming and going while I was eating my second meal.\nAfter an hour of rest I walked down to the parking and crossed the A470, now entering the proper Brecon Beacons section of the ridge. The path was broad, paved, and led straight up the hill. There were lots of walkers with bad footwear. Many of them were already exhausted on the shoulder of Y Gyrn (the horns). From there, the path falls down crossing a valley in order to tackle the west face of Corn Du (black horn). Caravans of walkers were slowly moving up the hill. The rocky pinnacle of Corn Du looked as if it had dense spiky hair; so crowded was its summit. From its northwest ridge I had nice views down to Llyn Cwm Llwch (dust valley lake) at the bottom of the coombe between Corn Cu and Pen y Fan. The coombe impressively steepens up towards the top, with horizontal rocky layers, but not steep enough to prevent sheep from grazing calmly in the most exposed places. I continued right away to Pen y Fan where I arrived minutes later towards 12.30pm. While I ate my last food, people were queuing across the whole summit plateau to take a photo at the trig point. An importunate sheep was walking around to collect treats from the hikers sitting at the edge of the plateau and enjoying the view. It was not clear whether the sheep was pregnant or obese. Towards 1.30pm I started descending the path down into the gap towards Cribyn. That path used to be paved as all the other paths in this area, but the paving had disappeared in many sections. From my earlier hike in the area, I knew that there was an impressive view of Pen y Fan’s 300m tall east face. I couldn’t stay long on Cribyn because everything was covered by millions of flying ants that crawled into every opening of my clothes and body. I even got some bite wounds along my neck. To reach the next summit, Fan y Big (point of the beak), I had to cross another gap. After 2pm I reached the summit. The beauty of the northern coombes that separate these summits had already fascinated me last time. The water reservoir in the southern valley that was still in use last time had been drained; only the historic, gothic-style dam had been preserved. On the way to Craig Cwareli (rock quarries) I overtook two ladies with seven hyperactive Welsh Springer Spaniel dogs. To reach Torpanteau pass, I had to cross Craig y Fan Ddu (rock of the black spot) where I was again attacked by flying ants. At the edge of the plateau of Carn Pica, two dozens of paragliders were swirling around in the air, and more people with heavy backpacks were heading there. I was running very low on water and my only chance to fill the bottles was the brook that I had to cross to reach the road. The water looked as dark as the last time I filled the bottle. It was already towards 5pm. I now had to decide how to continue. If I wanted to reach Abergavenny by Monday morning I would have to walk for another 8h, which meant that could snooze for 3 hours somewhere, but would have to walk in the dark almost the entire distance; also I had no food at all anymore. On the other hand, if I descended to Llangynidr I had the chance to get a taxi to Abergavenny and reach the train at 9.05pm and reach Oxford at midnight; if that failed I would need find a place to stay overnight somewhere or walk down the Usk valley to Abergavenny. My decision was clear that I would tempt my luck to sleep at home. I quickly hiked up Pant y Creigiau (hollow of the rocks) and followed the broad ridge to Bryniau Gleision (blue hills). There were heavily eroded tracks on these hills – this riddle was solved minutes later when three motocross bikes approached from behind. From Bryniau Gleision I could see the abandoned quarries on the hill towards the south. Via a steep rocky section I reached the dirt road that led along the ridge ahead. The road seemed endless and it was almost 7pm when I passed the farm at Bwlch-y-waun (woodpecker pass). Sunset started colouring the summits of the Blackmountains in reddish colours. The path was good and I made fast progress despite dozens of gates dividing the pastures, but nonetheless it was 8pm when I crossed the canal at the lock and reached B4558 road. I called a taxi company, but they said they wouldn’t have any availability with the next hour – that would be too late for me to reach the train. I called another one – same response. Same for the third one. I continued to the Coach and Horses pub and asked for a room, but they were full; I should try the other pub further down the road. I started walking there. A few cars passed, but didn’t stop; until suddenly a car stopped. A couple who were in the pub had heard my conversation and offered to drive me to the other pub, but they said that they had little hope that anything would be free there. Since there was still the chance to reach the train in Abergavenny, they suddenly offered to drive me there, which was a massive 25min detour one-way. I gladly accepted and we had a nice chat along the route. They explained that everything was fully booked in the valley due to the Green Man Festival. We arrived at the train station at 8.55pm well ahead of time and they were happy that they made me very happy. The train was a few minutes late and there were only four minutes to change at Newport with the longest possible changing distance. It seemed that almost everyone had to run to the other train and everyone made it. I knew that there would be a replacement bus from Didcot to Oxford that added another 30min to my journey. I was very, very hungry. So, I ordered a pizza that I collected on my way home from the station. I enjoyed winding down with pizza and beer, took a shower and went to bed at 2am. Without the help of that friendly couple I wouldn’t have slept in my own bed that night, maybe not even in a bed at all.

Brecon Beacons Traverse