The Black Mountains

HIEGHT:683m/2241ft

LOCATION:5m south of Brecon

DIFFICULTY: MODERATE, ~900ft ascent

WALK: About 1.5m or more

Craig y Fan Ddu is more a foothill to the beacons, rather than an actual mountain, and once you reach the top you don’t have to start walking down again, because it forms part of the huge buttress that leads on to Fan y Big and the rest of the Beacons.  I’ve included it here as it’s a great walk, and the Car park at Cwm Taf Fechan is a good starting point for the exploration of some awesome countryside.

The Walk

Starting at the car park shown on the map, a path leads almost immediately from the road, and heads due north up a very steep and rocky route.  It’s difficult to miss; so long as you have the waterfall to your left and the car park to your right, then all’s well.  Once the path starts going up, it doesn’t let up all the way until the top, the only changes you will notice are that sometime it’s muddy and slippery, sometimes well-laid and rocky.  During the ascent the stream Nant Bwrefwr stays to your left, and you’re treated to a spectacular waterfall about a third of the way up. It is truly magnificent, but getting a decent photo of it is dangerous as it has cut a steep gully, that ends in a sheer drop Once near the top the land suddenly drops away to the east in an impressive glacial trough with the river Caerfanell flowing at the bottom.  The depth of this trough is huge!  Once you’ve reached the summit, the views to the south are excellent.  North, the gradually ascending ridge obscures the view.  The options now are to come back down, or explore further.  The ‘peak’ of Craig y Fan Ddu is a southern promontory of a high plan that can be followed north west, past Fan y Big, Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du with only a very gradual ascent; if you’ve got all day then there’s no excuse not to carry on and enjoy the walk!

About Craig y Fan Ddu

I’ve been able to find very little background information about Craig y Fan Ddu, other than that a few hundred yards east of the path, about half way up, there are rows of standing stones, which I totally missed.  Oh well.  Also, from this same car park, the Torpantau Tunnel is only a stones throw away. So if you have the time, bring some torches.

Map

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Picture of Craig y Fan Ddu