Fan fawr at The Black Mountains

HIEGHT: 734m/2408ft

LOCATION: 6 miles southwest of Brecon

DIFFICULTY: MODERATE, ~1000ft ascent

WALK: 2-3km round trip, depending on how much you explore the top

Fan Fawr (Big Peak) is a large, rounded mountain in the heart of the Brecon Beacons national park, and is the highest peak in Fforest Fawr. It has a somewhat triangular shape on top, with the highest point on the eastern side, and this is mark by a cairn and a puddle. There is a trig point to the southwest of this. To the west, streams drain water from the mountain into Afon Dringarth and the Ystradfellte reservoir. To the east, water flows in to the river Taff. Whilst the north, west and south slopes of the mountain are gentle, the eastern face is very steep, having been gouged out by a glacier in the ice age. In this deep glacial trough is Cefn Bach, a long ridge which is a lateral moraine, the legacy of the now expired glacier

The Walk

From the popular car park on the A470 opposite the storey arms, it’s a case of simply heading southwest and continually uphill. There is a path, but it comes and goes until the later ascent, when it becomes clearer. After some undulating foothills and the a boggy plateau, Fan Fawr looms large ahead of you, and the last part of the climb is very steep, around the north of the glacial trough. In all, about a kilometer separates the car park and the cairn at the top. We didn’t spend much time looking around the top of the mountain as the weather was rolling in, but the ground on top is dry and flat.

About Fan Fawr

Not much distinguishes Fan Fawr from its neighbouring mountains in the national park, except that it is quite high (the highest point in the Fforest Fawr geopark). It’s made out of the usual strata of brownstone and devonian limestone.