All walks › Brecon & the Usk Valley
Brecon & the Usk ValleyPen y Fan from Pont ar Daf
The busiest mountain in Wales, and still worth doing. Pitched stone almost the whole way, which is straightforward underfoot and relentless on the legs.
- Distance
- 4.7 mi / 7.5 km
- Time
- 3 hr
- Ascent
- 480 m
- Difficulty
- Strenuous
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
The path climbs steadily from the car park onto the ridge, then up to Corn Du before the short final pull to Pen y Fan. It is a there-and-back; the descent takes about two thirds of the time.
Worth knowing
- Weather on the summit is a different proposition to the car park. Take layers and waterproofs whatever it looks like below.
- Arrive before nine or after four at weekends, or park somewhere else entirely.
- The path is obvious in clear weather and much less so in cloud, and people do get caught out on the plateau.
What you’ll see
The whole central Bannau, the Taf Fawr reservoirs below, and the Bristol Channel on a clear day.
Background
The summit cairn is a Bronze Age burial. The National Trust rebuilt the path in stone because the hillside was eroding under the weight of visitors, and the work is still ongoing.