Popular walks over Old Red Sandstone to the highest summits in southern Britain. Their summits are capped by the hard-wearing sandstones known appropriately as the ‘Plateau Beds’.
OS grid ref SO 012215 (summit)
These ever popular hills are the highest of the Brecon Beacons (886m and 873m) and attract large numbers of visitors who can enjoy extensive views from their summits. Magnificent cwms drop away to the north showing abundant evidence of the action of glaciers during the last Ice Age.
Geology
- Old Red Sandstone (Devonian); Brownstones Formation, Plateau Beds
- Quaternary; glacial cirques & lake
Maps
- OS Landranger 160, Explorer map OL12
- Geological — BGS 1:50,000 sheets: 213 ‘Brecon’ & 231 ‘Merthyr Tydfil’
Guides
- Described in various guides. The National Park Authority sells a couple of Walk Cards — ‘Pen y Fan and Cribyn from Cwm Gwdi’ and ‘The Beacons Circuit’ (from Storey Arms) for £1 each.
Facilities
- Toilets, picnicking, information at SN 987199
- Car parks at Storey Arms (SN 983203) and Pont ar Daf (SN 987198), also below Neuadd Reservoirs to SE and in Cwm Llwch to N at SO 006245 and SO 023247
- Entry: free (land owned by National Trust)
Accessibility
- Open country; mostly rocky, uneven paths; 450m / 1500’ ascent to summits; mountain environment — take care!
Transport links
- By car — beside A470 at Storey Arms or Pont ar Daf
- By train — nearest stations at Llandovery, Merthyr Tydfil — see Traveline Cymru
- By bus — see Traveline Cymru; X17 & X43 services — nearest stops are at Libanus and Storey Arms on A470