scree. Look out for stonechat, linnets and yellowhammers in the gorse.
Woodland birds include blue tit, great tit, coal tit, pied flycatcher, nuthatch, redstart, tawny owl, green woodpecker, lesser-spotted woodpecker, great-spotted woodpecker, jay, wood pigeon, blackbird, treecreeper and wren. Warblers migrate in summer from southern climes to nest on the woodland floor.
The fields, wooded slopes and river of waterfall country provide a wide variety of habitats for numerous birds. Lapwing are commonly seen in the valleys together with redshank and snipe. Birds found associated with woodland and along the river bank include breeding dipper, grey wagtail, goosander, pied flycatcher, redstart, wood warbler, woodcock, buzzard and sparrowhawk.
Getting to and Staying in the National Park
The Brecon Beacons National Park is a day trip from Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol and the Midlands and an ideal short-break destination from London, only 200km (120 miles) away. There are excellent rail and motorway links with the rest of the UK and Cardiff International Airport is just over an hour from the park.
In summer, the Beacons Bus offers the opportunity to have a car-free day in the mountains on Sundays and Bank Holidays from May to September from many places in South Wales and Herefordshire.
If you want to stay over, the park has accommodation to suit all pockets, from grand country hotels to secluded campsites. More information on transport and accommodation can be found at Brecon Beacons Tourism (www.breconbeaconstourism.co.uk) along with suggestions on where to eat.
The Brecon Beacons National Park Authority manages the area and runs a number of visitor centres and a guided walk programme. Further information can be found on its website www.breconbeacons.org and in the comprehensive Visitor Guide.
A Solitary Guided Walk?
The inspiration for this guide came from a realisation that many walkers wish to know more of the countryside they come to enjoy and explore. One solution is to join one of the many guided walks organised by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority. However, these are so popular that as many as a hundred people may join a single ramble. This is not only a logistical problem for the warden, but the sheer numbers destroy the wilderness quality of a walk in the countryside, with little chance of seeing undisturbed wildlife.
Another approach is a ‘guided walk’ with a difference – a walk guided by a book which gives you all the interesting facts that a walk with an expert would provide but still retains the magical wilderness feeling of an isolated mountain summit or the tranquillity of a river ramble. This guide aims to provide you with information on all aspects of the landscape, as if you were being accompanied and advised by several experts at the same time.
All the route descriptions are accompanied by a commentary that includes geomorphology, hydrology, geology, botany, zoology, ecology, ornithology, archaeology, local history, land-use and environmental issues. Designed to be used by all ages, the guide does not assume any previous mountain walking experience or countryside knowledge.
Sgwd Isaf Clun-gwyn
Using this Guide
This book is divided into seven geographic sections:
1 Brecon Beacons – North-Eastern Valleys and Ridges
2 Brecon Beacons – Eastern Valleys and Ridges
3 Brecon Beacons – South-Western Valleys and Ridges
4 Fforest Fawr
5 Waterfall Country
6 The Black Mountain/Mynydd Du (Western Brecon Beacons National Park)
7 The Black Mountains/Y Mynyddoedd Duon (Eastern Brecon Beacons National Park)
It is designed to be used in conjunction with the Brecon Beacons National Park Outdoor Leisure Maps (1:25,000): Western Area OL12, Central Area OL11 and Eastern Area OL13. The 45 routes described include low-level and high-level routes of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty to cater for different weather conditions and abilities. A fit mountain walker will not find any of the routes particularly strenuous. All the routes are circular, include as few roads as possible and explore little frequented areas.
For each route, the start point (including grid reference), distance, total ascent and map required are listed at the beginning of the route description. Routes are illustrated with extracts from 1:50,000 OS maps, with the main route marked in orange and any alternative routes marked in blue and extensions in green (alternative and extended routes are described at the end of the main route description). Features along the walk that appear on the map are highlighted in bold in the route description to help you follow your progress. The route descriptions are also accompanied by information boxes which are often cross-referenced by other route descriptions, using the title of the box and the walk number (for example, see ‘Cefn Cyff,’ Walk 10).
The tables of Routes by Difficulty and Routes by Interest in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 are provided to help you choose a walk suitable for the weather, the time you have available, your fitness level and your interests. Once you have chosen a suitable walk from the table, you will find it summarised in the introductory box at the beginning of each route. Some of the valleys, especially the northern ones, offer a multiplicity of routes and walks have been chosen using the ridges in a particular direction so as to present the best unfolding panorama. Valleys have been included to give shorter, less strenuous walks or as an alternative in bad weather when all but the most adventurous might eschew the high places.
How long will a route take?
A general rule of thumb for calculating the minimum time that a particular route might take to walk is to allow 1 hour for every 5km (3 miles) forward and an additional half hour for every 300 metres (1000ft) of ascent. This formula, known as Naismith’s Rule, is based on a fit hiker walking on typical terrain under normal conditions. Once you have walked a few of the routes in this guide, you should have a clearer idea of how you need to tweak the rule to work for your own level of fitness.
Don’t forget to add in time for rests, breaks for lunch and reading this book to arrive at a rough indication as to how long you’ll be out on the hill.
Ling
Bilberry
Speckled wood butterfly
Cowslip
Bluebells
1 NORTH-EASTERN VALLEYS AND RIDGES
Pen y Fan and Corn Du
WALK 1
Cwm Llwch and Cefn Cwm Llwch
| Start | Llwynbedw, Cwm Llwch (SO 006 246) |
| Distance | 9.5km (6 miles) |
| Total Ascent | 620m (2035ft) |
| Map | OL12 Western Area |
This is a fine route into the most westerly of