Craig Cerrig Gleisiad a Fan Frynych Walk

We decided to embark on a Sunday afternoon adventure to a beautiful place nestled within the heart of the Brecon Beacons. Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad y Fan Frynych sits in a National NatureReserve & is a great example of how the ice age formed the bowls within the mountains, rich in wildlife the cliffs act as a vertical woodland with trees and shrubs all around that include hawthorn, rowan to name a few and mountain ash, heather and bilberry grow on the slopes and moorlands above, it’s a prime location to spot Welsh poppies and during our visit we found lots of Bluebells. The views were breathtaking and don’t forget to stop and turn around to look behind at the stunning scenes across to Pen Y Fan.

Our walk followed the path beside the stream into Craig Cerrig-Gleisiad’s bowl climbing up to the right of the mountain and returning down on a well marked circular loop.
Some of the paths are steep and although a fence runs along the ridge you will still pass close to the cliff edges so caution must be maintained. The weather can change rapidly. Walkers should wear appropriate footwear, be prepared for sudden weather changes, adhere to ample common sense and take care. Between May and October the reserve is grazed by cattle and sheep so dogs need to be kept under control.
Our walk took just under 4 hours with plenty of stops and starts whilst the kids explored various bits and pieces and rested to take in the view, we stopped towards the end to make a Maypole with ribbons. The descent was very steep in places but still manageable for the children whom found it great fun to often sit on their bums to slide down grassy lumps & bumps.

We parked in a large lay-by approx two miles north of the Storey Arms on the A470.
OS grid reference
SN956227

Here’s how our walk went…

Our walk started off through woodland along a small river/stream laden with lush grass..

Which led us through to the bottom of a great mountainous bowl…
We followed the path up to the right through a gate, here we picked up a leaflet with suggested routes and information. We opted to walk up to the right if the bowl following the marked path and looping back down to the left.

As we headed up we made sure we stopped to look back…

We found lots of bugs..

We followed the path up onto the top…

We sat and reflected.

We followed the fence line along the top of the mountain cliffs..

We found some great boggy lake on the uplands, perfect for skimming stones..

We found a large burrowed hole!

And Mila decided she wanted to live there 🙂
We found so e great weathered fence posts.

And we followed the fence line back down admiring the view all along.

We spotted a raincloud moving in.

We loved the walls and looking at the view over them.

We stopped near the bottom and made our own Maypole with ribbons…

we stopped one last time to take in the views before heading back through the wood to the car.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon walk.

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