Walks and Walking: Henrhyd Falls; Walking The Welsh Waterfalls, 10 Miles Hard Walking in the Brecon Beacons

Walks and Walking: Henrhyd Falls; Walking The Welsh Waterfalls, Henrhyd Falls, 10 Miles Hard Walking in the Brecon Beacons.

Our second drizzly morning so, as with yesterday, we strapped up with gaiters, sturdy walking boots and hooded windproof jackets but this time our our hats and snoods stayed on for a while. Today was an early start as we wanted to get back to our long lost family and spend some time together on our last day in Wales so we quickly jumped in the Vito Sport and made our way to Neath and in the village of Coelbren we found the Henrhyd Falls, the largest of the welsh waterfalls in South Wales.

However, we don’t get to visit the falls until the end of our walk so we leave the Vito Sport in the car park and move on up the road from which we parked.

Walking past the mobile phone mast we continued up the road to a stile which we crossed and then followed the pathway across the fields, bending slightly to the left before we reached the same road that we had originally walked up. Turning right, we headed up towards Pen-y-cae before finding another pathway leading us to a wide road that quickly narrows before reaching another pathway.

There is only one pathway so it’s a very easy navigation up to a road that forks just after the Outdoor Adventure Centre, we go left that has a sharp left down to so gates in front of us that then lead up to gates that let us enter the Craig-y-nos Country Park.Passing some friendly Welsh ponies and keeping to the sound of the water there was a good photo opportunity by the giant stepping stones.

Giant Stepping Stones near Craig-y-nos Country Park

Expecting a grand entrance, it is more of a side entrance to the park curving round to our left we join the main park area before reaching it’s main entrance by a small lake. We turn left outside of the entrance by the Craig-y-nos Castle, which looks like a good venue for weddings rather than one of huge historical importance. Crossing the road we needed to get up on the hill and rather confusingly there is a sign that points us in the right direction, yet says “No access to the hill”!

We continue down the road until we see the correct access and this is where we also find a myriad of pathways. So, the general idea was to walk up the hill to Cribarth, walk over the hill and then walk back down the hill on the same side we went up. I had to get the walking poles out for this climb as my legs were quite tired after 4 hard walks this week!

Walking up Cribarth, so many paths and options to choose from!

Confusing? Yes, but that’s the idea… to explore the hillside and it’s geology. We walked away from the peak of Cribarth to explore the shake holes below us.

Shake Holes on Cribarth

We zig-zagged up, down, over, across and back over until we reached the bottom in sight various sign posts. If you can see the church from the top of the hill then that’s the easiest navigation point down. The road is where we needed to get to so we followed one of the signs down through the Abercrave Wood through Abercrave Farm to reach the road turning right to find Abercrave Bridge. We have now entered the residential area of Abercaf and wlak between the school and the fire station turning left and keeping left again we follow the road to Llech Bridge to find a very clear signpost to Henrhyd Falls on our right.

Once on this track we simply followed the river up to the falls up and down through the beautiful woodland noticing various waterfalls along the way and stopping off for belated and very welcome cheese and pickle sandwiches!

Stopping off at Craig Llech near Henrhyd Falls

Shortly after our stop we reached a sign that takes us to our car park or invites us towards the Henrhyd Falls itself. A few steps up and down we are at the falls and they are very impressive. As the falls are very accessible I made a short 2 minute video walking in to, behind and out of the Henrhyd Falls so you can see what the Henrhyd Falls look like.

Henrhyd Falls

We then retraced our steps back to the car park signpost and walked steeply up to the Vito Sport and, my god, after 5 1/2 hours walking on top of a whole week of walking the Brecon Beacons, it was a sight for sore eyes!!

 

 

Walks and Walking – Walking Table Mountain and Pen Cerrig-calch

Walks and Walking: Walking Table Mountain and Pen Cerrig-calch, 8 Miles Very Hard Walking in the Brecon Beacons.

Awaking to a beautiful sunrise it was yet again perfect walking weather. Although it looks like high summer outside it is still freezing cold…. it was actually -5 Degrees in the Brecon Beacons last night. Sturdy walking boots are essential for today, as is the compulsory windproof jacket and sensible layers.

Wales is a haven for mountain biking and we passed quite a few in the Vito Sport as we made our way up to Llanbedr.  We found a parking space on the Great Oak Road, from Crickhowell, right next to the right hand turn sign for Llanbedr and just before Ty Mawr Farm.

Walking up to Ty Mawr Farm there is a track signposted “Perth y Pia and Table Mountain”. We then prepared for an exhausting and very steep walk up a concrete track to the Perth y Pia bunkhouse. After a metal barred gate the way becomes steeper again until we reached a way marked stile and then followed the right hand of the field edge up to a stile to the left of an old rusty metal barred gate.

Table Mountain is now in clear view and is the first stop off point for us to savor the panoramic views and breathtaking scenery…. and catch our breath!

 

The Route From Table Mountain To Pen Cerrig-calch

Pen Cerrig-calch is our next destination and so we continued up to Trywn Ysgwrfa, looking up we continued towards Pen Cerrig-calch using the most obvious pathway.

We then reached a natural rocky stream bed path that looks as though it gets very muddy after it’s been raining. We then followed this straight up, for what seemed an eternity, until we reached a large pile of rocks. I contributed to the pile by placing a large rock on the top!

Continuing further uphill we reached the top where there is a Rain Gauge and a huge circular rock shelter. We thought this was one of the Shake Holes on our map. (A Shake Hole is a natural depression in the Earth’s surface caused by water eroding the mud around the limestone under foot causing large holes to suddenly or gradually appearing on the landscape).

We decided to stop in the shelter for our sandwiches knowing all of the very hard walking had now been done. We then continued along our path until we came to a steep rocky climb down the edge of Pen Cerrig-calch and the beginning of Pen Alit-mawr. He we turned a sharp left around a natural pathway/animal track until we found another large circular rock shelter.

We then walked in a diagonal direction down the long slopes of the Pen Cerrig-calch using the Welsh pony and sheep tracks as a guide back towards Table Mountain until we reached a disused Butt by the field edge at the bottom of the slopes. Keeping to the field edge we walked back up to Table Mountain, past Crug Hywel Fort,  and walked round the right hand side until we came to a very clear pathway down.

We then followed the way markers which are all very clearly signposted first turning right, then left, straight ahead, left again and then right where you can walk down the shallow stream (and clean your boots at the same time!) and entering the road through Ty-yn-y-wlad.

The Route Back Down To Table Mountain

Turning left we walked back up the road to the Vito Sport exhausted after our 4 hour walk and feeling very thirsty for ale. We did hear that The Red Lion pub in Llandbedr was the closest watering hole but when we got there, at about 3.30pm, it was closed. So we drove back down to Crickhowell’s The Bridge End Inn which is a wonderful pub serving local ale’s and with exceptional hospitality.