Friday 21 March 2025
The journey to Abergavenny was uneventful. Once checked in to the Park Guest House, and our kit stowed in our room, we settled down to discuss our route options for the next three days over a cup of tea.
Given the more promising forecast for Sunday, we decided that would be the day for the Carmarthen Fan route, eager for better conditions than our previous, unpleasant experience on much of it back in August 2002. The Fforest Fawr walk would then neatly slot into Saturday and the shorter Cefn Yr Ystrad route would be ideal for our final day on Monday.
We prepared rucksacks and maps for tomorrow. A minor complication arose as our route straddled two sides of the Ordnance Survey map OL12. A clever solution saw Vince displaying the eastern section and myself the western, avoiding any mid-hike map origami.
For dinner, we returned to a bar discovered on our last visit: The Victoria. A short walk brought us to this friendly pub, where our meals were washed down by refreshing Camden Town Brewery Pale Ale.
Saturday 22 March 2025
An hour's drive brought us to the Baen Llia Forestry Commission car park, the promise of blue sky peeking through the grey as we journeyed. Boots were soon laced, and by 09:50, with a cool south-easterly breeze, we set off on what would become a surprisingly sunny adventure.
Our initial ascent took us north-east over a grassy hillside, the track playing hide-and-seek until we finally picked up a discernible path. Fifty minutes later, we reached our first conquest: Fan Llia. The summit marker, a rather humble pile of stones, didn't detract from the expansive views beneath a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds.
Continuing our journey, we briefly followed the ancient Sarn Helen Roman road south before tackling a large ladder stile. Another climb, this time south-west over rough grassland that was boggy in places, brought us to the summit of Fan Nedd. Here, a proudly Welsh white trig pillar, emblazoned with a red dragon, stood sentinel. After the obligatory summit photos, a short 400m trek north led us to a substantial, well-built cairn, offering lovely sunny vistas west over Fan Gyhirych towards the distant shapes of Fan Hir and Fan Brycheiniog – two of tomorrow's objectives.
Our descent followed a fence north-west down to Bwlch y Duwynt, followed by a short climb to a welcoming red-coloured track. This track gently ascended to the col between Fan Fraith and Fan Gyhirych, the perfect spot to unpack our lunch and soak in the panorama.
A brief out-and-back detour took us across boggy ground to the summit of Fan Fraith, marked by a modest pile of stones. On our return, we navigated slightly to the right, attempting to outsmart the wetter sections.
Crossing back over the main track, we continued north-west across more grassy slopes, our destination the summit of Fan Gyhirych. This peak was crowned by a decaying trig pillar, its faded red paint bearing the Welsh slogans "Cymru am byth" (Wales Forever) and "Yma o hyd" (Still here).
From here, we opted for a slightly shorter route than Nuttall's suggestion, descending south back to the red track. We followed it south-west to the corner of the forest and around past the disused quarries at Pwll Byfre, before ascending by a large swallow hole onto the Beacons Way within the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu National Nature Reserve.
With all the day's peaks conquered, a significant 7km trek along the Beacons Way lay ahead. We first followed it south-east before it turned north-east onto the historic Sarn Helen Roman road, where we passed another standing stone, Maen Madoc.
Despite a forecast hinting at showers, the day unfolded into glorious sunshine – a welcome surprise. This epic trek, clocking in at over 23km, marked our longest walk together in quite some time.
| Summit | Height (m) | Status | ||
| Fan Llia | 632 | Hewitt, Nuttall | ||
| Fan Nedd | 663 | Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall | ||
| Fan Fraith | 668 | Nuttall | ||
| Fan Gyhirych | 725 | Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall |
More photos from today (and the rest of the weekend) here
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