DISCOVER Bannau Brycheiniog
Spend a weekend in the Brecon Beacons and discover how this beautiful lake beneath the green cliffs of Bannau Sir Gaer gave birth to a mystical romance and a dynasty of medieval medics.
THE LADY OF the Lake lifting the sword Excalibur from the water and presenting it to King Arthur is a story we’ve likely all heard.
But she isn’t the only strange woman lying in one of Britain’s ponds. In the western reaches of the Brecon Beacons, beneath the sandstone scarps of Bannau Sir Gaer, is Llyn yFan Fach. This ‘little lake near the peak’ is a gorgeous spot, where a remote hollow gouged by ice (and now dammed) brims with gleaming water.
Afarmer from Blaensawdde in the valley below would bring his cattle up to its shore – a track beside the Afon Sawdde leads you the same way – and one day he saw a beautiful woman out on the lake, combing her hair. The man, smitten, offered her the lunch his mother had made. The magical lady refused because the bread was baked too hard, and dived out of sight. Lovelorn, he returned home and told his mother, who sent him back next day with some raw dough. This was too soft, but on the third day, a lightly-cooked loaf persuaded the lake-lady to marriage. There was just one condition. If the man struck her three times without cause, she would return to the water, taking her dowry of livestock with her.
