Brecon Beacons 1
WELSH WILDERNESS
Enjoy a real ‘get away from civilisation’ experience in the heart of the Brecon Beacons’ Black Mountains.
This route explores the wilderness of Mynydd Du, which really lives up to its name – the Black Mountains. The moonscape of the high moorland has an alien feel, without any sign of human civilisation in any direction once in its centre.
There are very few places in Wales and England where you can experience this sense of remoteness and isolation. Consequently, this is certainly not the place to be if the cloud comes down, and this will really provide a test of your navigation skills as well as of your nerve.
This is a weird landscape, as water mysteriously disappears underground through the numerous pockmarks, down into a magical subterranean system of limestone caverns.
1 SN846166 From the Gwyn Arms, go back to the main road, turn left and take the gate on the right, signposted ‘Danger crossing river in flood’, and continue along the road to Carreg Haffes Farm. Cross over the stile and follow the track around to the right to another stile on the left. Continue straight ahead over another stile and across a field, keeping the fence on your left. Follow the blue bridleway arrows and cross over a stile at the end of the fence along a path on the edge of some woodland where you may see some llamas. The path brings you into Cwm Haffes.
2 SN842167 Cross over the stile and follow the stream for a short distance on the right-hand side. Traverse the small first stream and walk diagonally over an island covered in gorse to where there are some reasonable stepping stones that can be used to cross the main stream when it is not in spate. If this is not safe to cross, retrace your steps to the road, cross over the road bridge and walk south-westwards down the valley. Turn right after the Shire Horse Centre and then right again. Follow the footpath signs to bring you into the Haffes Valley where you rejoin the route. Straight ahead is an old quarry track which leads diagonally up the hillside to the left. Ignore the track that leaves on the right to some old quarry workings and continue with the hill fence on your left to where this bends down to the left near the highest point of the quarry track. At this point, take the path, not marked with a fingerpost, which heads in the direction of a rocky outcrop on the summit of the hill to the west.
The path swings aroun
