Rob and I parked up in a clear space near the Story arms, packed our daypacks and began our trek up the "highway" towards Pen y Fan summit. It was 1PM by the time we started our journey, and every man, his dog and his mother had the same idea as us that Sunday. None the less, we began our journey towards the top. The wind was blowing from the East, which meant that we were completely sheltered on our trail to the top. The early afternoon sun beat on our backs. For early February, we were warm. As we walked, we began to sweat through our layers, climbing
There are multiple routes up to the summit of Pen y Fan. In this blogpost, I take you through hiking the Pen Y Fan Circular route, which is one of the easiest ways to hike to the summit, starting and ending at the Story Arms Carpark.
Quick Facts
Pen y Fan is the highest peak in the South Wales, standing at 886m (or 2907ft) above sea level. Whilst not the highest mountain in Wales, Pen Y Fan is the highest mountain south of Cadair Idis in Snowdonia and the highest peak in the south of the UK. Translated from Welsh, Pen Y Fan means "top of this place".
When paired with its twin summit, Corn Du, Pen Y Fan was previously named "Arthur's Chair", despite having no real link to King Arthur.
Hiking Route
Elevation gain: 545m
Length of trail: 742KM
The Circular route begins in the south end of the carpark. This carpark gets extremely busy, however there are parking options along the roadside. To ensure a spot, it's best to arrive (much) earlier than we did, honestly I think we were lucky to get a spot! It's worth noting there are port- a- loos in the carpark, but you will want to bring your own toilet roll and hand sanitiser, as they aren't very well kept/ stocked. Once you walk through the carpark, you will need to go through the gates over the river and wooden bridge. This is where you'll begin your ascent. Depending on your speed, you'll continue walking for an hour or so before reaching "the windy pass" (you'll know it when you reach it, trust me).
Take your time to look around, on a clear day, there's spectacular views from all directions, including Cardiff on a clear day!
Once you've finished taking it all in, head towards the saddle of Corn Du and make your way down to the footpath that follows the ridge (photographed above) until you reach a pathway leading you down to a stream. Once you've crossed the stream, the path will take you upwards again. The path will eventually begin to decline again and come out at the Story arms information centre. You can then join the road back to the carpark.
As we continued our way down the ridgeway away from Corn Du, the sun began to set behind the valleys, illuminating the dried grass on the hillsides a warm orange. Sun disappearing, casting shadows growing behind the mountains. We arrived back at our car, weary, aching and hungry and made our way back home. A Sunday well spent.
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