Pen y Fan, Brecon Beacons
Trail guides you up the main routes on the highest (and busiest) peak in southern Britain.
Instantly recognisable from afar, the distinctive flat-topped heights of the Brecon Beacons form an immensely popular walking area.
Pen y Fan is the star name, marking the high point of the National Park and offering a challenge for walkers of all ages and abilities. At 886m this is a big old mountain set amongst spectacular scenery, but it still somehow manages to feel like a hill that anyone can walk up. The sheer, serrated green cliffs that fall dramatically from its northern edges make Pen y Fan appear more challenging than it actually is, with a variety of simple ascents leading across the surrounding ridges, peaks and valleys to its large, flat summit plateau.
But there’s a reason the Armed Forces use the Central Beacons area for their training exercises – some of the sections are punishingly steep, with the occasional exposed edge that needs good navigation skills in poor weather. So browse the routes on these pages, pick out the one that best suits you, then go climb one of the best peaks in the whole of Britain.