Blaen y Glyn & Craig y Fan Ddu
SO063170 From
1
Blaen-y-glyn Isaf car park, walk back to the main road, turn left and cross the bridge over the Caerfanell. Cross the stile on the left and follow the path on the right-hand bank looking upstream.
SO060174 After 2 exploring the fall, retrace your steps to rejoin the path which continues up the stream above the gorge. Continue following the path along the stream valley to the stile in the hill fence near the stream. The path now works its way high above the stream, which flows in a steep-sided, wooded gorge that culminates in the last waterfall in this section. The path passes close by and it is worth making a short detour to stand at the top of the fall and look back down the gorge. Follow the stream past the waterfalls, taking the right fork (north) where it divides, and continue all the way up the valley to the ridge of Rhiw Bwlch y Ddwyallt and the junction of four paths.
SO057205 From the 3 ridge of Rhiw Bwlch y Ddwyallt follow the northern-facing crag line around the head of Cwm Cwareli, along Bwlch y Ddwyallt and then along Craig Cwareli. A cairn marks the point where a footpath, the Beacons Way, leaves to the south-east.
SO041196 Take this 4 and cut across Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion to where the Blaen Caerfanell stream disappears over the cliff edge and falls to the valley below. The upper half of Blaen-y-glyn has been left ‘hanging’ above the main Talybont Valley. During the Ice Age, Blaen y Glyn would have contained a small glacier that fed the main glacier responsible for carving out the Talybont Valley. This glacier in turn fed one of the major glaciers of the Beacons that flowed down the Usk Valley. The stream that now drains the classically ice-sculpted, U-shaped hanging valley has cut a small ‘V’ notch in the valley floor. The stream plunges over the overhang in a series of waterfalls.
SO050191 Keep to 5 the edge which now turns south-south-east along Craig y Fan Ddu. The obvious path tends to cut across to the right but following the crag line is more interesting, Descend the steep prow of the mountain on the path which now follows the streamway of Nant Bwrefwr to the entrance of a car park.
Look across at the opposite side of the valley at the slope below Cwar y Gigfran which has a hummocky topography characteristic of a landslide. Here the rock and soil are slumping, due to gravity, on curved slippage planes. This was a massive event that resulted in the backward tilting of upper bedding plane surfaces.
SO056175 Cross the 6 cattle grid into the car park (TorpantauTalybont) and turn immediately right and descend the track with the stream on your right.
If you are feeling adventurous, take a path off to the right for an exploration of the steeply incised valley. This is rewarded with many waterfalls but requires scrambling up and down steep slopes.
Eventually, you are forced away from the bank of the stream but be careful not to miss the largest fall, which is accessed by dropping down a steep slope and then walking back up the riverbed a little way. Continue downstream along a path that arrives at a track where you rejoin the main route. Turn right and follow this back to the start. Or, descend through the wood and follow the stone track back to the start, ignoring a turning on your left.