Something to say?
This form does not yet contain any fields.

    With many thanks to Antur Teifi for supporting the development of this website

    Login

    WALKS from MYDDFAI VILLAGE

    Walk 1: Beiliglas loop. This is an easy, well signposted 2 mile stroll that takes you across farmland to the north-east of Myddfai

    Walk 2: Mynydd Myddfai. This is a lovely 6 mile walk with fine views along the ridge of Myddfai mountain. Best on a clear day.

    Walk 3: The Ffynnon Meddygon (Physicians' Well). This is a 7- 8 mile walk onto Mynydd Myddfai (Myddfai mountain), which briefly skirts the Usk Reservoir.

    Walk 4: A valley walk. An easy 3-4 mile walk along two sides of a valley south of Myddfai.

    Walk 5: Cilgwyn wood. This is a fairly sheltered 4 mile walk through local farmland and around Cilgwyn wood.

    Walk 6: Walk to Llandovery Although there is nothing dramatic about this walk into town - around 4 miles, or 7 to 8 there and back - it is one of my favourite walks, taking you along quiet paths over stiles and streams and through a series of small deciduous woods. It's generally well signposted.

    Tucked into the north-east corner of the national park, the countryside around Myddfai has the natural beauty of the Brecon Beacons without the tourist traffic of the central and eastern sections. The roads and footpaths are quiet and even in summertime you can walk for miles without seeing another soul.

    I've made each one of the half a dozen roads that leave the village a starting point for a series of six walks (listed in clockwise order), allowing you to explore the countryside in all directions.

    The walks vary in length and character: some lead up onto the mountains while others meander through woods and farmland. All follow footpaths marked in the Ordnance Survey Brecon Beacons (Western Area) map (OL 12) or cross open access common land.

    Some of the paths are well-signposted, others less so - where there is little signposting I've tried to make directions as clear as possible. Remember that, even in dry weather, conditions can be muddy in places, so always wear walking boots.

    -Please follow the Countryside Code wherever you go:

    -Walk only on a public right of way

    -Respect the working life of the countryside and leave gates and property as you find them

    -Don't harm plants, trees, birds or animals

    -Keep dogs under close control

    -Be prepared for a change of weather conditions and remember that, even in dry weather, conditions  can  be muddy in places.

    If you find any of them unclear or inaccurate, please let me know. I hope to be adding more walks soon. You can contact me through janice@ticrecruitment.com.

    Happy walking,

    Justin Lewis

    Friday
    Oct172008

    Walk 1: Beiliglas loop.

    This is an easy, well signposted 2 mile stroll that takes you across farmland to the north-east of Myddfai.

    This walk begins on the road heading north to Llandovery. After a few hundred yards you arrive at a field gate on your right (with a sign pointing north-east). Follow the arrow across the field (bearing a little to the left), over a stile and then walk alongside the hedgerow to the right of you. Keep going in the same direction (over another stile and through gates). Continue straight on through a large field, with Beiliglas to your right and two trees to your left, until you reach a stile that crosses onto a road.

    Turn sharp right on the road, straight into the entrance to Beiliglas. Follow the driveway, and then turn left at the pond before the house, crossing over the stile. From here, follow the arrow signs across a series of stiles until you reach the road a little downhill from Pentwyn. Turn right on to the road and head back into the village.

     

    Thursday
    Oct162008

    Walk 2: Mynydd Myddfai.

    This is a lovely 6 mile walk with fine views along the ridge of Myddfai mountain. Best on a clear day.

    This walk begins on the quiet road heading north-east, past Seion chapel. Follow the road for half a mile: when you get to Pentwyn, take the right hand fork heading steeply down then uphill. Follow this road (for around a 1 ½ miles) until it ends at Cymnantybeudy. Carry on along the track past the farm (on your left): you'll see a sign for the Physicians' well where the track bears right uphill towards a stile. Once over the stile, you are on common land that stretches across the mountain and many miles beyond.

    From here you can pick out the steep upward path heading almost directly to the top of the mountain. As you near the top the path begins to peter out - if in doubt, take the most uphill route. You'll see fencing just shy of the peak, which you cross at the stile.

    At the trig point it's worth pausing to take in the 360 degree views. On a clear day you can see some of the highest peaks in the Beacons, with Pen y Fan to the east and Fan Brycheiniog to the south. The Towy valley lies to the West and the Cambrians to the north.

    Follow the path along the ridge south-west for about a mile. This will take you down and then up along a sheep track to the next peak marked by a small trig point. From here, veer a little to the right (west) down the mountain, heading for a disused stone pit (with a fence below you). On the other side of the stone pit, the path will fork: ignore the downhill path to the left, and take the right fork (briefly upward, then down) that curves northward around the mountain. As you descend you'll have views of Myddfai and Esgair Llaethdy (home of the first Physicians of Myddfai) immediately below.

    When the path reaches the fence at the bottom of the mountain, turn sharp right, following the path next to the fence. When you reach a gate, turn left through it and head downhill (back into farmland). Look out for a metal gate on your right. Go through it, across the stream and the stile opposite., Bear slightly left through the field towards another stile, and head downhill to Cwmclyd farm. Go through the farmyard, then up the track back to the road. Turn left, and follow the road for just over a mile back to Myddfai.

     

    Tuesday
    Oct142008

    Walk 3: The Ffynnon Meddygon (Physicians’ Well).

    This is a 7- 8 mile walk onto Mynydd Myddfai (Myddfai mountain), which briefly skirts the Usk Reservoir.

    The Physicians' Well is signposted from various points around Myddfai (you'll pass two of them on Walk 2, at Cwmclyd and Cymnantybeudy), but it's quite hard to find. Although the well itself is little more than a trickle, it's a good destination point for exploring Mynydd Myddfai.

    .

    The walk begins at the bottom of the village, where you turn left at Yr Arch on the road going east. Follow the road for a mile (passing the 13th century mill ruin on your right) up and then down until you get to a stone house (Sarnau). Look for the signpost directing you through the gate, then turn immediately left through another signposted gate, walking parallel to the fence on your right (this section can be muddy). Go through another gate and continue straight on. At the next gate you''ll pass onto common land, where the path becomes better defined. After about a ¼ mile, the path bears right uphill. Follow it straight up, and when it bears right again, leave it and continue going straight up on a less well-defined path. This path will work its way up around the left hand side of the mountain. When it levels out, you should be above the ravine to your left, and on a clear day you will see Pen Y Fan in the distance straight ahead of you, with Fan Brycheiniog to your right.

    The path will soon meet another better defined one (along the ridge in Walk 2): there are two paths going left, take the further one heading downhill (it will veer right, down then up), then follow the sheep track off it heading towards the wood. The sheep track will take you along the left hand edge of a section of longer, thicker grass (this usually means a boggy area), before crossing it at the shortest, driest point and heading back downhill towards the wood, with Fan Brycheiniog straight ahead of you. As you near the wood, you should be able to pick out a wooden signpost (pointing to the Physicians' Well) about 75 metres to your right. When you find yourself between the signpost and the wood, leave the path and head straight for a small gate into the wood.

    Once through the gate, ignore paths right and left and carry straight on for about 80 metres. At the clearing on your left you'll see a wooden seat, and just past it, a tin cup on a chain above the Physicians' Well. After a drink at the well or a rest on the seat, continue along the path, turning right at the signpost (which point back to the Physicians' Well), and then through the wood for around half a mile. Look out for a small red signpost on your right, marking a path straight downhill (you'll see Fan Brycheiniog ahead of you). Drop straight down (the path can get overgrown, so look out for brambles) catching glimpses of the Usk Reservoir through the trees. When the path meets a track at the bottom, turn right. You'll shortly reach a picnic table - a good place to stop for lunch or a snack.

    When you cross over a footbridge near the picnic table, look out for a makeshift gate (which forms part of the fence) to your right. Go through the gate, and walk up the valley ahead of you, keeping the valley bottom to your left. Head towards a path bearing right uphill ahead in the distance. As you get nearer, you will see another path which heads more steeply - sharp right - uphill. Follow this path straight up.

    As you climb, you'll have views of the Usk Reservoir behind you. When the path levels out, it hovers along a contour line and you'll see it curve around the next mountain ahead of you. Carry on until the path drops down to an old stone pit above a fence (where you cross the path taken on Walk 2). From here take the left hand path, which goes gently downhill towards a stile in the fence. Cross over the stile and head downhill, keeping to the left of the ridge. After a boggy section the path will follow a trench, passing a sign pointing back up to the Physicians' Well. The path continues down past a smaller signpost into bushes and trees. From here the path will bear right and head straight downhill (the path can become a shallow stream in wet weather - still walkable but muddy in places), with lovely views of Myddfai below. You'll go through a gate, before continuing onto the road at Sarnau, which leads back the way you came to Myddfai.

     

    Monday
    Oct132008

    Walk 4: A valley walk.

    An easy 3-4 mile walk along two sides of a valley south of Myddfai.

    Walk to the bottom of the village and carry straight on along the southbound road above the valley for about a mile. Look out for the entrance to Gellifelen on the right; go past it for a few metres, then turn right onto a track. Follow the track, through gates, all the way down until it ends at the entrance to a field.

    From here, you'll cross the bottom of the valley, cutting across the field at a 45 degree angle from the left hand fence, towards a footbridge on the other side of the field (not the footbridge further to the left that leads to the farm). Keeping to the right of the fence, head straight up towards the woods. Just inside the trees you'll find a path: turn right and stay on the path, crossing a low fence near the farmhouse, and down onto the farm road. Follow the road back into Myddfai.

     

    Sunday
    Oct122008

    Walk 5: Cilgwyn wood.

    This is a fairly sheltered 4 mile walk through local farmland and around Cilgwyn wood.

    Take the road going west (marked ‘No through road') next to the village hall for about half a mile until you reach Llwynmeredydd farm straight ahead. Walk into the farmyard and before you reach the house turn right through the gate. Follow the track uphill until you see an unmarked post, where you take the field gate on your left. Head up diagonally through the field skirting above the trees. Go through the gate at the top left corner of the field, until you reach another gate with arrow signs. Turn half-left and follow the dirt road just past Scotland Lodge, arriving at a signposted gate. Go through the gate and, after a few paces, turn immediately sharp left to a partially hidden stile. Once over the stile, turn right and walk along the top of the fields, with fine views of the mountain to your left. You'll go through a gate and over a stile, arriving at a gate with an arrow pointing up into the wood.

    The narrow path will lead you onto a forest road in Cilgwyn wood. At the forest road turn right, head downhill, and look out for a small signpost into the woods to your left. The signposted path meanders downhill and back onto the forest road. Continue a little further downhill until you see a small signpost into the wood to your right. Follow the path, and when you reach the edge of the forest bear right uphill. You'll pass a pond to your left (with a seat, if you feel like a rest), and then bear left until you reach the gate back to Scotland Lodge.

    Follow the dirt road back the way you came, this time staying on it until you reach a gate just before the track turns right downhill. Go through the gate and down to the road, where you'll turn right and back towards Myddfai.