There's not much to said about this route, so I'm not going to. I'll let my photography do the talking. Although I will say that this is a route that can be as brutal as it is beautiful and is seldom used in comparison to the obligatory start points of Pont ar Daf and Storey Arms.
I started at the car park of Blaen y glyn SO 056 175 (Garmin Route) and ascended the Beacons Way path up to Craig y Fan Ddu (brutal) following the track to the ridge of Graig Fan Las. If you glance over to the right you can see the Memorial for the Canadian crew of the Wellington Bomber which I'll get to later. Upon reaching the end of the spur I took the hairpin onto Bwlch y Ddwyallt 753m (mind your step). I continued along the ridges of Craig Cwareli to Craig Cwmoergwm and descended the technical track to Bwlch ar y Fan a.k.a. Windy Gap. This was my turn around point for the day because I had to get back to the family (as you do). If you had the time you could crush your quads and take in Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn du. At the gap I hit the steep pull of Fan y Big towards the 'Diving Board'
Time to retrace my steps
I then made my way over the the memorial and paid my respects to the fallen, took in a gel and had 5mins to reflect.
Time to get up to the ridge of Cwar y Gigfran via the hairy grade 2 scramble and down to where the spur meets Gwalciau'r Cwm and the fun begins. For those of you who thought 'Jacobs Ladder' was a steep descent, think again, for this is frigging nuts!!! You descend 100m within a linear distance of 200m (imagine a ladder 45 degrees) even Killian J would walk this or not. From here on in this trail becomes one of the most beautiful trail routes anywhere I'm the world, meadows, rivers, wild flowers, ancient oak woods, waterfalls by the dozens and not a soul in sight.
Need I say anymore?!
Have fun out there and stay safe. You knows it like init bra!
