Walk #83 Pontneddfechan, Powys

Walk 21 out of 100
Walk #83 - Pontneddfechan

Powys

Overall Rating - ✪✪✪✪

Suggested Difficulty - Challenging

My Difficulty Rating - ✪✪✪✪

Suggested Time - 5 hours

Actual Time Taken - 4h 47m

Distance in book - 15km
Map my walk Distance - 15.93km

The Angel Pub Start/Finish

I may have accidentally forgotten to publish this one back in August... Oops! So here's part two of my walking in the Brecon Beacons. Don't ask me how to say it, but the small village of Pontneddfechan is the starting point for a walk through "waterfall country". Opposite the Angel pub, there is a small parking area which is free. 

Overall this is a fabulous route through wonderful woodland, stunning valleys and spectacular waterfalls. I've given this a four for difficulty which might be a bit much but there are lots of slippery rocks to manoeuvre and a few steep sections with some pretty ropey drops to the one side into the valley.

The first section of the walk follows the river upstream past plenty of beautiful waterfalls in some very picturesque woodland. The best bit of the first half of the walk was that I didn't see another living soul except for a couple of sheep. Most tourists tend to stick to the waterfalls in the second half of the walk and particularly around Sgwd yr Eira.

Inside Porth Yr Ogof looking out.

The first half of the walk ends when you get to the impressive Porth Yr Ogof which, at 17m wide and 5m high, is the largest cave opening in Wales. You need to walk down some steep steps slightly off the route but it's definitely worth a visit. You can wander in as far as you dare before it gets too dark and dangerous! 

 

Outside Porth Yr Ogof looking in.

 Once you've visited the cave, the highlight of the rest of the walk is the impressive waterfalls. Clun Gwyn and Sgwd yr Eira being the most spectacular. This part of the walk is where you get some step drops down to the river and some slippery rocks to add to the fun.
When you climb down the valley to Sqwd yr Eira, it's great walking behind the waterfall to continue up the other side of the valley. This section gets quite busy but you can understand why!

Clun Gwyn

Sgwd yr Eira

Behind Sgwd yr Eira

Dinas rock

 I would highly recommend this walk just to see the waterfalls, even if you don't fancy the whole five hours, park up at Porth yr Ogof and walk down to Sgwd yr Eira.

What a great couple of days walking, both very different but both very rewarding.
Thanks for reading.

Stef.

Here's the link to the walk on 'Map My Walk'

And follow me on Twitter @stefanvilla1991