Pen y Fan: One New Nuttall, Nearly Two
Having recently climbed both Cadair Idris and Yr Wyddfa, I thought it might be nice if Clélia could climb Pen y Fan as well, so she could complete the Welsh Three Peaks before heading home to France. Unfortunately, we kind of ran out of time, but I got her a print of the Three Peaks as a leaving present anyway! I’d planned a suitable route for her that took in a couple of new Nuttalls for me as well. So, despite being on my own, I decided I’d do it anyway.
With the weather looking nice for Saturday, Pen y Fan was always going to get busy, so I set off early to try to beat the crowds. This meant leaving home at 4 am to get there for 6 am. So much for my plans to miss the crowds! The car park was already full, and the path was packed with people both heading up and coming back down. I wasn’t expecting that. I guess I was part of the problem, though, so there was nothing I could do but join them and start making my way up the easy, wide trail.
With this many people around, and paths that are so well surfaced, it doesn’t really feel like a hike in the hills. It felt more like walking along a cobbled street in a city to me. Fortunately, after a while my route had me heading off to the right to contour around the hills, missing Pen y Fan for now and heading towards Fan y Big. The going was a little rockier and more rugged along here, but still easy going. Now that I’d left the crowds behind, I had the trail to myself, so I picked up the pace and started jogging along. It was nice, with the sun breaking through the clouds and illuminating the valley below as I bounded from rock to rock, making good progress.
I contoured around below the peak of Cribyn and then joined the main path once again in the saddle of Bwlch ar y Fan, between Cribyn and Fan y Big. Here, I headed steeply up on a cobbled path to the summit, where I stopped for a few photos. This was the first summit of the day and, at 717 m, also a new Nuttall to add to my list.
Next, I retraced my steps back to the saddle and started the climb up the main path to Cribyn. It was much quieter over here, and I only passed a few people on these trails and summits. Cribyn (794 m) was the second Nuttall of the day, but wasn’t new to me as I’d been here before. From here I descended and then climbed again to Pen y Fan (886 m), the highest point of the day. Needless to say, it was a little busier here, but I headed off to the nearby summit of Corn Du (872 m), which was a little quieter. Both were shrouded in cloud, so there wasn’t much to see. Having summited both in the past, I didn’t hang around long.
I had intended to head from here to Y Gyrn, which would have been a second new Nuttall for the day, but I kind of forgot. With so many people around, I ended up following the crowd and soon found myself running down the track I had come up on.
I was supposed to turn off to the right, but was now in full flow and soon went flying past the turning without thinking about it. By the time I was halfway down the track and realised my mistake, I decided that Y Gyrn would have to wait for another day. I now just wanted to keep on running to the bottom.
I was back at the car park for 9 am and back home by 11:30 am. Not a bad morning. It may have only resulted in one new Nuttall on my list, but they all count, and I already have a plan for a different route that will incorporate Y Gyrn soon.
Discover more from A Simple Life of Luxury
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
