Guided Walking with Sightseeing at Brecon

  Up to 5 miles with some ascent

Each day’s guided walking and sightseeing will be chosen from the following

programme.

Admission fees are not included in the cost of your holiday; please allow £30.  If you have a National Trust, English Heritage, Cadw or Historic Scotland card, remember to bring it along.

The Brecon Beacons National Park was created in 1957 and took its name from the dominating Beacons themselves – the highest peaks in South Wales. Brecon itself was a focal point for the Roman road system, with remains of their fort still standing at Y Gaer. Castle ruins and historic houses dot the valleys, while gems of medieval churches and abbeys nestle off the tourist route for curious wanderers. This beautiful and rural area has a long and strong industrial heritage with coalfields, quarries, canals, tramroads, mills and forges ripe for exploration.

Usk Valley and Brecon

Our walk begins in the picturesque village of Llanfrynach crossing farmland, through woodland or alongside the River Usk and affords glimpses of the imposing northern escarpment of the Beacons. We enter Brecon town by Christ College and the old Usk Bridge. We can visit the cathedral and heritage centre and perhaps the Brecknock Museum with its full scale animated assize court, as well as features on local history, geology, wildlife and art

Distance: 5 miles with 250 feet of ascent

Waterfall Country    

We follow the riverside path down the Neath gorge, passing waterfalls and the site of former silica mines, emerging from the gorge at Pontneddfechan. Our return to Brecon will traverse one of the more remote mountain passes and include a short stroll on Mynydd Illtud, and the National Park Visitor Centre.

Distance: 3½ miles with 100 feet of ascent

Landscape and History

From the Ashford Tunnel near Talybont, we follow the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal to Llangynidr, a section that includes five of the six locks on this waterway. We walk beside the River Usk and visit the village of Tretower, site of the Castle and late medieval Court. From another canal-side village, Llangattock, a short stroll will bring us to Crickhowell, with interesting buildings to explore, shops to browse in or places to simply enjoy a cup of tea, an ice cream or a beer.

Distance: 5 miles with 300 feet of ascent

Cordell Country

Our first stop will be on a shoulder of the spectacular limestone gorge cut by the River Clydach, for a walk that includes a castle that isn’t, a garden that has bananas in it, and much industrial archaeology. Our second walk takes us high on Blorenge with a strange industrial sculpture and the seemingly sourceless Keeper's Pond. Big Pit offers an underground experience in a real coal mine. The nearby Blaenafon Ironworks is considered to be the best preserved in Western Europe. It is a World Heritage Centre, because of its industrial heritage and landscape, and is also developing as a town of books. Our return route to Brecon will take us across the wild moorland of Mynydd Llangattock, where we will stop to view a large shake hole.

Alexander Cordell set his books “Rape of the Fair Country” and “This Proud and Savage Land” in this area and we will visit a number of sites that can be identified in these works.

Distance: 2½ miles with 160 feet of ascent

Black Mountains and Bookshops

Our journey through the heart of the Black Mountains, in the north-east of the National Park, includes visits to the unusually well-preserved medieval church at Partrishow, the twisted church at Cwmyoy and the ruins of Llanthony Priory. There are strange tales to tell at Capel y Ffin before we emerge through the northern escarpment at Gospel Pass and round Hay Bluff. We will arrive in Hay-on-Wye in good time to explore its narrow streets and browse in some of its many bookshops.

Distance: 2¾ miles with 265 feet of ascent