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Brecon Circular via Y Gaer Battle and Pen Y Crug walk

Lowland walk along rivers, via a Roman Fort and a low ridge to an ancient hill fort

Brecon Beacons Circular

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Thu, 16-Jul-20 Arrival Day Leg Stretcher - Brecon Circular (Long, Short or Very Short) [Brecon Trip] 7 muggy
Fri, 04-May-18 Friday Walk - [Brecon Trip] Brecon Circular via Y Gaer, Battle and Pen Y Crug (A Gentle Introduction To The Area) [New Walk] 16 dry and pleasant
Thomas G
Length: 18.1 km (11.3 mi) or 13.4 km/8.3 mi if walking the short walk or 4.3 km for the very short walk
Ascent/Descent: 455m or 299m on the short walk
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours or 3 ½ hours
Toughness: 6 out of 10 or 3 out of 10
Meet at 15.15 in the south east corner of the Morrison’s car park in Brecon’s town centre, next to the Markets Tavern and near the four-way road junction by the Bus Interchange.
Meet at 19.00 for the very short woodland gorge loop (4.3 km), make your way up to the Cathedral (signposted) and wait at the lychgate for the main group to arrive (no later than 19.30, I would think).
Walkers doing the short walk with a 15.15 start would have enough time for dinner before the woodland gorge loop...
From the pdf: “This short excursion from the heart of the busy market town of Brecon leads out along the Promenade along the Usk River and then through fields and woods to the remains of Y Gaer (CICVCIVM Roman Fort), built around AD 75 and established as a Roman cavalry base for the conquest of Wales. Rebuilt in stone during the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD, it still features interesting remains of walls, gatehouses and turrets. Follow the Ysgir River north up the valley and onto Battle Hill, a modest grassy ridge from where you nevertheless have extensive views of all the spectacular mountain areas around Brecon. A descent through woods and across pastures leads to the remains of Pen-y-crug Iron Age hillfort, with its up to five surviving ramparts, located on The Crug (pronounced cree-g), a hill overlooking Brecon. Despite its modest height, it has extensive views of the central Brecon Beacons, and also views to a number of neighbouring hillforts. En route back down to Brecon and past the cathedral and Norman castle remains, you pass the covered well of Ffynnon Maen-du, one of several springs on the slopes of Pen-y-crug.
A shortcut cuts the long ascent to Battle Hill and the remaining short walk still provides an interesting introduction to the area with its rivers, woods and views from the Pen-y-crug hillfort site.
An extension through the Priory Groves Woodland Gorge, starting from the cathedral, and going up the Honddu valley, is a fascinating excursion up this lovely gorge, which – in parts – is almost alpine in character, despite being only a stone’s throw from the town centre. This can also be done as a (very short but rewarding) standalone walk.”
Tea: several options in town, hours not researched.
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile, and gpx/kml files click here.
T=3.306
  • 16-Jul-20

    6 walkers for the afternoon start in muggy weather, with the initial cloud cover increasingly giving way to blue skies though.

    Some paths were a wee bit overgrown, with bracken mainly, sign that the locals really had stayed in during lockdown. And the site of the Roman Camp is closed due to Covid at the moment. Having started a bit later than scheduled and needing to still stock up on food and drinks for the days ahead, we only walked the 13km version and were back in Brecon at 6.

    2 walked back to the Cathedral at 7 to also walk the woodland gorge loop and there met a 7th walker. The scenery had been very nice all day (especially of course from Pen y Crug, with all the hills of the next three days of walking in panoramic view), but the steep wooded gorge, with the late sunshine breaking through the leaves, the steep pastures, the cascading river... very special indeed. Pizza for takeaway and a bottle of wine from the Brecon Tap: dinner sorted. 7

Thomas G
Length: 18.1 km (11.3 mi) or 13.4 km/8.3 mi if walking the short walk
Ascent/Descent: 455m or 299m on the short walk
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours or 3 ½ hours
Toughness: 6 out of 10 or 3 out of 10
Meet at 15.00 in the south east corner of the Morrison’s car park in Brecon’s town centre, next to the Markets Tavern and near the four-way road junction by the Bus Interchange. Meet an hour later for the shorter walk, meet two hours later for the very short woodland gorge loop.
From the pdf: “This short excursion from the heart of the busy market town of Brecon leads out along the Promenade along the Usk River and then through fields and woods to the remains of Y Gaer (CICVCIVM Roman Fort), built around AD 75 and established as a Roman cavalry base for the conquest of Wales. Rebuilt in stone during the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD, it still features interesting remains of walls, gatehouses and turrets. Follow the Ysgir River north up the valley and onto Battle Hill, a modest grassy ridge from where you nevertheless have extensive views of all the spectacular mountain areas around Brecon. A descent through woods and across pastures leads to the remains of Pen-y-crug Iron Age hillfort, with its up to five surviving ramparts, located on The Crug (pronounced cree-g), a hill overlooking Brecon. Despite its modest height, it has extensive views of the central Brecon Beacons, and also views to a number of neighbouring hillforts. En route back down to Brecon and past the cathedral and Norman castle remains, you pass the covered well of Ffynnon Maen-du, one of several springs on the slopes of Pen-y-crug.
A shortcut cuts the long ascent to Battle Hill and the remaining short walk still provides an interesting introduction to the area with its rivers, woods and views from the Pen-y-crug hillfort site.
An extension through the Priory Groves Woodland Gorge, starting from the cathedral, and going up the Honddu valley, is a fascinating excursion up this lovely gorge, which – in parts – is almost alpine in character, despite being only a stone’s throw from the town centre. This can also be done as a (very short but rewarding) standalone walk.”
Tea: there will be a group dinner at 19.30 hours (i.e. right after the walk) at The Clarence pub, at 25 Watton, 3 minutes away from the start point of the walk.
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile, and gpx/kml files click here.
T=3.306
  • 28-Apr-18

    Hi,

    Anyone interested in the evening meal on Friday at the Clarence who has not yet contacted me, please drop me an email at goepfertkarenATyahooDOTcom. See you there!

  • 05-May-18

    As far as could be ascertained at the group dinner, 8 started the walk at 3, 2 walking the 13km version, 6 the full 18km. 4 others started about an hour later and walked some version of the shorter walk, 3 + 1 walked the woodland gorge walk only, so 16 in total in dry and pleasant weather. Whatever clouds were present earlier, had lifted by the time we got to the minor ridge in the middle of the walk, and we had splendid views out to all the tops being walked this weekend.

  • Sandy
    12-May-18

    As one of the late starters: we followed the main route to the Roman fort then walked to Cradoc and then back on the main road as we'd run out of time - not very edifying but the suburbs of Brecon were quite pleasant. I wonder what's the story behind the twin chapels at the cemetary?