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Llangynidr to Bwlch or Circular walk

Up a tight valley to the Chartist Cave in the limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr, return along the rim of the Crawnon Valley.

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
Fri, 05-Aug-22 Friday Walk - The limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr and the Chartists Cave, back along the Crawnon Valley: Llangynidr to Bwlch or Circular [Crickhowell Trip] 9 sunny with some clouds
Fri, 13-Sep-19 Friday Walk - To the Chartist Cave in the limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr, back along the Crawnon Valley: Llangynidr to Bwlch or Circular [Black Mountains Trip] 11 warm and sunny
Thomas G
Length: 21.9 km (13.6 mi), with options to shorten or lengthen
Ascent/Descent: 781/684 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness: 7 out of 10
Take the 09.04 Bus Line 43 from Crickhowell Square (leaves Abergavenny 08.43), arrives Llangynidr Village Hall 09.19.
[From the direction of Brecon: take the 08.45, arrives 09.15.]
Return buses:
- to Crickhowell and Abergavenny: from Llangynidr, Village Hall (line 43): 16.38, from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43): 17.14
- to Brecon: from Llangynidr, Village Hall (line 43): 15.19, from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43): 16.34, 17.47 and 18.13.
This walk leads from Llangynidr village up along a tight valley, the Cwm Cleisfer, and onto the open limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr, initially along a lane then through pastures, in the latter stages with some difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open moorland. Mynydd Llangynidr is a basically treeless undulating mountain of open limestone uplands with numerous depressions, shake holes and pits, as well as many ancient cairns (burial mounds) dotted across the moorland. You climb to the source of the Cleisfer, a perfect picnic spot, and then across the scarred landscape (map and compass come in handy) to the Chartist Cave, arguably one of Wales' most important historic monuments. The Chartists were a 19th century working-class movement for political reform and this cave is where the local group met and stored weapons before the Newport Rising of 1839.
You cross the top of the moorland hill and descend to a remote road by an active limestone quarry and pick up a former tramway for transporting goods to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal to skirt around the rim of the picturesque wooded Crawnon Valley. A stretch along a ridge high above the Talybont Reservoir is followed by a descent through lush pastures back to Llangynidr. To complete the walk, cross the Usk River and ascend to Bwlch on the other side for a return bus.
An Extension near the end over the Tor y Foel hill adds 250m and 113m ascent.
A Variation of the route near the end through Llangynidr leads along the rivers Crawnon and Usk to Llangynidr Bridge rather than along the canal. This is flood-prone when The Usk is in spate and has some steep and rocky bits.
A finish at the start point in Llangynidr is described.
Lunch: Picnic.
Lunch Off-Route: Tafarn-Ty-Uchaf (Top House) in Trefil. The Top House pub is located 1.8 km off route, after 9.3 km/5.8 mi of walking.
Tea: The Coach & Horses Inn (open all day, 3.1 km from the end) and The Walnut Tree Café Bar (open to 17.00, 2.2 km from the end) in Llangynidr; The New Inn in Bwlch (open from 17.00, right by the bus stop). There is also The Red Lion in Llangynidr, at the end of the Llangynidr ending, close to the bus stop (open all day)
For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.332
  • 30-Jul-22

    I will explore an alternative on the ascent to the "difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open moorland", which every time so far have proven energy-sapping and a little frustrating. The alternative is the light blue line shown on the route map.

  • 05-Aug-22

    The day started with a couple of transport snafus: 2 Abergavenny-based walkers waited in vain for the 8.43 bus to Brecon (Non-School Days only), which according to Stagecoach's online timetable and the info displayed at the bus stops should have run. Some locals thought so as well. It didn't. So the walkers had to take a taxi to the walk start. In Crickhowell meanwhile, the bus driver confirmed that he had indeed driven up from Abergavenny, but on a Dead Leg-journey (that's bus industry jargon for a planned empty drive to the start of the scheduled journey). Quietly infuriating. Stagecoach will get an email. ..

    Secondly, one walker (all the way from Dublin) who had been on the bus to Crick with us the evening before, was not at the bus stop and has still not been heard of.

    So, 3 took the bus, 2 joined at Llangattock, 1 was waiting in Llangynidr having arrived on the bus from Talybont and 2 arrived a few mins later by Taxi: 8 .

    The weather was perfect for walking: mainly blue skies with some clouds, then more clouds than sun around lunch, then blue skies again, all the time with a breeze. Views were superlative. Everyone walked the alt. route mentioned in the previous post. We had elevenses at the 'usual' spot, by the source of the Cleisfer, then lunch on the rim of the Crawnon Valley with terrific vistas. We saw plenty of wild ponies with and without foals on the limestone plateau.

    Later all went over Tor y Foel.

    The group split in Llangynidr, with 3 swimmers moving on swiftly to do their thing and 5 retiring to the Coach & Horses pub and deli for drinks, coffees and pasteis de nata.

    On along the river route ourselves then, where 2 paddled a bit. We saw a heron and an egret in close-up fly-by and all 5 got to Bwlch with 5 mins to spare to the 17.14 to Crick. The 3 swimmers were picked up at The New Inn. A rather perfect day out apart from the bus nonsense.

    sunny with some clouds

  • 05-Aug-22

    Turns out that Dublin man missed the bus by minutes, walked to Llangynidr! And then did the whole walk. Hero of the day, no doubt. 9

Thomas G
Length: 21.9 km (13.6 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 752/655 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours
Toughness: 9 out of 10
10.50 Bus Line 43 from Abergavenny Bus Station Stand 5 (stops Crickhowell Square 11.10), arrives Llangynidr Village Hall 11.26. Return buses from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43): 17.21, 18.21.
From/To London:
Take the 07.45 Swansea train from Paddington (08.12 Reading), arriving Newport (Wales) at 09.30. Connect to the 09.35 Transport for Wales train to Holyhead, arrives Abergavenny 10.00. For the quietest route from train to bus station, consult the pdf for SWC 334. If the connection is missed, the next Abergavenny train is the 10.19, arrives 10.42. Then walk down Station Road to the A 40 to pick up the bus there at 10.52.
Return trains to Paddington: 18.14 --> 21.12, 18.57 --> 21.31, 20.45 --> 23.37.
This walk leads from Llangynidr village up along a tight valley, the Cwm Cleisfer, and onto the open limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr, initially along a lane then through pastures, in the latter stages with some difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open moorland. Mynydd Llangynidr is a basically treeless undulating mountain of open limestone uplands with numerous depressions, shake holes and pits, as well as many ancient cairns (burial mounds) dotted across the moorland. You climb to the source of the Cleisfer, a perfect picnic spot, and then across the scarred landscape (map and compass come in handy) to the Chartist Cave, arguably one of Wales' most important historic monuments. The Chartists were a 19th century working-class movement for political reform and this cave is where the local group met and stored weapons before the Newport Rising of 1839.
You cross the top of the moorland hill and descend to a remote road by an active limestone quarry and pick up a former tramway for transporting goods to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal to skirt around the rim of the picturesque wooded Crawnon Valley. A stretch along a ridge high above the Talybont Reservoir is followed by a descent through lush pastures back to Llangynidr. To complete the walk, cross the Usk River and ascend to Bwlch on the other side for a return bus.
An Extension near the end over the Tor y Foel hill adds 250m and 113m ascent.
A Variation of the route near the end through Llangynidr leads along the rivers Crawnon and Usk to Llangynidr Bridge rather than along the canal. This is flood-prone when The Usk is in spate and has some steep and rocky bits.
A finish at the start point in Llangynidr is described but only makes sense if you arrived by car, as the last bus through the village (at 16.28) will have left by the time you finish the walk.
For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.
Lunch: Picnic.
Lunch Off-Route: Tafarn-Ty-Uchaf (Top House) in Trefil. The Top House pub is located 1.8 km off route, after 9.3 km/5.8 mi of walking.
Tea: The Coach & Horses Inn (open all day, 3.1 km from the end) and The Walnut Tree Café Bar (open to 17.00, 2.2 km from the end) in Llangynidr; The New Inn in Bwlch (open from 17.00, right by the bus stop). There is also The Red Lion in Llangynidr, near the start of the walk (open all day, suitable for car drivers) T=swc.332
  • 14-Sep-19

    Rare maybe even unique case of a recce walk (on the extra day of last year's Brecon trip) having a higher attendance (15) than the first proper outing: 11 . 6 off the bus, 4 by car waiting at Llangynjdr, 1 with an earlier start, met halfway through the walk. Glorious weather, warm and sunny . Extra far views to the Black Mountains and Central Beacons. The tough, partly pathless and overgrown stretch in the gorge had been improved with a better route and directions, or so the walk author thought... It was now also very overgrown with ferns and gorse and as tough as last year's variant. An energy sapping 700m. Solution: other rights of way to the west that circumvent that stretch. Next time...

    One other bit caused momentary confusion in some of the by now formed subgroups but no one got lost. 4 went over the top of Tor y Foel and 2 explored the new variant along The Usk (2 herons). Due to having the luxury of 3 cars, there was no need to walk all the way to Bwlch for a bus, so we all rested at The Coach & Horses and drove back to Abergavenny from there.