Best Walk near Gliffaes

The Crickhowell Walking Festival ended on Sunday and I think was generally regarded as the best yet, with about 1100 people taking part in some form or other and some 65 lead walks organised over the ten days.
The second walk Susie and I led on Thursday of last week is really one of the best walks to do while staying at Gliffaes. It is about 11 miles long and will take about 5 hours to do with a good stop for lunch. It can be shortend very easily down to about 8 miles.

The walk starts just behind the small village of Bwlch (SO161 224), about a 5 minute drive from the hotel. There is a short steady climb to begin with up on to Mynydd (mountain) Llangorse. The path then follows a glorious ridge for about 4 miles north with great views of Llangorse Lake and the Brecon Beacons off to the West and the Black Mountains off to the East. The ridge is home to a heard of Welsh Mountain ponies who live up there all year and is also a great spot to collect wimberries in the late summer. The route takes you down the end of the ridge and then straight up the steep south face of Mynydd Troed, a lovely hill not yet overrun with bracken but still covered in heather. We stopped on a sunny bank here for lunch. Come off the hill at the SW end and cross the lane at Blaenau- draw before picking up the obvious bridleway back to where you parked you car. The shorter version would be perfect to do with children as we can show you how to avoid the two steep climbs.