Bannau Brycheiniog National Park

Bannau Brycheiniog National Park lies in Carmarthenshire and the surrounding counties of Wales. It centres on a range of high peaks called the Brecon Beacons, or Bannau Brycheiniog in Welsh. The park covers 1,344 square kilometres of upland, moorland and valleys. Three main mountain groups form its backbone: the Black Mountains in the east, the Brecon Beacons and Fforest Fawr in the middle, and the Black Mountain in the west. The highest point is Pen y Fan at 886 metres, while Waun Fach and Fan Brycheiniog also top 800 metres. The name Bannau Brycheiniog means ‘peaks of Brycheiniog’, recalling an early medieval kingdom that once covered the land. The park draws about 4.4 million visitors each year to walk its ridges and explore its valleys. Its rocks were laid down over hundreds of millions of years and later folded by great earth movements. The Old Red Sandstone gives many slopes their red-brown colour. Remains from the Bronze Age include burial cairns on the high tops, and Iron Age hillforts such as y Garn Goch still crown the hills. The Romans built a fort at Y Gaer near Brecon, and drovers once drove cattle along ancient tracks that cross the park. Paths lead over long ridges and into deep cwms or round-headed valleys. Waterfalls such as Henrhyd Falls drop 27 metres, and the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system winds beneath Fforest Fawr. The western half holds Fforest Fawr Geopark, recognised for its rocks and landforms. The whole area became an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2013, so clear nights reveal stars above the moors. Villages like Brecon and Hay-on-Wye sit at the park’s edges, offering food and shelter after a day on the hills.