Abergavenny to YHA Brecon Beacons Danywenallt, Brecon.

[pathfinder]

OK so not sure if this post is in the right place but I was after some ideas. I am thinking of getting the train to Abergavenny cycling up to YHA Brecon Beacons hostel and staying a night there then going up to Pen y Fan on the steed and back home. So couple of questions first is there a nice bike route upto the hostel as the route google shows looks s**t I don't ming a bit of off orad but nothing mental as slightly overweight and getting old    and 2nd Pen y fan mountain looks like a pretty good path heading up and as I live in North Wales I am used to big bumps  But is the path pretty easy?

Cheers for any that help I just want to find a nice route and anything of interest on the way people could point out to me would be a bonus

[Phil W]

You can get most of the way to the Hostel on quiet lanes. They'll be about two miles on the A470. You can either continue up the track from the lane end to the Storey Arms then descend two miles to the hostel or join the A470 further down and cycle a couple of miles up.  I've annotated a map you show you.  The path is pretty easy, a bit like a 6 lane motorway due to Pen-Y-Van being a tourist magnet like Snowden is, provided you are used to walking up mountains and can navigate if the mist comes in etc. you'll be fine.  Craig Cerrig which is over the A470  and out the back of the layby just up from the hostel entrance is usually deserted and has an equally fabulous escarpment, plus on the far side is an old roman emcampment, said to be haunted.



Forum has shrunk map image so here's a link to Google photos where I've lodged it.

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOu6ldBnXr1P03ppo2edAodmliFcA8y5NgbPN4k/photo/AF1QipMyYR1ia1YqLAG5TCwjDeSaslsQ18IFd4Ko_rNn

[pathfinder]

You can get most of the way to the Hostel on quiet lanes. They'll be about two miles on the A470. You can either continue up the track from the lane end to the Storey Arms then descend two miles to the hostel or join the A470 further down and cycle a couple of miles up.  I've annotated a map you show you.  The path is pretty easy, a bit like a 6 lane motorway due to Pen-Y-Van being a tourist magnet like Snowden is, provided you are used to walking up mountains and can navigate if the mist comes in etc. you'll be fine.  Craig Cerrig which is over the A470  and out the back of the layby just up from the hostel entrance is usually deserted and has an equally fabulous escarpment, plus on the far side is an old roman emcampment, said to be haunted.



Forum has shrunk map image so here's a link to Google photos where I've lodged it.

Fantastic thanks for the advice I will give it ago in April. Looks a good route and advice  :thumbsup:However the link at the bottom does not work 

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOu6ldBnXr1P03ppo2edAodmliFcA8y5NgbPN4k/photo/AF1QipMyYR1ia1YqLAG5TCwjDeSaslsQ18IFd4Ko_rNn

[andrew_s]

The quiet way from Abergavenny to Danywenallt hostel is along the Brecon & Monmouth canal.
Get onto NCN 46 in Abergavenny, leave it for the canal either up a steep zigzag shortly after crossing over the B4246 or at the canal, and stay on the canal until Talybont on Usk. You can either get onto an old tramway up to the hostel at the White Hart, or carry on past the Star Inn to the road bridge and left up the road and across the dam.

To get to Pen y Fan, I'd carry on up the valley, and over the top. There are tracks on the right that take you to a col between Cribyn and Fan y Big. Dump the bike at the col and start walking (if you don't go over Cribyn, it looks like it would be mostly rideable on a mountain bike).

Did phil w get the wrong hostel?

[pathfinder]

The quiet way from Abergavenny to Danywenallt hostel is along the Brecon & Monmouth canal.
Get onto NCN 46 in Abergavenny, leave it for the canal either up a steep zigzag shortly after crossing over the B4246 or at the canal, and stay on the canal until Talybont on Usk. You can either get onto an old tramway up to the hostel at the White Hart, or carry on past the Star Inn to the road bridge and left up the road and across the dam.

To get to Pen y Fan, I'd carry on up the valley, and over the top. There are tracks on the right that take you to a col between Cribyn and Fan y Big. Dump the bike at the col and start walking (if you don't go over Cribyn, it looks like it would be mostly rideable on a mountain bike).

Did phil w get the wrong hostel?

OK that sounds good as well. I am not sure if he got the wrong hostel as my eye sight is bad and don't have my glasses till I get home from work      and the link he added does not seem to work for me  The post code is LD3 7YS I will look propr after I get home

[andrew_s]

Phil's map goes from Brecon (Aberhonddu) to the Storey Arms on the A470 on the west of Pen y Fan, then back to a hostel just off the A470 at Llwyn-y-celyn.

This hostel is called "YHA Brecon Beacons" on Bing and Google maps - the one at Danywenallt is "Danywenallt Study Centre" on OS, and "YHA Brecon Beacons Danywenallt" on Google maps. Looking on the YHA site, the Danywenallt hostel offers exclusive hire, so you're presumably somewhat less likely to get in. Both offer camping.
Danywenallt is LD3 7YS, the one on the A470 is LD3 8NH

Phil's link gets me to a google account login on the work PC, and "404 not found" on my phone.
Forum links to Google photos frequently don't work - even if the URL is correct you often just get a grey no entry sign.

[pathfinder]

Ah ok sadly I can't get the link to work at home either although I can actually kind of see  now lol. Thanks for the help it is the one you say I am going and the canal route looks pretty easy as does the route up  pen y fan. I may take a tent as well as the old roman encampment looks interesting. 
Thanks for the help I will post pics on here when I have done it.
Done every mountain up North wales although have walked some as pretty sure getting a bike up  the likes of Tryfan would be impossible. Hopefully tick of South Wales highest soon 

[trekker12]

The Brecon and Monmouth canal is delightful. We walked it in the summer on our way to the Llyn y Cellyn YHA. Well we caught the bus from Brecon but had walked from Cwmdu campsite as the weather wasn't acceptable to go over the top to Pen-y-Fan. We had camping booked at the YHA but they found us a room as the weather was awful and we hadn't dried the tent from it's soaking the night before!

If you are in the area head into the Black Mountains. I find Pen-Y-Fan a bit tedious (I've only ever walked it so it might be different by bike). I discovered the Black Mountains to be quiter and had much more interesting views - but you do have to tick Pen-y-fan off the list.

[Phil W]

How about this link?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/L3he4puwe9tFXJAp8

[Phil W]

If you are in the area head into the Black Mountains. I find Pen-Y-Fan a bit tedious (I've only ever walked it so it might be different by bike). I discovered the Black Mountains to be quiter and had much more interesting views - but you do have to tick Pen-y-fan off the list.

There's camping up near Llanthony on the Gospel Pass road and a nice shortish ride from Abergavenny. Then you can cycle (with bike unloaded) to the top of the pass and go for a short wander up Hay Bluff. 

[mzjo]

The Brecon and Monmouth canal is delightful. We walked it in the summer on our way to the Llyn y Cellyn YHA. Well we caught the bus from Brecon but had walked from Cwmdu campsite as the weather wasn't acceptable to go over the top to Pen-y-Fan. We had camping booked at the YHA but they found us a room as the weather was awful and we hadn't dried the tent from it's soaking the night before!

If you are in the area head into the Black Mountains. I find Pen-Y-Fan a bit tedious (I've only ever walked it so it might be different by bike). I discovered the Black Mountains to be quiter and had much more interesting views - but you do have to tick Pen-y-fan off the list.

Having done the Pen-y-Fan, Cribyn, Corn Du route once, spent a fair amount walking the Black Mountains and gone further west as well, my preference would still be the Black Mountain (Mynydd Ddu) and the Palleg but I have only ever done it on foot and that was nearly a half century ago. I think the YHA hostels that we used have all closed and been sold off long ago!

[andrew_s]

Note that the Black Mountain (singular) and the Black Mountains (plural) are not the same place at all.

[Phil W]

That's reminded me. There's a small bothy in the Black Mountains if you fancy an adventure.

https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/bothies/wales/grwyne-fawr/

[mzjo]

Note that the Black Mountain (singular) and the Black Mountains (plural) are not the same place at all.

Which is why I also referred to it by what I remember as its welsh name. A lovely place that deserves to be better known, although without quite the grandiose scenery of the main Beacons ridge. (I am a bit biased, a large chunk of my MA thesis was on the historic management of the farms around the Palleg)