![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Footsteps2.jpg?resize=860%2C752\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt is possible that the first stronghold here was an Iron Age hillfort and in the 12th century the fortress was a status symbol. The Welsh and English fought over it until Edward I seized it, and later the Giffards built the impressive fortress that remains today. What survives is a combination of 13th century architecture and 19th century restoration, as the castle was deliberately demolished in the 1460s.<\/p>\n
We walked past the tea rooms, uphill towards the entrance to the castle. This would be the best point, in the walk, to visit the castle, as it is an uphill climb from the tearoom. Following the Beacons Way, we arrived at woodland, Coed y Castell. This is on the southern slopes of the limestone crag and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a local Nature Reserve, due to the habitat supporting insects and birds such as the Pied Flycatcher and Woodpecker. The castle sits on a fault known as the Carreg Cennen Disturbance which stretches from the Marches to Pembrokeshire. As well as creating the limestone outcrop on which the castle stands it also produces an unusual feature; rocks on one side of the fault are limestone and dominated by ash trees and on the other side sandstone supports oak trees.<\/p>\n
Limestone creates sinkholes as acid rain eats away at the limestone underground until the roof falls in and a sinkhole is established. There are also grassy craters made by our predecessors looking for limestone, which was heated to make a dressing for fields. The walk descended into the valley where we found fast flowing streams which we had not seen in a long time because of the summer\u2019s dry spell. We gained excellent views of the castle as we climbed\u00a0up to Beddau\u2019r Derwyddon. Not really Druid\u2019s graves, as the name implies, but man-made pillow mounds, which are earthworks built as rabbit warrens, to farm rabbits for their meat and fur.<\/p>\n
We crossed Nant Llygad Llwchwr via a sturdy bridge, built by the Army, who do a lot of work on the footpaths, as they use the Black Mountain for training exercises. The many caves in the area make the Llygad Llwchwr popular with cavers.<\/p>\n
Now we spread out to find comfortable spots to relax over lunch. Refreshed we climbed a long flight of steps up a hill. Outcrops of the black, burnt-looking fungus which is King Alfred\u2019s cake and a red bracket fungus were spotted on trees.<\/p>\n
It was a hot day and, when we came to a road, a splinter group decided to take a shortcut back to the castle, as we had been told that the tea rooms closed at 3 pm and they wanted a drink before going home.<\/p>\n
The rest of us continued through the village of Trapp and passed Carreg Cennen farm. We followed footpaths across fields and noted that the countryside seemed lush and unspoilt even though it was farmed; it is difficult to put a finger on what was different, but it felt more natural than the carefully managed farmland we see in most places. The castle loomed over us, and the Beacons Way provided the route back to the beginning of the walk.<\/p>\n
We had heard plenty of birdsong and seen several birds of prey and dainty harebells, as well as a sign warning that adders might be basking! Apparently 100,000 people visit the farm each year but only 40,000 people visit the castle.<\/p>\n
The day had been hot and humid, and we were glad to discover that the tea rooms were in fact open until 4.45 pm (lunch served until 3pm). We were so happy some of us had both beer and ice-cream!<\/p>\n
Walk 6.2m 1000ft Map OL14<\/p>\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Castell Carreg Cennen Castell Carreg Cennen We parked in the castle car park, near Llandeilo, and were thrilled to spot a kite soaring directly above us as we donned our boots. The castle and farm are currently owned by the Llewelyn family, but the castle is managed by Cadw. It is one of the most picturesque castles in Wales. Viewers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38,426],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4c5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6227,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6227","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":0},"title":"Castell Carreg Cennin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Castell Carreg Cennin Our destination was near Llandeilo so after a long drive we arrived at Castell Carreg Cennin and were soon booted up and on our way. We set off uphill, as usual, noting that a large barn had been converted into a tearoom and shop where we could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/walk-1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13705,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13705","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":1},"title":"Cardiff And The Bute Family","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st October 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 CARDIFF AND THE BUTE FAMILY \u00a0 Anyone living in the Cardiff area will have heard the word Bute. It is associated with many areas such as Bute Docks, Bute Street, Bute Park and many more. But how many of us know where the Bute family came from and how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reader's Travel Tales"","block_context":{"text":"Reader's Travel Tales","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=125"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Mount-stuart.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5628,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5628","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":2},"title":"Misty Morning at Craig yr Allt","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Craig yr Allt It was a misty morning as we travelled to Tongwynlais. Driving to the top of Heol y Fforest we parked at a picnic spot feeling pleased that we had climbed a fair way before starting the walk. The mist thickened as we headed roughly west, following a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_4880-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11888,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11888","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":3},"title":"Bluebells at Wentwood and Brecon Beacons","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Bluebells The appearance of the first spring flowers always has Wenvoe walkers thinking about the arrival of bluebells. Spring this year was cool and we enjoyed wood anemones, daffodils, primula etc. for longer than usual. Then the blue bells arrived. You can spot them in lots of places in Wenvoe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bouquet.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bouquet.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bouquet.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4218,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4218","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":4},"title":"Cefn Mably and Ruperra Castle \/ Ystradowen","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Cefn Mably and Ruperra Castle We were lucky, there had been snow overnight; in Cardiff and the Vale the snow was light but further north there were heavy falls. Starting at the drive to Cefn Mably, near the farm, we walked towards the house and passed in front of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8003,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8003","url_meta":{"origin":16125,"position":5},"title":"Peterston Super Ely","author":"Alan Williams","date":"11th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Footsteps Peterston Super Ely We parked in St Nicholas, within our 5-mile limit, to do a walk based on Valeways walk no. 37 Peterston super Ely (A ridge and valley walk). The main walk is 2 loops of 3 miles and 4 miles centred on Peterston Super Ely. From St\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Picture71-300x210.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16125"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16129,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16125\/revisions\/16129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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