{"id":17377,"date":"2026-08-31T22:41:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17377"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:45:47","slug":"17377","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17377","title":{"rendered":"Fan Llia & Afan Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fan Llia & Afan Forest<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Fan Llia<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A beautiful walk on an ideal summer\u2019s day, we were exploring Fforest Fawr and Fan Llia. Sarn Helen, the Roman road which runs from the South Wales coast to the north, followed the river Llia up the valley on an almost level track. The Afon Llia joins the Dringarth to form the Afon Mellte which passes through the Dan yr Ogof caves before plunging down the famous waterfalls around Ystradfellte.<\/p>\n

Even at the beginning of the day, we were surrounded by amazing views of the hills. We spotted Maen Llia in the distance, a massive Bronze Age standing stone 12ft high. As we progressed, we could see the flatter lands to the north ahead.<\/p>\n

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Two people stayed on the lower track while most of us headed up the hillside. The ground was very dry considering it was a peat area and made for easy walking. We saw very little water and at higher levels even the bogs and ponds were dry with the footprints of various animals in the bottom of dried-up ponds. We wondered how the sheep and other animals were managing to survive.<\/p>\n

We had lunch near the top of the ridge, glorying in the amazing views surrounding us. The Carmarthen fans were visible to the west and once we reached the ridge, an unusual face of the Pen y Fan range came into view. The forecast had promised a temperature under 20OC and winds of 14mph on the hilltop, a relief after the heat this summer. A breeze blew and some people put on fleeces, but it was not cold.<\/p>\n

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Birds abounded and we saw a pair of kites, ravens, larks, and other small brown birds. As we left our lunch spot a pair of corvids swooped down to see if\u00a0we had left any crumbs.<\/p>\n

We descended quickly through long grasses and dried bog to meet our friends at a bridge over the river. We walked together back to the car park next to the river. As we were in the middle of nowhere and it was someone\u2019s birthday, a surprise picnic was produced: beer, soft drinks and even cups of tea with delicious bara brith. All nicely finished off with a paddle in the river. Delightful!<\/p>\n

Walk 7 miles 1140ft Map OL12<\/p>\n

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Afan Forest<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This is north of Pontrhydyfen. The early part of the walk saw us climbing quite steeply under a sun which beat down on our backs. This was unexpected as the temperature was supposed to be lower than recent weeks!<\/p>\n

At the car park are three large stones which are worth inspection as they are carved with symbols of the local area \u2013 the viaduct, industry and even a mug.<\/p>\n

At lower levels the forest is mixed woodland which can come together over trails to provide shade but higher up it is mainly fir trees and there is little shelter. We were happy whenever we had one of these tunnels of shade as a delicious cooling breeze blew through them.<\/p>\n

We came across the single wall, ruin of Gyfylchi chapel (gyfylchi means coming together of mountain passes) \u2013 not a parish church but an important place of rest and prayer for travellers on the Cistercian Way, an ancient long-distance path. It linked the great Cistercian Abbeys and hill churches of Wales, including Tintern and Margam.<\/p>\n

Near the top of the walk is the remains of Nant y Bar farm whose cows once supplied milk to the whole valley. It was a longhouse where people and animals shared accommodation but at opposite ends of the building. A stream through the cobbled yard flushed the ty-bach (loo).<\/p>\n

We mostly trekked on very good tracks, with large stones or sunbaked paths \u2013 quite hard going. In open sunny areas there were buddleia bushes and lots of butterflies; tortoiseshell, red admiral and gatekeeper were identified. As lunchtime approached, we had hoped to descend to the river, but the footpath shown on the map had disappeared. We managed to find a satisfactory patch of grass in the shade and enjoyed the rest.<\/p>\n

Someone with eagle eyes spotted a slowworm. Soon after we found several benches and picnic tables, but they were all in the sun. Nearing the river, we took a short diversion to let the dogs enjoy the water and to appreciate the cool. Then a short walk took us back to the cars where we changed our boots and went to the hospitable Bethel chapel caf\u00e9 for refreshments.<\/p>\n

Walk 8.75miles 1700ft Map OS165<\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fan Llia & Afan Forest Fan Llia A beautiful walk on an ideal summer\u2019s day, we were exploring Fforest Fawr and Fan Llia. Sarn Helen, the Roman road which runs from the South Wales coast to the north, followed the river Llia up the valley on an almost level track. The Afon Llia joins the Dringarth to form the Afon […]<\/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":[38,438],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-17377","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3518,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3518","url_meta":{"origin":17377,"position":0},"title":"Upcoming Walks August","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Thurs 3rd Aug:- Vale. 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The name \u2018Highlight\u2019 was obviously an attempt at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6583,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6583","url_meta":{"origin":17377,"position":3},"title":"Capel-y-ffin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Capel-y-ffin Getting to Capel-y-ffin (the Chapel at the end) is not easy. We drove to Llanthony and then along the valley following a narrow windy lane for over 2 miles; parking is restricted. A red kite swooped over us as we travelled. This and the sight of a cyclist (male)\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\/09\/Pic-04.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14655,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14655","url_meta":{"origin":17377,"position":4},"title":"Brecon Beacons \/ Bannau Brycheiniog – Craig Cerrig Gleisiad","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Brecon Beacons \/ Bannau Brycheiniog Brecon Beacons \/ Bannau Brycheiniog Craig Cerrig Gleisiad\u00a0 We parked near Forest Lodge cottages and set off along Sarn Helen, the 2000-year-old Roman road which runs from North Wales to Neath. 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