Pen y Fan Horseshoe Ridge Walk - The Best Way to Experience South Wales' Highest Mountain!

Hey everyone! This week we are in the Brecon Beacons National Park to complete the Pen y Fan Horseshoe Ridge walk. In our opinion this is the best way to experience South Wales' highest mountain!
At 886m high Pen y Fan is the tallest mountain in the Brecon Beacons and the great thing about this peak is that it is accessible from multiple different routes depending on whether you are after an easy, difficult or quiet ascent to the summit. In this video we show you our journey around the Horseshoe Ridge walk but we also share with you some of the other routes you can take.
On a clear day like we had you can see for miles and the views are incredible! Enjoy the video and thanks for supporting our channel :)
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CAMERA GEAR:
Go Pro Hero 8 Black: amzn.to/3DEiTRN
DJI Mavic Mini 2: amzn.to/3fFE65X
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV: amzn.to/3T65JTF
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USEFUL INFORMATION:
Our Route: www.alltrails.com/explore/map...
Where to Park (Horseshoe Walk): Neuadd (CF48 2UT)
Storey Arms Route: www.alltrails.com/explore/tra...
Where to Park (Storey Arms Route): Pont ar Daf Car Park (LD3 8NL)
Cwm Gwdi Route: www.alltrails.com/explore/tra...
Where to Park (Cwm Gwdi): Cwm Gwdi Car Park
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SONGS USED IN THIS VIDEO:
Unfading - North Sphere
In Bloom - Victor Lundberg
It Can Be Done - Airae
Tell Me Should I've Known (Instrumental Version) - Victor Lundberg
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ATTRIBUTIONS:
Maps -
Map Source: Google Maps "Map data ©2021" via www.google.co.uk/maps
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ABOUT US:
Hi! We are Kitti and Jon! We are a multinational (Hungarian and British) couple living in Manchester, England and we love to travel, hike and explore both in the UK and abroad! We definitely have the travel bug and have explored many countries on and off together in the 7 years since we met (when our jobs have allowed it!). We decided to finally start filming our adventures and sharing them with you guys!
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00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Welcome to the Brecon Beacons!
01:05 - The Ascent
04:13 - Reaching the Summit!
04:40 - Alternative Routes to the Top
05:41 - On to Cribyn
06:02 - The Descent
07:17 - Outro

[@NorwayHikesTrails]

Wonderful video, great hike. Thank you for sharing

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you! 😊

[@SetForAdventures]

Lovely film 🏔👍 one of my very favourite climbs and always nice to return! Thx for sharing your Hike 🙏🏼 all the best

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you 😊 we can definitely see why after doing it! The hike was stunning the entire way around! Can't wait to get back and do it again 👍 thanks for watching 😊x

[@GreenandBlack2022]

Guys what a great video 👏🏽 You are are lovely together. I'll definitely be doing this route

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you! 😊 we hope you enjoy the route when you do it 👍

[@RushilKumar1]

Beautiful place.

[@KittiandJon]

It really is! 🏞

[@TheTerminator423]

I have this planned for 15th September and I can't wait! Great video

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you! 😊 have an amazing walk!

[@missm449]

What a beautiful walk! I really have to get back to the Brecon Beacons some day :) I love how you give different options to going up, that's so helpful

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you! 😊 we love to give different options when they are available as we know not everyone will want to do our really long route! Thanks for watching 😊

[@atrampinthehills.841]

Cool...planning on doing this tomorrow

[@KittiandJon]

Hope you enjoyed the walk!👍thanks for watching 😊

[@sean6948]

Great stuff I'm doing this tomorrow

[@KittiandJon]

Thanks 😊 hope you have a great walk! 😊👍

[@fus149hammer5]

Did it twice back in 81 and 85 as training for my army CFT. As we were under time pressure on route marches I never really took in just how beautiful the place is. I intend going back next spring if only once more and climbing again but this time I'll make a point of looking at the scenery. 👍

[@KittiandJon]

That sounds super tough! Hopefully you can get back there and have a slightly more chilled hike this time! We were stopping every 5 minutes to look at the scenery 😅

[@garymoon8609]

Thanks for video and great footage also im about to try this on my bike within next few days 😀

[@KittiandJon]

Thanks for watching Gary 😊 good luck doing it on your bike 👍

[@brigrills]

I did the Horeshoe Ridge route a couple of years ago with my sister in law but went the opposite way round to you. It's a beautiful but brutal route,I wish I'd taken more video while I was there. It really is beautiful there.

[@KittiandJon]

It really is a gorgeous route especially of you have the weather! You're right though it's definitely a punishing one too! Thanks for watching 😊

[@irvsstella]

You got lucky with the weather. I've done the Fan dance 7times, never seen any of it in sunlight!

[@KittiandJon]

Yeah we were very lucky to get such a nice day! Hopefully you can see it in the sunlight one day! 🤞

[@marcbedingfield1934]

Oh South Wales 😍

[@KittiandJon]

Such a beautiful area!! 😍

[@grumpymountainwalker2819]

Excellent video, Pen y Fan is actually the heighest point in southern Britain, not just South Wales.

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you 🙏 and thanks for the extra bit of info! 😊👍

[@DartmoorExplorer]

Thanks for the video and the blog I read. I'm thinking about doing this at the end of April but will be using public transport to get there from Devon. I was thinking about doing the horseshoe trail then coming down the motorway as you call it and hiking to the fourwaterfalls while wild camping but I'm now thinking it might be too much to do all of that 😁👍

[@KittiandJon]

Thanks for watching the video and checking out our blog 😊 whatever you choose to do we're sure you'll have a great time and fingers crossed you get good weather 🤞

[@blacksheepdetecting]

I'm doing the Cambrian way end of month, did you manage to get to Wales?

[@DartmoorExplorer]

@@blacksheepdetecting Wow that is some hike I did have to Google it though. No unfortunately I didn't I went to Scotland instead because the weather was better. Its on my channel if you want to have a look😁👍

[@tSp289]

Good video. Made me decide to follow this route. One thing though: 'y' in Welsh sounds more like 'uhh' than 'ee'. And a single 'f' is pronounced as a 'v'. So, "pen uh van", not "penny fan".

[@KittiandJon]

Thanks for watching! 😊 and for the correction! We always try our best to pronounce things the correct way and always nice to know when we haven't quite got it right 👍

[@brindsbackpack]

Great video guys, lovely footage, editing and commentary! You've got a new subscriber! This route is on my "To do" list and I'm hoping to do it later this year. If you don't mind me asking what software to you use to edit your footage as it looks great! :)

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you that's always nice to hear 😊 hopefully you can tick it off your list later this year 😊 we use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and color grade our footage and for the most part it has been pretty reliable 👍

[@brindsbackpack]

@@KittiandJon I appreciate the reply guys, that monthly subscription is a little step for me but thanks for the info.

[@timoleary5815]

Really well put together film and an enjoyable watch, so much so that I'll even forgive you for calling it 'penny fan'. Thanks for sharing ☺

[@KittiandJon]

😅 thanks Tim! Really wish we could take back that pronunciation 🙈

[@staynomadic5828]

Great video mate.. make me to do it soon

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you! Hope you can 👍

[@saoirsemolloy5968]

W0W

[@KittiandJon]

❤️

[@neilyplim]

Kitti and Jon .....many thanks for the very well-put-together video. I'll be visiting Brecon in a couple of weeks, and plan to do Pen-y-Fan. It won't be the first time - I'm ex-Army. Just out of interest, where does the 'Quiet Route' start from? I didn't quite get the name of the car park. If you can provide a post-code or satnav reference for the carpark, that would be much appreciated. By the way, I'll be coming from the Midlands. All the best, Neil.

[@KittiandJon]

Hi Neil! Thanks for watching 😊 the route starts from Cwm Gwdi Car Park to the north of Pen y Fan. Google gives the address as: Cwm Gwdi Carpark, Unnamed Road, 8LE, Brecon Not super helpful but if you type Cwm Gwdi Car Park into Google Maps it gives its location pretty accurately 👍

[@KMW88]

Hey, great video, just booked my accommodation for this and I wonder how long did this route took you to do?

[@KittiandJon]

Thank you 😊 it took us about 6 hours to complete but we stopped a lot to film, take photos and fly the drone (and lunch!). So you could definitely do it quicker if you wanted 👍 enjoy the walk!

[@DinoDelight]

Great video, love walking up here. Did you go to the diving board at Fan Y Big? imo that is a better point than the summit of Pen Y Fan.

[@KittiandJon]

Thanks 😊 it was a stunning walk! The views are incredible! We actually bailed out after Cribyn so didn't go up to Fan Y Big...gives us a reason to go back though! 👍

[@DinoDelight]

@@KittiandJon if you want to just fo the fan y big walk, i would recommend starting at Blean Y Glyn carpark as there's loads of great waterfalls a that area then you can walk up to the diving board

[@KittiandJon]

@@DinoDelight brilliant thanks for the tip! If there's one thing we love as much as hiking its waterfalls so that sounds perfect! 👌

[@domo5771]

Hey. Great video I can't find the horseshoe route on alltrails Can you help?

[@KittiandJon]

Hey! Thank you 😊🙏 this link should get you there 🤞 www.alltrails.com/en-gb/trail/wales/merthyr-tydfil/pen-y-fan-fan-y-big-cribyn-and-taf-fechten-forest

[@TBO2488]

Hi. Will the horseshoe route be ok for myself and my 14yr old son to go up as it’s our first time going up a mountain ? Would appreciate any feed back

[@KittiandJon]

Hi! I would say technically the walk is very simple. A little steep to get on the ridge line but once you are on the ridge the walk to the top of Pen y Fan is very comfortable. If doing the full horseshoe after Pen y Fan there are at least another 2 steep ascents (although you can cheat and bail out after the first ascent like we did on our video) and it is a long way around so I would say the biggest factor is probably the length. If you guys are pretty fit then you should be okay otherwise I would probably suggest a shorter route for your first mountain climb. Hope that helps!

[@Ryanjoned163]

I had a dump on top of the mountain last time I was there it was cloudy and nobody could see me 😂

[@DINGSDEAN]

Llyn fan fach is a good walk not too far from penyfan, you got to go over the black mountains into llangadog

[@KittiandJon]

Cheers Dean 👍 a good reason to return! 😊

[@DINGSDEAN]

@@KittiandJon good video by the way 👍

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Why is pen y fan at the back of the titanboa? Riley KS Brandon Clement /lsm storm so much more there but what's the point people just getting hurt for “runs” how is this helping the world

[@viviennewilliams7510]

I live right by Pen y Fan , please be aware this climb these days is oversubscribed ! Thousands of people parking all over grass verges on the A470 and walkers are just joining a thick crowd of other people ,which isn’t the best way of appreciating the beauty of Bannau Brychieniog! Plenty of other walks ,less crowded .Do some homework and get more out of your day!

[@KittiandJon]

Sad to hear this. It was super busy on that route from the A470 when we did it too. That's the main reason we decided to do the horseshoe, so we could escape the crowds for long periods. Would love to get back and see more of Bannau Brychieniog! :)

[@Mohammad-jt5ig]

do you have to pay to go there?

[@KittiandJon]

Just for the car parking 👍

[@Mohammad-jt5ig]

@@KittiandJon thank you

[@striderwhiston9897]

Heya, just a friendly reminder, "Pen y Fan" is pronounced "Pen-Uh-Van" not "Penny-fan" 🙂 In Welsh, "y" tends to be pronounced "uh", and in this context it is, occasionally it makes the "e" sound, but rather rarely. F in Welsh is pronounced V, the welsh letter "FF" fulfills the sound of the English F

[@KittiandJon]

Hey yes we know now 😊 we've had quite a few comments telling us we were saying it wrong! 😅 not much we can do about it in the video now though unfortunately!

[@muzwot9603]

Plant some TREES there already!

[@KittiandJon]

There is a lot of woodland further down the mountain near to where we parked 👍

[@striderwhiston9897]

Fairly certain hundreds of years ago it was forested, deforestation in the British Isles are rampant a few hundred years ago, mainly for farmland and sheep grazing land.