In The Wild: Walking Waun Fach

The drive out from our cabin was just under an hour, to the car park by Dinas Castle Inn. Suspicious we’d lose the daylight on the descent, we ignored the merry revellers at the pub (who clearly had the right idea about how to start a hike), and cracked on up to Dinas Castle, which sits below Waun Fach to the west. A large hill in its own right, it was fairly daunting having reached the top and feeling our Achilles tendons make complaints so early on in the day. In the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, the view from Dinas Castle is already impressive, giving sweeping views of the countryside and the ascent up The Dragon’s back.

The ascent up to Waun Fach is known as the Dragon’s Back for its slowly sloping, but undulating climb to the top. In places it’s steep, very steep and each stage hides the next. If you’re wise, you keep your head down to avoid looking at it.

It won’t be long before you start making plans about packing lighter next time. The view, however, makes it all worth it. Each stage, you gaze back, and start appreciating the scope of the hills. It’s so stupendous, you can’t help thinking you’re gazing at a computer screensaver. There’s one small stretch of path, about midway up, where the path itself is only half a metre wide, next to a 200m or so steep decline, where you could easily fall – and it wakes your brain and body up to how far from the comfort of daily life you are (in the best of ways).

Several steep tromps later, where the inclines taper off, there’s a cairn at the plateau a kilometre away from the peak of Waun Fach, where we stopped for lunch, devouring ham and smoked cheese sandwiches made from the bounty we’d picked up from a local shop. You’d be well advised to bring your own meal, complete with a lot of snacks, as firstly, it’s a 3-5hr hike all in all, and secondly, it’s a long way back down for a packet of crisps. By the time the food was unwrapped, local planes towing gliders started circling above our heads – so close you could have thrown a rock at them, and they bucked their wings to watch us, as we watched them.

The highest point of Waun Fach is disappointingly not pointy, so if you’re hoping for a clear highest peak, you might be a little crestfallen. On the bright side, once you get there, the view over the valleys, all the way to where you started, is incredible.

As you cross the last plateau, you’ll make your way past sheep left to graze, and wild ponies – seemingly indifferent to the elevation, and altogether familiar with the wild people that walk this stretch of the Black Mountains.

But the real treat is turning south to see the rest of the hillscape weave together. By now, we had ‘broken our breath’ as they say in Italian, shedding those first few kilometres of huffing and puffing and settling into a breathing rhythm. The sun had begun to set, and cast a surreal glow over the valleys, blasting them in shafts of light and shadow, as clouds passed over.

We celebrated, briefly, took in the scenery, and began the long descent back to the car, all proud of our very first mountain climb. Then went in search of that pint at Dinas Castle Inn.

If you’re looking to take on your first mountain, fancy a hike across the black mountains, or are just looking to stay in this neck of the woods, take a look at some of the cabins perfect to explore the Black Mountains or Herefordshire.