Corn Du

About Corn Du

Often overshadowed by its neighbor Pen y Fan, this broad, flat-topped sandstone summit is the second-highest peak in South Wales. Its dramatic northern escarpment offers a vertiginous drop into Cwm Llwch, while the summit plateau holds a Bronze Age cairn, marking it as a significant Nuttall in the heart of the Brecon Beacons.

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Did You Know?

• •The name translates from Welsh as 'Black Horn.' While the profile of the hill is more of a truncated wedge than a sharp peak, the 'Du' refers to the dark, shadowed appearance of the Old Red Sandstone cliffs on its steep northern face when viewed from the valley below.
• •The summit plateau is marked by a well-preserved Bronze Age burial cairn. When it was excavated in the late 20th century, archaeologists discovered a central stone cist, although the contents had been disturbed long ago by earlier visitors to the peak.
• •For a more rewarding approach than the 'Motorway' path from the A470, the ascent via the Cwm Llwch ridge to the north passes the Tommy Jones memorial and offers clear views of the glacial lake, Llyn Cwm Llwch, tucked into the hollow below the cliffs.
• •From the summit, the view south-west tracks the line of the Beacons Way over the rounded tops of Fan Fawr and Fan Frynych, while looking south across the Bristol Channel, the coastline of Somerset is often visible on exceptionally clear days.
• •It is the only peak in the range where you can stand on the very edge of a 600-foot drop while being surrounded by a dozen people concurrently eating egg sandwiches and checking their signal.