Waun Fach

About Waun Fach

Rising as the highest point in the Black Mountains, this broad, peat-topped whaleback offers an understated but commanding summit. Once infamous for its deep bogs, stone pitching now provides a reliable path across the plateau. From the trig point, you look across to the Brecon Beacons and the deep Vale of Ewyas.

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Did You Know?

• •The name translates from Welsh as 'Small Moorland.' It is a humble title for the highest peak in the range, likely describing the character of the grassy summit plateau rather than its 811-metre stature.
• •The plateau is composed of Old Red Sandstone, a geology that defines the Black Mountains' long, finger-like ridges and the deep, parallel valleys of the Grwyne Fawr and the Vale of Ewyas.
• •To the west, the summit offers a clear perspective of the Brecon Beacons’ 'Central Peaks,' with the steep northern escarpments of Pen y Fan and Cribyn clearly visible across the Usk Valley.
• •The northern approach often incorporates the 'Dragon’s Back,' a series of grassy mounds leading up from the village of Pengenffordd, passing the remains of the 12th-century Castell Dinas.
• •For decades, the summit was notorious for 'bottomless' peat hags; the installation of stone sleepers has since saved many a walker from the indignity of a waist-deep immersion in the moor.