Looking at grabbing a long weekend in the middle of August and Mrs BD and I are looking at a trip to Wales.

I haven’t been to the Brecon Beacons in years (family caravan holiday!) but can clearly remember swimming in a river near a bridge (maybe viaduct) and would be keen to re-live my youf!

Who has some recommendations on;
A) Accommodation – not hotel, but nice B+B? Budget needs to be realistic, cant really afford the £50pppn rates you see advertised.
B) Things to do outside – good weather (not taking the MTB, but may fling our road bikes in the boot)
C) Things to do inside – bad weather!
D) Places to eat – Pubs etc

Cheers all,

Dicky

Talybont on Usk is good for beer & food, the river (obviously) and canal. The Starr Inn was our favourite and did B & B. Walk up Pen y Fan from Storey Arms is pretty good although there are other ways from the resevoir side or Gap road etc. Waterfalls at Ystradfellte good too, particularly if you get to the bottom one you can walk behind. Isn’t the jazz festival on around then too?

Loads and loads to do in the Brecon Beacons. Google is your friend.

There are some great walks as stated above. Accommodation can be a little tricky esp in Talybont as its a popular destination. There is a great deal of fascinating industrial history in the area, I enjoy a walk that takes in the ‘Chartist’ cave along with the history that comes with it. Plenty of other walks of varying difficulty.

The Star is good for food as is the Travellers Rest, lots of options outside of Talybont too, There is a pub that specialises in pies,how good is that!

Friends of mine have a small B&B -https://www.facebook.com/thearchesbaileysbarn?pnref=lhc – and Fiona works at Tourist information so would be able to give you plenty of pointers.

if you go with Talybont as a base (and it’s not a bad choice), the walk up to Pen Y Fan from the Talybont dam and back is a cracking full dayer walk and keeps you away from the grockels doing the Storey Arms climb. Take in Cairn Pica, Fan y Big, The Cribyn all the way round to Fan Ddu and return via the lower Neuadd res dam and Taff trail.

day trip to Langorse lake from TBonUsk
http://aroundllangorselake.co.uk/

If you’re into walking dont forget the black mountains (I personally prefer them to Beacons as quieter and more loop options)

Check out climbing Sugar Loaf or Skyridd for shorter walks. Longer ones might take in Offas dyke path/Llanthony Priory/Lord Hereford’s Knob/Cwmyoy/Patrishow etc.

Kayak/Canoe hire from Glasbury.
http://www.wyevalleycanoes.co.uk/index.html

The aqueduct you’re thinking of is on the canal leading out of Brecon towards Talybont. Lots of places you can swim in the Usk out that way.

I’d recommend the Bridge Cafe in Brecon if you want a nice, friendly, outdoorsy B&B which is reasonably-priced, and the owners have lots of advice on stuff to do – they’re cyclists and walkers themselves.

Outdoors – take your pick. Loads of good road biking in the area – just grab a map and go to be honest, or plenty of GPX files for download. Hire MTBs locally if you feel the urge. Walks up Pen y Fan from the south or east are much nicer and less busy than from the Storey Arms/Pont ar Daf route. Even better walking on the Black Mountain (to the west) if you don’t feel a need to go up the absolute highest peak.

Indoor stuff is more tricky but there’s a climbing wall at Llangorse which is worth a visit, the Welsh whisky distillery at Penderyn, show caves at Dan yr Ogof, or towns/villages like Hay on Wye or Crickhowell are worth a look too. All these things tend to get busy on wet summer weekends, mind.

Look at Talgarth too. The grub at the Bakers Table adjoining the Mill is worth a bite. The Mill does tours which are interesting.
You can road bike or drive SE from Brecon on the A40 to Bwlch then climb down and up through Llangynidr over the lovely old single lane bridge up to the top of Llangattock mountain. At the fork junction you can either take the C-road and descend to Llangattock then hang a right onto the A4077 or go straight on into Crickhowell, a nice town with a traditional high street/square. Tip; try the tiffin in Askews bakery.
If you didn’t want to go to Crickhowell then you’ve got two options to get to Blaenavon for a day of industrial heritage. Either instead of taking that turn at the fork you can keep straight on to Beaufort/Brynmawr then come over the top to Blaenavon on the B4258, or you could take the fork as above and follow the A4077 to the Heads of the Valley A465 roundabout and take the B4269 until you see a sign on the Right for Blaenavon and this will take you up the Blorenge, past the Keepers Ponds and Foxhunter memorial and then down into the town itself. There’s a mining museum- Big Pit worth a trip (free entry as it’s Wales), there’s the World Heritage Centre in the town itself which explains the UNESCO status of the area and there’s a pretty nice pub/hotel called the Lion at the top end.
There’s also a railway running on weekends from Garn-yr-erw (on the Brynmawr road) where you can catch the steam or diesel train into Big Pit.

I’ve had some very good times staying here:

The Dragons Back Pub And Bunkhouse