Talybont-on-Usk

Talybont-on-Usk, Tal-y-bont ar Wysg in Welsh, is a village of 719 people at the 2011 census, on the B4558 about six miles south-east of Brecon and eight miles north-west of Crickhowell, according to Wikipedia. It sits on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal beside the Caerfanell, and has a shop and several pubs. The valley one mile south is dammed to form Talybont Reservoir; the national park authority records the dam as built in the 1930s and renovated between 2016 and 2023, and says the Taff Trail from Cardiff to Brecon passes through the village.

Why base here

Talybont is a base for the east side of the Beacons, and the village is small: this site lists one mountain walk that starts on a road out of it. Fan y Big is the Beacons horseshoe’s last summit, 719m by the figures Visit Wales and the Ramblers give, and Walking Britain’s round from the Upper Neuadd side comes to 17.4km with 848m of ascent. The case for sleeping here rather than in Brecon is the approach: the National Trust sends drivers from the village along the reservoir road and up a steep wooded hill to the second Forestry Commission car park, which puts you under the same escarpment that Pont ar Daf reaches from the A470 side. The case against is that the other walks on this site, from the Four Falls Trail to Pen y Fan itself, start well to the south and west and are a drive from here.

On foot versus by car

The canal is the on-foot option. Wikipedia describes a walk along the line of the former Brinore Tramroad running south from the canalside wharf in the village, and a Henry Vaughan walk through the countryside associated with the poet; the village website describes the canal path as a place for gently cycling or strolling. None of these is a mountain day, and this site lists no walk on them; they are what the afternoon after a mountain day is for.

Fan y Big does not start in the village. Its car park is on the lane towards the Upper Neuadd Reservoir, in the Taf Fechan Forest, about six miles from Talybont in a straight line and a good deal further up the road, which the National Trust describes as a steep wooded hill. Walking Britain grades the round moderate to hard, and the Ramblers and Visit Wales grade the horseshoe version challenging and hard. Nothing in the sources describes a bus to the start, so this is a car day, or a long road walk before the mountain begins.

Practicalities

Visit Wales describes the 43 as an hourly bus that winds through the valley’s smaller villages along the Usk between Abergavenny and Brecon, passing Crickhowell, Llangattock, Llangynidr and Talybont-on-Usk by the canal. Williams Coaches is named as the operator, so check its timetable. The park authority names Abergavenny and Merthyr Tydfil as the nearest stations; Merthyr is closer in a straight line, while the 43 gives a direct bus from Abergavenny.

By car, Talybont is on the B4558, and the unclassified road across the Usk gives access to the A40. The national park authority describes the Henderson Hall car park as having toilets, electric vehicle charging and a bike wash, with donations invited for parking. Parking at the Upper Neuadd end is, in the National Trust’s word, limited, so the Fan y Big route sends drivers on to the second car park.