Having recently celebrated my 60th birthday, I am now the proud owner of a bus pass. The bus pass has opened up a whole new world of opportunities, well, as long as I don’t leave Wales, and assuming that previously I couldn’t afford a bus ticket. Putting these minor points to one side, I am excited at the prospect of bus-based adventure and am keen to investigate bus transport to SOTA summits.
My plan was to activate GW/SW-001 Pen y Fan and GW/SW-004 Waun Rydd. These summits are normally activated separately, or by walking a skyline loop from the South. Travelling by bus opened up the possibility of a full traverse of Bannau Brycheiniog (The Central Brecon Beacons).
The first bus of the day should arrive at Storey Arms at 09:34. Returning, the bus to Brecon leaves Talybont on Usk at 15:45, allowing a generous 15 minutes at Brecon before the last direct bus to Cardiff. This leaves 6 hours and 11 minutes for walking and the activation of 2 summits. The Ordnance Survey Maps website gave a predicted walking duration of 5 hours 53 minutes for my planned route. It looked tight, but possible. Failure would mean a night in a pub!
My travels started with a short ride on the number 30 to a deserted Cardiff City Centre.
Bus travel has changed massively since my childhood. Many bus stops now present a real time display estimating how late each bus will be. The 08:10 TrawsCymru T4 service to Newtown was expected at 08:22. The bus was late, but the driver was very friendly and the bus was wonderful. There was a great view from the sparklingly clean windows, luxurious leatherette seats, USB charging points, a screen showing our progress and the next stop, and the ride was very comfortable.
I arrived at Storey Arms 10 minutes later than planned, but relaxed. Around a dozen walkers left the bus. The path to Corn Du was noticeably quieter than the main path from the car park, but no less conspicuous. No map reading would be required for this section. The lass in the photograph with the orange rucksack unknowingly became my pace setter. The best part of 40 years my younger, she swiftly walked past me and raced up the hill, steadily increasing her lead no matter how hard I tried. I would not be able to keep this pace up all day.
I reached the summit, set-up my station and was on air 1 hour and 15 minutes after leaving the bus stop. Business was swift on 2m FM, on GW/SW-001 Pen y Fan, with 14 contacts in 16 minutes, including a summit to summit with Viki @M6BWA on G/WB-011, Bradnor Hill. The support from the regular chasers was amazing.
The rest of my walk laid out ahead of me.
With the summit of Pen y Fan and the crowds behind me, my route followed the Beacons Way. I skirted around Cribyn and Fan y Big: I had a bus to catch!
Looking back on Corn Du and Pen y Fan
Looking forward to Fan y Big
I left the Beacons Way footpath at the high point of the flat ridge stretching between Fan y Big and Waun Rydd, and headed NorthEast. The first view into Cwm Oergwm is dramatic. The path closely follows the escarpment edge and presented amazing view back to Pen y Fan.
My route left the escarpment and entered the Caerfanell valley and the familiar view of the approach route from the Torpantau Falls car park to the South.
Waun Rydd GW/SW-004 has a very different feel to Pen y Fan. The crowds don’t visit. The summit cairn has no pretensions of grandeur. The landscape has softened. The sharp escapements and grand summits to the West have faded into the distance. Flat lands and Llangorse Lake sit to the North.
This was another swift 2m FM activation with 14 stations calling in, in 25 minutes, including summit to summit contacts with Viki @M6BWA and Rod @M0JLA now on G/WB008 Hergest Ridge. I had previously mentioned to Steve @MW0SAW that I regretted that I would not have time to activate on HF or CW. Steve made me smile when he called in with CW. Replying by voice was quite strange. I found myself speaking in a kind of pseudo morse TNX FER UR RPT UR … Lee @2W0LPU took time out from his birthday to call in. Adrian @GW1BXX said that he would be driving past The White Heart and would call on 145.500 in case I needed a lift to Brecon. Once again the support from the chasers was heart warming.
The end of the summit plateau of Waun Rydd is marked by the rather splendid Carn Pica. The views now are of the Black Mountains and GW/SW-013, Tor y Foel.
After a hop, skip and a jump I was sat outside The White Heart with a pint of beer. I had made it. I was 20 minutes early for the bus. It was at this point that stage 2 of my adventure started. The phone app reported that the 43 bus to Brecon was running 40 minutes late. I would not be able to reach Brecon in time to catch the last direct bus to Cardiff. What is more, I couldn’t find the bus stop.
A new plan was hatched. The X43 to Abergavenny, the train from Abergavenny to Cardiff, and a local bus home. But where was the bus stop? The chap who had just served me my beer was catching the same bus and explained that you stand on the bridge and wave to the driver.
I failed to achieve my goal of travelling exclusively by bus or foot, but this was a wonderful day. I highly recommend the route which I have posted to SOTA mapping.
© Crown copyright and database rights 2025 Ordnance Survey (100025252)
73, Kevin
Application now completed. Actually, the last time we got a bus was from Brecon to Storey Arms and for GW/SW-001.
. Often contemplated using my bus pass so your report has given me food for thought…wonder how many buses pass Rhos Ymryson?? 
