If you fancy climbing the highest peak in South Wales twice in a day, with relative ease, let me help you. There is no shame in taking the popular route up. Park at the Pont ar Daf car park (CF48 2HY)and enjoy the clearly marked path that allows so many people to enjoy this special experience. The first bonus to this wonderful route is Corn Du, your first summit with a cracking view and photo op by a Bronze Age cairn. At a moderate pace it’ll take between an hour to an hour and a half to reach this point and only a few minutes more to your next goal. It’s a very short dip down and up to the top of Pen Y Fan. On a clear day you can see across Mid/South Wales, the Severn Estuary, The Gower Peninsula and The Black Mountains. There is also a cracking perspective of all the wonders The Brecon National Park has to offer like Fan y Big, Waun Rydd and Craig y Fan Ddu.   

At this stage you can easily head back to the car park or take my suggestion of an exhilarating but “doable” extension. Heading down the other side of Pen y Fan is quite steep but reveals the sight of your next conquest, Cribyn. There is a great view across to the steep track that appears like a stairway leading you to the summit of this 795 m gem which means ‘little ridge’ in English. It feels as if you are climbing a gentle ladder to the top where you are rewarded with more spectacular views and an extra sense of achievement. A walk along the precipitous peak top and down the other side signals the beginning of your hike back to base camp. Before you know it, you are climbing Pen y Fan for the second time, back up from your previous descent. When I took this route, our first visit to the summit was clouded in mist. However, returning two hours later we were greeted with sunshine and blue skies. From here it’s all downhill back to the car park. It took us five hours with plenty of breaks for food, drink, rest and admiring stunning views.