Craig Cerrig Gleisiad a Fan Frynych National Nature Reserve, near Brecon
Craggy mountain landscape in the Brecon Beacons...
Small woodland big on variety with accessible boardwalk
Coronavirus update
Our sites and most visitor facilities are open but, under the current coronavirus restrictions in Wales, this is intended only for the use of people who live locally.
You are strongly advised – in line with current Welsh Government regulations – not to drive to any of our sites to exercise unless you have specific health or mobility issues.
We have changed the normal route for some of our trails to help you maintain social distancing – please follow signs on site.
Lying in a small deep valley shaped by glaciers, Coed y Cerrig National Nature Reserve is hidden away in the southern part of the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
There is a boardwalk suitable for wheelchairs that takes you through the wet woodland, just over the road from the small car park, and a steep circular route through the woodland on the side of the valley.
The road that passes the reserve was once a busy railway line, carrying men and materials to build the Grwyne Fawr reservoir nine miles away.
There are three distinct types of woodland here:
Spring
Look out for showy marsh marigolds in the wet valley bottom and the delicate pink ‘umbrellas’ of valerian growing along the boardwalk.
Spot the striking pink pyramidal flowers of early purple orchids and the colourless and strange toothwort plant which lives parasitically on the roots of other plants like hazel and elm.
Enjoy the swathe of fragrant bluebells along the path through the upper woodland.
Summer
Seek out the weird and wonderful bird’s nest orchid in early summer and the elegant nettle-leaved bell flower.
Watch for hovering damselflies and dragonflies and speckled wood butterflies flitting through shards of sunlight.
Listen for the trilling of a wood warbler (like a spinning coin) in the oak woodland and watch for the black and white flash of a pied-flycatcher or the colourful black, orange and grey bandit-like colouring of the male redstart.
Autumn
As summer moves towards autumn, search for fungi like chanterelles especially in damp weather.
Coed y Cerrig is a National Nature Reserve.
National Nature Reserves are places with some of the very finest examples of wildlife habitats and geological features.
There are over 70 National Nature Reserves in Wales.
Find out more about National Nature Reserves.
Both walking trails are waymarked from the car park.
½ mile/0.8 kilometre, accessible
The wide and level boardwalk, with passing places and wooden benches, enables you to enjoy the woodland in the wet valley bottom. You can either return along the boardwalk or do a circular walk by following a non-boardwalk section shown on the map panel in the car park.
⅓ mile/0.6 kilometre, strenuous
This short circular route climbs steeply up a series of rough stone steps, continuing through the woodland and dropping down a slope to the car park
Please note:
Coed y Cerrig National Nature Reserve is 4 miles north of Abergavenny.
It is in the county of Monmouthshire.
Take the A465 from Abergavenny towards Hereford. After 4 miles, turn left into the village of Llanfihangel Crucorney. After 500 metres, turn left onto a minor road to Llanthony. After 1¼ miles take the left fork, following the brown and white duck signs. The car park is on the right after 1¼ miles.
Coed y Cerrig National Nature Reserve is on Ordnance Survey (OS) map OL 13.
The OS grid reference is SO 293 211.
For details of public transport visit Traveline Cymru's website.
Tel: 0300 065 3000
Email: enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk