
Pen Y Fan (The Fan Dance) 11th October 2025
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- 22.87km route
- Rucking with 17kg's
- Route difficulty - Intermediate. This route has a good path all the way through, although quite uneven at times. The challenge on this one is being able to endure carrying the weight for such a long time and summitting the mountain more than once which takes mental strength as well a physical strength.
If you haven't heard of the Fan Dance before, it is a phase of Special Forces selection, and as our rucking journey had started when we saw the Royal Marines carrying 50kg's+ up this very mountain a couple of years ago it made sense for us to see how far we have come and give this challenge a go. The route starts from the Storey Arms as we did back in 2023.
The weather forecast for this weekend was to be bright sky's and sunshine, but when we started out, we were wondering if we would be having a similar time to last weekend. Thankfully as we started to climb the first ridge from the Storey Arms we started to come out above the fog and the day started to brighten up.
Climbing up above the low lying fog was great, but as we carried on along the path, we could still see the clouds hanging over the summit of Corn Du which is the 1st summit you reach when you approach from the Storey Arms.
when we made it to the summit of Corn Du, it was like the weather gods had been waiting for us, as the clouds lowered and we had an amazing view above them as if we were in a plane to go on holiday. and the view across to Pen Y Fan was also pretty spectacular as the clouds were blowing through the lower ground and wisping down the mountainside.
As we had started out early, the mountain was no too busy so we had both summits almost to ourselves and the people who were up there we being quite peaceful and taking in the splendour of the day.
As we had been rucking for well over an hour, we decided to take a break on the Pen Y Fan summit and grab some breakfast and coffee. the clouds were all below us so were weren't sure we would find a better view to enjoy while we grab some much needed food.
After the summit at Pen Y Fan, the route then takes you down Jacobs ladder which is a steep rocky path which leads you down towards Bwlch Ar Y Fan. Once you have got to the bottom of Jacobs Ladder, the path levels out quite a bit and the you have the long walk to the car park along the Taff Trail which is the 1/2 way point on the route.
At the 1/2 way point we stopped for some lunch which we had packed earlier that morning, some roast chicken bagels and a few dates, as the only way we were going to complete this challenge was to fuel ourselves well and not burn out.
After having found the last hour or too reasonably easy, it was time to make our way back up the long slow ascent towards the base of Jacobs ladder for the reverse journey. Its amazing how much more you feel the gradient when you are going up as opposed to going down it. We did have quite a scare about half way along the path, when Shelly's lace loop dug into her other boot and she fell and bashed her head on a rock. Thankfully it was only a minor bump as she had managed to fall quite gracefully, but she still had a nice bump on her head.
after Shelly had gathered herself, we carried on along the path and eventually made it to the bottom on Jacobs Ladder for our final big climb of the day. We powered up pretty quickly taking mini breaks every few minutes to take a breather and this seemed to work pretty well because it felt like we made light work of it, but I'm not sure if that was more because we just got our heads down and got on with it. By the time we made it to the summit of Pen Y Fan the 2nd time, it was quite a bit busier, and there was a cue for the "summit photo op" and the clouds had come back over. So we were really lucky the 1st time round to have had it so quite and clear.
We still had quite a way to go but as we were now about 20+km's in the final 3-4 didn't seem to much ahead of us. The climb down from Corn Du put us back in our place as it was a real quad burner all the way, and as you dip down to the stream after about 2km's you get treated to one final ascent to crest over the brow and head down the final descent to the car park. By this time our legs were burning and we were exhausted, but we did it and in just under 6 1/2 hours which was an hour or so quicker than we expected.
As with our other Welsh adventures we had booked ourselves in to somewhere to stay for the night before heading home. We booked ourselves in to the Old Post Office in Talgarth as it was reasonably priced and looked like a nice place to stop. We struck gold with our choice, as the accommodation was amazing, and Talgarth is a must visit little village in Mid Wales. There was a lovely little stream running through the middle of the village, where we sat to enjoy some fantastic fish and chips from the Castle Fish bar, and then we went to the Bridge Inn which is a quaint little pub where we were welcomed as if we were a local.
If you are every looking for somewhere to stay in Mid Wales, we would highly recommend Talgarth as somewhere to check out, we will defiantly be going back next time we are in the area.