Wales · Bannau Brycheiniog National Park

Fan y Big

Fan y Big, 717 m, Powys
Fan y Big, 717 m, Powys. Photo by Jonathan Billinger, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Height
716.7 m · 2,351 ft
Grid reference
SO 03654 20669
Coordinates
51.87620, -3.40101
County / area
Powys
OS Landranger
160
OS Explorer
OL12E
Summit feature
no feature
Key col
SO037198 (688.2 m)

About Fan y Big

Fan y Big is a subsidiary summit of Waun Rydd in the Bannau Brycheiniog of southern Powys. Rather than being climbed for itself, it is commonly taken in as part of the Horseshoe Walk, the traverse linking the four main peaks of the Brecon Beacons.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Fan y Big (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

Conditional Right to roam: Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land.

Permission needed Wild camping: Permission needed everywhere.

General position for Wales — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Wales ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise
—
Sunset
—
Daylight
—
Civil twilight ends
—

Computed astronomically for 51.876, -3.401. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Summit weather live

Loading forecast for the summit (717 m)…

Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is no feature. On broad or flat summits the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method
obvious summit/Trimble GeoXH 6000
Record revised
16-Jul-18
Drop measured from
SO037198 · 688.2 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Long-distance paths past this hill

One waymarked long-distance route runs within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.

RouteTotal lengthFrom summit
Beacons Way155 kmover the top

Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Rated places to eat within 10 km of Fan y Big
PlaceTypeRatingDistance
The Old Barn Tea RoomRestaurant/Cafe/Canteen5 out of 55 km · S
Cantref Adventure Farm CafeRestaurant/Cafe/Canteen4 out of 55.2 km · N
Storey Arms Outdoor Education CentreHotel/bed & breakfast/guest house5 out of 55.4 km · W

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

Which hill this one belongs to

Fan y Big is not counted as an independent hill in its own right. In prominence terms it belongs to Waun Rydd (769 m) — the nearest Marilyn you can reach from this summit without first dropping below its key col, 688 m.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks

PeakHeightDistance
Cribyn795 m1.4 km
Bwlch y Ddwyallt754.1 m1.9 km
Pen y Fan886 m2.6 km
Waun Rydd769.2 m2.6 km
Corn Du871.5 m3 km
Craig Gwaun Taf826.4 m3.1 km