Taf Fechan and Taff Trail is a 13 mile loop trail located near Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales that features a lake and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching.
Part of this hike is along a road.
This is definitely not flat. Gradual climbs and descents along the walk until you come off of the Taff Trail. From there the path climbs steeply for around 4-5km with a number of false peaks reaching around 1700ft. When you reach the highest point the walk then plateaus over the Roman Road leading to the drop down through woodland into Dol-y-gaer. Worth mentioning that at the crossing of Lower Neuadd Reservoir there is a new pathway and bridge meaning it’s very accessible.
We walked this with some alterations. Namely at the early point below the small reservoir, instead of following the trail back down the valley we climbed all the way up to to Beacon's Way and followed it down to rejoin the path at the Taff Trail section. I would thoroughly recommend this as it offers gorgeous views and a much more isolated walking experience. After the switchback up near Tolybont reservoir the hike takes you over some beautiful sheep and horse fields and was absolutely magnificent. Again, very isolated and some great places to stop to eat depending on the wind. The second alteration was towards the end when you reach the valley heading towards Pentwyn Reservoir we chose to stay up on the fire road rather than descend into the valley and cross the water. This means we avoided walking on the road and for to enjoy the last hour of sunshine that lit up the valley as we walked. I would really recommend this hike if you're getting into it and you want something a little more challenging with some good ascents. It was also great for me as it was my first time using a map and really helped me get to grips with using landmarks and contours to understand where I was. Take plenty of water, there weren't any sources or taps that I could see.
shows a few reservoirs. nice woodland trails into gated fields with sheep. very good views from one of the valleys below. theres about a 4k incline which brings you up to the highest elevation. the walk is 20k we took the wrong turning down a road on the way back down but we ended up going through a nice wooded area for about 2k which brought us back to our car . This walk must be planned for good weather. mixture in terrains