Kittiwake Press

The Brecon Beacons National Park stretches from the English border to the Tywi valley in Carmarthenshire, a distance of nearly 50 miles, covering an area of 520 square miles. This swathe of southern Wales is divided into four distinct areas of high ground by the rivers Usk, Taf and Tawe. These rivers, here in their enthusiastic infancy, descend to meet the salt water of the Bristol Channel by the three great cities of the south, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea respectively.

The Black Mountains are the first and last mountains of Wales. From the top of the easternmost ridge, and astride the border, you can see why a line was drawn here. To the east lie the fertile undulations of the English midlands. To the west, a succession of untamed ridges stretches to the western horizon.

The Brecon Beacons National Park stretches from the English border to the Tywi valley in Carmarthenshire, a distance of nearly 50 miles, covering an area of 520 square miles. This swathe of southern Wales is divided into four distinct areas of high ground by the rivers Usk, Taf and Tawe. These rivers, here in their enthusiastic infancy, descend to meet the salt water of the Bristol Channel by the three great cities of the south, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea respectively.