Rhiwiau to Cross Inn

The Usk is my favourite river: the water is (was?) always clear and the name, mysterious and beautiful, probably means “abounding in fish”.  (Usk is allied etymologically with piscis, it's thought.)  It starts on the northern edge of the Brecon Beacons, flows into the Bristol Channel and we were delighted when we returned from a walk over Rhiwiau to find that its source had been only a mile from our feet.

Rhiwiau is a mountain ridge used by drovers on their way from Llangadog (SN 7028) to Trecastle (8729).  The slope is gentle, the scenery faultless – and I wish the pictures on this page did them justice.  We parked at 734266 to the east of Llangadog and followed the tarmac, then the track (#1), upwards (#2) and over (#3) to Cross Inn (#4), near the red kite feeding station.  (I am bewildered why people want to feed red kites.)


The inn is no longer, but you can see why it was popular in the days of long-distance walking: it was on a 5-way junction.  You can still see the lozenge bearing its name, top right in #5.

We turned left at Cross Inn and returned to the car by the squiggly Cwm Taldrum road - you can just see it at the RH edge of #4 - and vowed to redo the walk in the spring.