Brecon Beacons National Park

Rippling dramatically for 45 miles from near Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire all the way to the English border, Brecon Beacons National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) encompasses some of the finest scenery in southern Wales. High mountain plateaus of grass and heather, their northern rims scalloped with glacier-scoured hollows, rise above wooded, waterfall-splashed valleys and swooningly gorgeous rural landscapes.

There are four distinct regions within the park: the wild, lonely Black Mountain (Mynydd Du) in the west, with its high moors and glacial lakes; Fforest Fawr (Great Forest), whose rushing streams and spectacular waterfalls form the headwaters of the Rivers Tawe and Neath; the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) proper, a group of very distinctive, flat-topped hills that includes Pen-y-Fan (886m), the park's highest peak; and the rolling heathland ridges of the Black Mountains (Y Mynyddoedd Duon) – not to be confused with the above-mentioned Black Mountain to the west.