It feels like everyone in south Wales has been up Pen y Fan, taken a picture of themselves at the top and shared it on Instagram. In 2021, the popular hiking route was ranked the most picturesque rural walk in the UK with an impressive 22,437 Instagram hashtags per kilometre.
Pen y Fan roughly translates to "top spot" from Welsh to English, and right at the top you can pose with The National Trust cairn which says "886m". A quick glance at the #penyfan hashtag on Instagram shows thousands of pictures posing with the iconic cairn, as well as sunrises and sunsets, dogs posing at the top and even rare cloud inversions.
Good Friday is a particularly busy day for Pen y Fan, with people all over south Wales and further afield making the most of the hike and the breathtaking views it has to offer. And Good Friday this year was no exception, with the spring sunshine making Pen-y-Fan an even more compelling invite.
Read more: Busy scenes at Pen y Fan as hundreds climb famous mountain and queue for photos
Walkers came in their hundreds to take on the peak. Last year, it was announced that people who will be climbing the Brecon Beacons mountain will be charged £7.50 to park. 200 more spaces have been added to Pont ar Daf car park. Walkers can use the car park for free for the time being, but will be charged from May onwards.
Walkers were keen to make the most of the Good Friday sunshine and additional parking, with the Pont ar Daf car park filling up quickly. Later in the morning, some vehicles were being turned away from the car park.
Furthermore, some drivers decided to park on the roadside, something of which that has been a growing concern over recent years. Even on top of the peak, there was a long queue of walkers eager to take their photograph next to the well known cairn.
But there's no denying that this peak is a favourite for so many. With its interesting paths to its breathtaking sceneries at the top, there's no wonder that so many flock to this corner of Wales every year.
Lee Bradford and his seven-year-old son, Jax, had travelled from Bristol to the Brecon Bacons on Thursday evening and had slept at the back of their car. Having never done the peak before, the father and son decided to take on the hike in the early hours of the morning to watch the sun rise.
We met the two after they had returned from their hike and were tucking into their "second breakfast" of the day. "We wanted to see the sun and the moon at the same time," Lee said. "The experience was amazing. You couldn't see a lot first thing in the morning but when the sun came up, it was stunning.
"A lot of people that I know have walked up Pen-y-Fan. It feels like I was the only person that had never been up it. I'd been thinking about taking my kid up there for a long time. We decided to come up and finally do it. My sister now wants to do it, so we might be coming here very soon."
Meanwhile, Glynneath RFC under 9's rugby team had taken on Pen y Fan to raise funds for their upcoming rugby tour at the end of the month. Father and son, Lloyd and Jack Jeffreys - the latter of which is a member of the "wolf pack" team as they are fondly known, explained that they had arrived at Pen y Fan car park at 6:45am.
"There's about 30 of us," Lloyd said. "It was tough, it was fairly windy at the top but the weather was nice so that helped." Having regularly visited Pen y Fan, Lloyd explained that the parking this time round was a lot better. He added: "The facilities are a lot better here now, the parking was definitely needed.
"Obviously, when we got here this morning it wasn't as busy as it is now. And I think with that, we could do with a bigger car park because cars are parked on the side of the road. With it being a bank holiday, you can see that the numbers are there."
Like Lloyd, friends Lydia Warburton and Alys Patterson from Abergavenny visit Pen y Fan quite regularly. "It's still a bit busy here," Lydia said. "But it's a lot better than what it's been like in previous years. We found a spot pretty much straight away when we arrived this morning, when normally we haven't found a spot. It's good, I like it."
Alys added: "We got here at about 7:30am and when we've come in the past it's been quite busy, so we knew to come early anyway. This morning, we got parking straight away, so yes it was really good. Walking up Pen y Fan this morning however, it's the busiest I've ever seen it.
"I never usually come on a day such as Good Friday, but even though it's really busy today, it's not like anyone was in the way. It's busy but a nice kind of busy."
As we climbed up Pen y Fan's busiest route, it was easy to see that the good weather had brought hundreds of people out to make the walk with their friends and families. For the Trimby family, originally from Bournemouth, the hike had been a long awaited adventure.
This was dad Mike's sixth walk up Pen y Fan, but this time round he was joined by his wife Liz and their two children, eight-year-old Jessica and nine-year-old Benji. The family had planned to reach the top during Thursday's hike, but as the weather was so bad they returned home.
On Friday however, the family had successfully managed to reach the top. "This is the first time I've actually seen the views from up here," Mike said. "Every time I've been up here, it's either been cold, cloudy or raining. The scenery is amazing here. This is why we're here."
Benji said: "Yesterday was quite cold and we didn't make it. We got to Corn Du, we couldn't see anything and so we turned back down again." Liz said: "We woke up this morning and thought, you know what? Let's give this a second go. So this is our second attempt, and we've made it."
Mike added: "We weren't expecting it to be so busy, but the weather is out and so are the people. And what do you expect? It's such a popular place, with this fantastic view. We'll definitely be here again."
When we reached the peak of the mountain on Friday there was a long queue of walkers eager to take their photograph next to the well-known cairn.
The incredibly busy scenes were both a testament to this beautiful natural gift we have here in Wales, and a warning that we must protect it and address the problems of parking, pathways and congestion on the trail.
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