My second visit to the Black Mountains

Since I’ve recently been posting some reports of previous times I’ve spent in the Black Mountains I thought I’d post another one, this time from the second time I ever visited the area. This was at Easter in 2000 following my first visit the year before. Unfortunately I didn’t write a report on my holiday at the time and I didn’t say anything about it in my diary afterwards so a lot of the details of the walks are now lost in the swirls of time.

Sugar Loaf

Tuesday 25th April 2000

The first walk that I did on this holiday was up a distinctive hill that overlooks the town of Abergavenny which is situated at the southern end of the Black Mountains. This was my first time through Abergavenny and it was my most trouble-some visit. For whatever reason there were lengthy traffic jams through the town that delayed me for ages. I have never had any problems getting through Abergavenny since but I have been wary of driving through the town ever since. I parked in a lay-by near the farm and caravan site of Pysgodlyn on the A40 a few miles out of Abergavenny and immediately started climbing through woodland. I have little memory of the walk up the hill until I reached the open hillside, but the directions that I was following appeared to have taken me through three farms as I slowly climbed the hill. Once away from enclosed farmland I headed straight up the bracken-covered hill towards the summit of Sugar Loaf. This 596m hill must have extensive views across south Wales and north into the Black Mountains, but I’ve never been back to Sugar Loaf mainly because it has no ridges linking it to any other hill, it sits all on its own, which is a pity as it is a striking hill that is instantly recognizable from a distance. From the summit I slowly walked back down the hill by a route that I have forgotten and whose directions don’t sound familiar.

Grwyne Fawr

Thursday 27th April 2000 The next day I went back to Hay-on-Wye to have a long browse around the thousands of books that are available there and the following day I returned to the Black Mountains and parked for the first time at the top of the Gospel Pass. I did not park there on my first visit but I wished that I had after the steep climb to the top of Hay Bluff from a stone circle where I had parked, so on all my subsequent visits this is where I have parked. From the top of the pass I climbed up Twmpa and continued across the moorland to the broad top of Rhos Dirion as I did last September. On this occasion I passed over the hill and dropped down into the valley beyond. I remember looking at the hills on the far side of the valley, which include the highest points in the Black Mountains, with some fear, mainly because the tops were covered in cloud. At this point I was still quite new to hill walking and I had never walked in cloud before. From the top of Grwyne Fawr I headed down the valley past the Grwyne Fawr Reservoir where I think I had my lunch and eventually reached the northern edge of the Mynydd Du Forest. From the forest car park I climbed up the eastern hillside to reach the Blacksmith’s Anvil (whatever that is) for the first time and then down the steep hill opposite. I have mentioned a couple of times recently how I slipped over at this point on the walk. I remember that I was wearing jeans and got them very dirty as I tried to get down the muddy slope all the way into Capel-y-Ffin. From there I was left with another steep climb in order to get back to the car as I’d parked it at the top of the valley and I was at the bottom. I climbed past Pen-y-maes farm onto the bridlepath that skirts Darren Lwyd precariously making my way along a muddy path up to the road just beyond a cattle grid and for the only time I then walked along the road back to the top of the Gospel Pass. I think by the end of this walk I may have been fed up by the muddy condition of the paths which may explain the route I took back.

Bal Bach and the Offa’s Dyke Path

Friday 28th April 2000

My final walk on this holiday started from Llanthony Priory, which was the same place I’d started the last walk on my first visit to the Black Mountains. As mentioned last week I climbed up the southern bank of Cwm Bwchel as I was directed that way, but it made my route a lot more difficult and less interesting than the proper path to the saddle of Bal Bach. Unlike in 2005, on this occasion that was as high as I went as I took a path through the heather that crosses the hillside east of Bal Mawr and slowly descends back down into the Vale of Ewyas. Following the edge of the farmland I walked up the valley until eventually I dropped back down onto the road through Y Fferm to Capel-y-Ffin. Now once again I began the climb that had so enthralled me the previous year even making the same mistakes, going the wrong way as I had done before. It would take my first descent of the path the following September for me to find the correct route up the hill. At the top of the broad ridge I joined the Offa’s Dyke Path and headed south all the way to a right branching path that took me steeply down to the picturesque ruins of Llanthony Priory. In retrospect this was not a great walking holiday, but it was just the start of many more to come and continued to lay the ground works for my love of hill walking and the Black Mountains.

Black Mountains part 2

Saturday 19th February 2005 

 

I was staying at the Capel-y-Ffin Youth Hostel and decided that my walk for this day would start and finish from this hostel, which is something I'd never actually done before in all my previous visits to the Black Mountains. In fact I'd never stayed more than one day at a time there. So on a crisp Saturday morning I took the footpath that goes through the hostel, which I'd never taken before, passing the stables of the Black Mountains Holidays horse riding centre and rounded the hostel emerging onto the hillside. Turning left I headed up the hill to join the bridle path that skirts the side of Darren Lwyd. At the end of the hillside tongue I descended the slope past Pen-y-Maes onto the road through Capel-y-Ffin turning right off the road at the first farm and up the track to Y Fferm. I couldn’t see any footpath signs so I was afraid I might soon be hearing from an irate farmer; however my map indicates a path, even if it is now rather old. 

 

Once out onto open country I headed straight up the hillside turning slightly right when the hill steepened to climb up and join a bridle path. This is the path that I had taken the day before and with hindsight I wish I had used that path from its start at the Grange as this alternative route was muddier and steeper, but that's life! While climbing the hillside I realised that this day was going to be much colder than the previous as the mud underfoot was now mostly frozen solid. After passing over the top of the ridge I descended into the Grwyne Fawr valley and plunged into the Mynydd Du Forest. On reaching the valley road I crossed the river using a footbridge and climbed the hillside through the forest on the opposite side of the valley. Here I must admit I made a mistake (another one!). I wanted to walk up to Pen y Gadair Fawr and I intended on walking up the hill to the north of the forest, however, the best way would have been to have stayed in the forest and followed the tracks up the hillside, but I didn't do that. When I saw what I was doing I descended the steep hill again back down to the river and emerging from the forest began a long tedious climb up the hill. If I ever do this walk again please make sure I stay on the forest track. 

 

The summit of Pen y Gadair Fawr was very cold and windy, as the weather stayed for the whole day, but at least this was a proper summit unlike the top of Waun Fach, which was where I headed to next. Crossing the quagmire to Waun Fach was fun since it was still frozen, but it was already beginning to thaw so when I trod on the wrong bit of frozen mud my foot went straight through the thin ice. The summit of Waun Fach itself is also infamous for being a bit of a mud pit. The point on the plateau that most people take to be the summit is a big lump of rock surrounded by a huge pool of mud. The first time I was there was at Easter in 2002 when I was unable to reach the rock because of the mud. Later that year when I visited the summit again after a hot summer the mud was bone-dry so I was then able to reach the rock. This time I was also able to reach the rock but this time because the mud was frozen. Waun Fach is a rather depressing hill being less interesting than Pen y Gadair Fawr, but it does just happens to be the highest point in the Black Mountains. 

 

I descended along the northern ridge passing over Pen y Manllwyn traversing the col at the head of the Grwyne Fawr valley, climbing over a wire fence in the process. I was now on the northern extremities of the Black Mountains looking out over the wide Wye Valley. The views were stunning but the wind was also very strong and became stronger as the day progressed. While passing the trig point on Rhos Dirion I noticed that the ice encountered earlier in the day was now melting under the full heat of the sun. It had been convenient while it lasted during the crossing of the bog fields near Waun Fach but proved to be short-lived. Traversing the next wide col I ascended Lord Hereford's Knob or as I prefer to call it, Twmpa. I went to the top of this hill on my first day in the Black Mountains all those years ago  and enjoyed stunning views from the summit across the Wye Valley. I have returned many times since and each time my breath has been taken away by the views. I was now in very familiar territory in an area I have walked many times before.

Descending the path from Twmpa felt like being in such a perfect place; it was such a joy. The path is a little eroded in places but it still brought back memories of all those previous times that I have been in the Black Mountains. The col is known as the Gospel Pass and has a road passing through it with a car park that I have used many times in the past. Ahead of me was the rising bulk of Hay Bluff, a prominent feature that can be seen from a long way off. I had quite a battle to get to the top even though it's not steep, but the severity of the wind was making it very difficult. Eventually I reached the trig point and headed south towards the Offa's Dyke Path. Immediately the wind dropped as I moved away from the exposed edge of the escarpment. The rest of the walk was now simply a pleasure as I had a wonderful stroll along the Offa's Dyke Path on a section that I have walked many times before including on that first time in the Black Mountains. 

When I reached the crossing of paths where I'd joined the Offa's Dyke Path the day before I turned right and started descending the hillside on the same path I'd taken then. I was now walking down my favourite path back to Capel y Ffin in failing light as the day came to it's early February end. This path is always a pleasure and I don't know when I'll be walking on it again so I was feeling some regret when I finally reached Capel y Ffin and I had to say goodbye to the "End of the Rainbow". The ideal start and finish point for this walk would had been Capel y Ffin but instead I had started it from the hostel which was a couple of miles up the road so with aching limbs I struggled up the hill onto the bridle path and back to the hostel. 

 

I had a very pleasurable two days of walking in an area that contains a lot of memories for me. I spent one more day in the area but that was not spent walking, but in Hay-on-Wye, the Town of Books, somewhere I just have to visit at least once a year, if not twice. Even though I don't walk much in this area these days I still have to visit Hay-on-Wye, so maybe I will return to the Black Mountains again soon. I hope so.

The Black Mountains Revisited

After the report last week of my tenth anniversary walk in the Black Mountains I was reminded of the previous time I was in the area not long after the fifth anniversary. I am re-posting my old blog entry on that walk from 2005.

Friday 18th February 2005

I want to talk about a long weekend in the Black Mountains when I spent a couple of days' walking in the area where I cut my walking teeth. My first walk in the Black Mountains was in 1999 while I was still a walking virgin; the only walks that I had done up to that date were in the Peak District. By choosing to venture into the Black Mountains and ultimately the rest of the Brecon Beacons National Park I was engaging in my first walks on hills above 2000 feet. It was the start of my walking career, and now I was coming back to where it had all begun. I hadn't visited the Brecon Beacons the previous year and the year before that I'd been to the park twice but neither time had I been to the Black Mountains on the eastern edge of the national park. You have to go back to 2002 for the last time I did any walking in the Black Mountains and it was in 2002 that I first went to the Lake District. I had graduated from the Black Mountains school of walking and was ready to have a go at the best that England has to offer. So it was with a great deal of nostalgia that I drove to the Black Mountains on that Friday morning in February. Besides nostalgia, my goal for this weekend was to walk the small areas of the Black Mountains that I had never walked before, most of which I was able to do on the Friday. I parked at the car park beside Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas having always had a soft spot for this isolated valley and being back it seemed like it had never changed. Once ready I set off from the car park across the road and down a short lane across a footbridge. Following the signs for Cwm Bwchel I turned right and headed up the side of the hill past Cwm Bwchel farm beside the stream up to Bal-Bach. When I was here in 2000, still a rookie on my second trip to the Black Mountains, I had headed up the southern side of the valley rather than the northern side as here. If memory serves I think I was directed that way (probably via Troed rhiw-mon) by a sign that indicated the other way was blocked. I think I must have made a mistake five years ago, but there were no such worries this time as I quickly reached the col at the top of the valley. Five years before I had headed back down the hill across the moorland to the east of Bal-Mawr bypassing a hill that I had not been up until this day.

Heading uphill I achieved the summit of Bal-Mawr which is blessed with a Trig Point but sadly is a couple of metres short of the all important two thousand feet mark. The weather on top of the hill was very cold with a strong westerly wind that tested my winter clothing to its utmost. I couldn't help thinking about what I must have been wearing that day five years before. I had worn jeans and the cheap pair of walking boots that I had bought when I'd first started walking, which was a world of difference from what I was now wearing especially in the footwear. This weekend I was wearing my third ever pair of walking boots, Karrimor KSB 300 GTX, which I had recently bought and was now being subjected to its first mountain walk with no problems to report. If I was wearing the clothes that I'd worn five years before I think I would have had serious problems on top of the hill, but those conditions were nothing compared with some that I have experienced over the last year or two.

Continuing along the ridge I was amazed by how narrow it was since most of the ridges in the Black Mountains are fairly wide but this one was so narrow you could see the valleys on either side, which just shows what I had been missing all these years. The highest point on the walk was passed at Chwarel y Fan Quarry before heading down to a cairn beside the stone marked on maps as the "Blacksmith's Anvil". In the thick mist and high wind I wasn't sure if the cairn was the one I wanted but a path crossing mine at that point convinced me that it was, so I headed down the north-easterly path back down into the Vale of Ewyas. As it happened that wasn't exactly the path I wanted but it soon joined the main path from the Blacksmith's Anvil. Even after all these years I still make mistakes, but don't we all!

Descending the hillside I was once again reminded of previous times when I had been down this path. Five years before during the same week though not on the same day that I had climbed up to Bal-Bach, I recall having enormous difficulty in this descent, slipping over and getting rather muddy, on more than one occasion. Don’t forget that I had been wearing those cheap boots (made by Johnscliffe, whoever they are!), they must have had very poor treads on them. My new Karrimor boots were perfect in what must have been similar conditions underfoot, which just shows what three times the price can do! As I descended the hillside it started raining and a rainbow appeared with the end of the rainbow in Capel-y-Ffin at the head of the Vale of Ewyas. Since 1999 Capel-y-Ffin has  held a special place in my heart so that rainbow endorsed my feelings about the place and for this whole valley. For me it really is like a pot of gold. After eating my lunch sitting on the bridge over the Nant Bwch in Capel-y-Ffin I headed up the hill to the east of the hamlet (it's must be too small to be called a village, probably too small to be called a hamlet as it's just one house and a church!).

This path is very special to me. I have walked either up or down it many times and every time I have been struck by the amazing views that it affords of the valley. The bowl shaped glacial valley is shown at its best half way up the path and I have always had to stop while on the path to admire the view. I went up this path on my very first day in the Black Mountains on a hot day at the beginning of September in 1999 and at a similar time of the day as now, that is only about an hour past midday. I remember sweating buckets on that first climb and really struggling to get up the admittedly steep path. This time however it was a much colder day and even though I have put on a bit of weight over the winter I am still lighter than I was five years before and I hope considerably fitter. I had no real difficulty and relished experiencing the path on which I have many fond memories again. Despite the difficulties of five and a half years before I remember feeling ecstatic sitting on a stile enjoying the shade from the sun in the wood near the Vision Farm. The sheer joy of that experience has stayed with me and fuelled my walking ever since. That is why I hold this path in such high regard and why I keep coming back to it even now two and a half years since I was last on the path (and as I recall that walk in 2002 had been for old times sake being a reverse of the first walk I did in the Black Mountains in 1999).

Eventually I reached the pile of stones that marks the crossing of the Offa's Dyke Path on top of the ridge. Turning right I headed south-east along the ridge mimicking the walk I did five years before when I'd walked to Bal-Bach before descending slowly down into the valley. That walk had been the second time I ascended the hill from Capel-y-Ffin; curiously it wasn't until I descended it on my next trip to the Black Mountains that I discovered the correct way up the hill. Both those times up I went the wrong way not once, but twice! As I proceeded along the ridge it occurred to me that that walk five years before had taken me all day to complete having arrived back at Llanthony Priory after 5 pm. My walk now was surely longer and yet I reached the path to descend to Llanthony at 2.30, which was far too early. I guess I really must walk a lot quicker these days (especially when going up hill). I then remembered that I had never walked along the Offa's Dyke Path between the two paths from Llanthony so I continued along the ridge south until I reached the col just before Hatterall Hill. On my second ever day in the Black Mountains I walked from Llanthony Priory onto the ridge at this point and headed south along the Offa's Dyke Path past the remains of an iron age fort and round to the start of the valley at Cwmyoy. Now I returned to the Priory from this point and to my car by going over the path that I had used on that day.

All and all, this was a great walk down memory lane as well as a chance to walk a few bits of the Black Mountains that I had still never walked. From Llanthony I drove up the valley to the youth hostel situated just over a mile north of Capel-y-Ffin that is not only the highest hostel in either England or Wales but also one of the nicest I've ever stayed in. It was a pleasure to make its acquaintance again after all these years, so it is sad to reflect that this hostel has now closed, which is truly a great tragedy and a loss to the hostel network.

The Black Mountains Memorial Walk

Saturday 5th September 2009

Not to be confused with the Black Mountain which I’d walked over the day before this walk, this was the area where I made my first mountain walk. In fact it was almost exactly 10 years ago since my first walk in the Black Mountains that was the start of all this fun, so it was with the feeling of doing a sort of memorial walk that I parked at the top of the gospel pass where I have started many a walk in the past, and began my latest venture into the Black Mountains. My first target was Twmpa, a grassy topped hill with a steep northern face that overlooks the vast Wye Valley. The weather for this walk was less agreeable than it had been the day before being dull and overcast with a strong, cold wind blowing in from the north.

While battling these winds I followed the edge of the escarpment past the summit of Twmpa, down to the top of a valley and up to the top of the vast broad hill of Rhos Dirion. At the summit trig point I turned south-east and followed the top of the long, muddy ridge as it slowly descends and narrows towards Chwarel y Fan. Eventually I reached a cairn marked on maps as the Blacksmith’s Anvil, but I have no idea whether the messy pile of stones I’d reached was the actual blacksmith’s anvil or whether it even still exists. What I had found didn’t deserve such a grand title. The first time I visited the Blacksmith’s Anvil was on my second visit to the Black Mountains at Easter 2000 when I remember slipping all the way down the hill in my cheap boots. There were no such difficulties on this occasion as I turned left and descended steeply down a rocky path into the Vale of Ewyas and the picturesque hamlet of Capel-y-Ffin.

Now began the climb that was most memorable ten years ago when I climbed the steep hillside above Capel-y-FFin in hot weather. This time the weather was much cooler and hopefully I am fitter than I was ten years ago. Since that first occasion I have done this climb many times, and in both directions, and I have never failed to be thrilled by its stunning views of the sweeping curves of the valley. This was a fitting memorial to that first walk, but did I have to copy it so closely at this point? On that occasion I made a mistake and lost the path while still near the bottom of the valley, and now I did exactly the same thing coming across the river, Afon Honddu. Shamefully I crawled back up the hill and rejoined the path which hadn’t descended to the river and continued on my way thinking that I needed to do this path more often! It is almost five years since I was last on it and it was showing. When I reached the Offa’s Dyke Path at the top of the ridge I hunkered down on the ground and had my lunch. After eating I continued over the ridge dropping down again, into the Olchon Valley. I'd visited this valley only once before and I was keen to repeat my earlier walk along the narrowest and probably the best ridge in the Black Mountains. After successfully crossing the farmland at the bottom of the Olchon Valley I began the steep climb up to the top of Black Hill, and the fabulously narrow ridge of Crib y Garth. This ridge is narrow by the standards of anywhere and is a great walk along the often rocky top of the ridge before it finally widens beyond the summit and becomes standard heather-clad moorland once more. My walk continued through gorgeous in-bloom heather-clad moorland back to the Offa’s Dyke Path and across to Hay Bluff and the stunning views of the Wye Valley once again.

Twmpa and Hay Bluff were my first mountains but they were not the highest point of that walk ten years ago. That was actually on the ridge that the Offa’s Dyke Path passes over which surpasses 700 metres. From Hay Bluff a short walk led me down the easy slope while battling winds back to my car. This was a fabulous memorial walk and made me think that it would be a good idea to return in five years time for another memorial in this area that means so much to me. Even though Twmpa and Hay Bluff were my first mountains I don't think they are essential for a memorial walk, nor even an exact replica of that first walk, which this certainly wasn't as it was considerably longer! All that is really required for a memorial walk in the Black Mountains is that climb from Capel-y-Ffin as that was the defining moment of the walk and always screams to be repeated. That climb was a defining moment in my life where I started mountain walking and has to be memorialised. I will be definitely making a date five years from now, wherever I am, to come back to the Black Mountains and do a memorial walk over these fabulous hills once again.

The Black Mountain

Friday 4th September 2009

Finally on this walk I had some good weather during my holiday with hardly any rain at all. I had now moved south to an area I visited frequently five to ten years ago, the Brecon Beacons National Park, and coming back to the area was really bringing back memories of the many trips that I had used to make there. My first mountain walks were in the Brecon Beacons and now I’ve moved on to bigger and better things! It has been three years since I was last there, but on this walk I was visiting an area I’d not been in since 2003. The Black Mountain covers a vast area on the western part of the park, but I’ve only ever walked in one corner of the mountain, and this walk was no different as most of the Black Mountain is a vast featureless upland with little of interest. The most interesting point on the Black Mountain is its highest point at its north-eastern corner so that has always been my target for any walk there. This walk was in fact a variation of the one I made in 2003 except that it was being walked in the reverse direction.

As before I parked near the Gwyn Arms pub but the walk was started at the foot of the long ridge of Fan Hir, rather than ending there. Once into open country I veered away from my 2003 route by staying below the steep slope of the ridge, rather than on top of it, following the course of the Beacons Way as it climbs up the hillside with the steep slopes of Fan Hir ever to my right. The weather was fantastic as I climbed beside the stream, Nant Tawe Fechan, until I neared the top where the wind picked up. While braving the cold wind I made my way up to Llyn y Fan Fawr, which is a really picturesque lake in its mountain setting. I hadn’t visited this lake on my previous visits to the Black Mountain, so it was extra special for me to be able to finally visit this most beautiful lake. A manufactured path beside the lake had clearly not being able to cope with the excessive rain of the previous days and was showing signs of erosion as a result. I found it bizarrely amusing that the path had failed to cope with the bad weather, how malicious am I! Climbing up the steep path by the lake I reached the summit of the Black Mountain at Fan Brycheiniog, where I had lunch in the shelter.

Moving on I kept to the edge of the escarpment as I walked around the high tops at the north eastern corner of the Black Mountain. The views were stunning and the walking was great despite the strong winds. All too soon unfortunately I came to the end of the escarpment at Bannau Sir Gaer so I moved away from the edge across the featureless, boggy moor trying to find a path. Eventually I found a faint one and followed it down over a stream, the infant Avon Twrch, and on for hours across the moor as the path gradually became better and clearer while the terrain became increasingly more interesting. To my right the upland stretched for miles across featureless moorland crossed by few paths with little variation in height. Once my path improved however, I was able to enjoy the walk across the vast moorland passing many shake holes and rocky outcrops as I made my way back to my car. In 2003 I visited many of the tops of the significant outcrops along the way rarely touching the path, but this time I stuck to the path all the way as it slowly dropped down to the main road. I quite enjoyed this walk, if only because the weather was good, which was a welcome change. The climb up to the lake was good in the sunshine while the walk alongside the edge of the escarpment was spectacular and the traverse of the moorland was very relaxing. So a good walk then.