My Black Mountains Memorial Walk

Saturday 24th August 2019

Twenty years ago I came to the Black Mountains on the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park and did my first mountain walk. Up to that point all my walking had been in the Peak District climbing no higher than the edge of Kinder Scout, but on this walk I smashed that reaching over seven hundred metres above sea level, which in Britain is well over the height for a hill to be regarded as a mountain. Ever since that momentous occasion I have returned to the area every five years in memory of the walk that started me off on what is now twenty years of tremendously enjoyable walking. What drew me to the area was a mention in the YHA guide about the Capel-y-Ffin Youth Hostel that used to be in the area (and is now a luxury holiday cottage) and says “Hay-on-Wye, renowned for its second hand book shops, is only 7 miles away”. I had been an avid browser of second hand bookshops since I was at Uni so I needed no other incentive and I have been drawn back many times not only to the town of books and the nearby Black Mountains, but to the whole of Wales. However I have rarely been in Wales in the last ten years favouring other areas such as the Lake District and Scotland, so on this holiday I returned to some of those places that had originally sparked my love of walking in mountains.

In brilliant weather I drove back to Hay-on-Wye and up the narrow country lane that climbs into the Black Mountains and parked in exactly the same place where I had twenty years ago, at the foot of Hay Bluff. On subsequent visits I would park at the top of the Gospel Pass but on this walk I started as I had all those years ago by climbing the steep grassy slopes, which must have very tiring for someone as unused to hillwalking as I was at that time. Thankfully the steep path eventually turns across the hillside for an easier climb to the top of the heather-covered ridge, and from there the summit of my first mountain, Hay Bluff, comes into sight with its trig point that is now decorated with Welsh red dragons. In 1999 I turned south-west from this point to head down to the Gospel Pass and up to Twmpa, but now I turned south-east in the opposite direction to that seminal walk passing several of the wild horses that are common in the Black Mountains. On reaching the English border I came off my 1999 route, that follows the top of the ridge, and headed towards Black Hill echoing my memorial walk of 2009. This was a lovely walk in the sunshine with a warm breeze as I passed through the purple flowering heather to reach the top of Black Hill, but it was beyond the top when things turned glorious.

The Cat’s Back ridge of Black Hill narrows deliciously as it descends and since on my previous walks, the first in 2000, I had climbed up the ridge now I was able to enjoy this fabulous ridge for the first time in descent. The hot weather had brought out a lot of flying ants and these hovered above the rocks as I slowly made my way along this ridge that seems to keep going for ages until finally descends steep grassy slopes into the Olchon Valley. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my walking poles for this holiday and on this descent my knees complained painfully all the way down the Cat’s Back, which forced me to find a solution before my next walk. Crossing the Olchon Valley I took a wonderful path that descends through glorious woodland past Black Hill Farm, but I’m sure it wasn’t the route I took in either 2000 or 2009 when I think I must have crossed the valley higher up. After crossing the river the climb soon got me sweating again and upon reaching dense bracken I tucked my trousers into my socks (to guard against ticks) before plunging in to battle through the thick foliage until eventually I successfully came out on the other side and wearily climb the rest of the hill to the top of the ridge that carries both the England/Wales border and the Offa’s Dyke Path.

Thankful for some cooling wind at the top I had my lunch before heading down the hill on the far side of the ridge. I had climbed this path in 1999 in similarly hot weather and completely wore me out just as it had now when climbing the other side. The views down the Vale of Ewyas from this path in 1999 had set my destiny for the next twenty years and it was great to see them again as I slowly descended through the bracken towards Capel-y-Ffin. There is a spot in the woodland down this path where the dappled sunlight through the trees produced such a feeling of contentment in 1999 that my life would never be the same, and it is significant that this did not happen at the top of a mountain, but in woodland. Instead of following the path all the way into Capel-y-Ffin as on all my previous visits, I turned down a lane that took me to the river and the valley road. Dominating my view up the valley was the end of the Darren Lwyd ridge that had been my route in 1999 and I should have headed up there now, but instead I climbed the hill on the far side of the valley, once again wading through thick bracken to find a good path that took me all the way up to the top of the ridge.

The hot weather was not making the steep climbs up these ridges easy, so by the time I reached the Blacksmith’s Anvil stone at the top I was exhausted and wished I’d not extended the walk any further than I’d needed. It was too late now so I turned along the ridge and wearily walked towards the trig point on Rhos Dirion, but before then I turned to the right just after passing over Twyn Talycefn to follow a faint path around to the edge of the escarpment overlooking the glorious Wye Valley and from there I exhaustingly climbed Twmpa. The Gospel Pass and Hay Bluff now lay before me, and once I had descended to the pass I followed the road round Hay Bluff to reach my starting point since I had not parked at the Gospel Pass, which would have been the natural place to start. This walk brought to mind the many walks I did in the Black Mountains while there was a hostel at Capel-y-Ffin, including my first ever hill walk. The ridges that typify the Black Mountains are great for strolling along the top, but exhausting when climbed and the hot weather that I had on this walk made it extremely tiring. However the weather had been like that twenty years ago, so what better memorial can there be?