DAY ONE

There are higher peaks in

Wales, but few have the pop-up effect of the 1,594ft Skirrid on the eastern fringes of the Black Mountains. Sweeping above a fretwork of hedgerowed fields, the Skirrid takes its Welsh name, Ysgyryd Fawr (‘great shattered mountain’) from the massive landslide that shook its northwestern flank during the last Ice Age.

Rambling up through broadleaf woods carpeted with ferns and wildflowers, the path emerges onto a wind-beaten ridge. When the Welsh weather behaves itself, the views from the trig point are unbeatable, reaching west to the conical Sugar Loaf and the Brecon Beacons, east to the borderlands and south to the Severn Estuary. Ospreys, buzzards and red kites often glide on stiff breezes above the exposed outcrop. And if history grabs you more than birdlife, look out for the ruins of a medieval chapel and the mound-and-ditch ramparts of an Iron Age hill fort near the summit.

AFTERNOON

After a bracing hike, The Skirrid Mountain Inn beckons for lunch. With 900 years of history, it claims to be Wales’ oldest and most haunted boozer. It sure looks the part, with sagging, woodsmoke-blackened beams and an inglenook fireplace where Shakespeare supposedly once enjoyed a pint and came up with the impish character of Puck for his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The hangman’s noose above the stairwell nods to the pub’s darker past as a courthouse.

Road trips are two-a-penny in Wales, but few can rival the one through the remote, steep-sided Vale of Ewyas, which unfurls just north of the inn. The halfway point is Llanthony, where the ruins of an Augustinian priory are so wildly romantic that they inspired Turner to commit the scene to canvas in 1794. Further north, a single-track lane ribbons through windswept moorland and up the 1,800ft Gospel Pass, Wales’ highest road. Near the top, astonishing views of Hay Bluff to the east and Twmpa open up.

EVENING

As the late-afternoon light slants over the hills, head south on the A479, where the views of the Black Mountains — including the highest peak, 2,660ft Waun Fach — prove distractingly lovely. Your base for the evening is Crickhowell, a picturesque Georgian market town that straddles the River Usk. The 18th-century stone bridge here is well worth admiring for its mismatched arches (12 upstream, 13 downstream).

Crickhowell’s showpiece is

The Bear Hotel, a 600-yearold former coaching inn that was once an overnight stop for travellers heading from London to West Wales. Now a delightfully old-school gastro pub and hotel, it brims with low oak beams, log fires and cosy nooks. In summer, the hanging baskets are something else. If it’s warm, grab a pre-dinner drink in the rear courtyard. The menu plays up seasonality and traceability in dishes like Black Mountain smoked salmon with crostini and lemon oil, and braised lamb shank with spring-onion mash.