Black Mountains
Black Mountains tops
Start/Finish 1
Car park at
Llanthony Priory
GR: SO288278
Follow a path N through fields, then a stiff climb up Loxidge Tump to meet Offa’s Dyke Path on the crest of the long ridge separating the Vale of Ewyas (Wales) and Olchon Valley (England).
2
Follow the well-made Offa’s Dyke Path NW for about 8km of easy walking.
3
From the trig point on
Hay Bluff (677m) turn SW. Cross the road at Gospel Pass and continue SW along the crest, with big views over the Wye valley to the N.
4
About 1km beyond the trig point on Pen Rhos Dirion
(713m) turn L on a path, climbing gently SSE to eventually reach the summit of Waun Fach (811m), the highest point in the Black Mountains.
5
A short distance beyond the top of Waun Fach, descend NE to the dam at Grwyne Fawr reservoir. Cross the dam and turn R on a track.
6
After 1km or so leave the track and angle L up easy-angled moorland to reach a path on the crest of the ridge. Follow it SE over Chwarel y Fan (679m) to its end at Bal Mawr (607m).
7
Bear L downhill, steeply at first, to a jun tion of several paths at Bal Bach.
Turn L and follow the path
ENE down to the Vale of Ewyas and back to Llanthony.
this new place. The rich green fields and old oakwoods of the Vale of Ewyas spoke of nearby England, but the high hillsides and moorland ridges suggested Scotland. Of course, my limited reference points were confounded – this place had a well-worn atmosphere all of its own, more than the sum of its parts.
We’d planned to make a weekend of it, with an evening at the pub and a night at Llanthony campsite, followed by a wild camp on Saturday night. That said, the walk we did would be perfectly doable as a one-day expedition on a fine summer day. The going is pleasingly fast on these long, rounded ridges, especially if you’re used to, say, the harsher terrain of the Scottish Highlands.
Next morning, we set off under blue skies and fleecy clouds, climbing steeply out of the vale to the border ridge and Offa’s Dyke Path. We’d unwittingly picked the weekend of the Black Mountains Challenge, a longdistance walking and running event that part of our route happened to coincide with. It wasn’t long before we met our first Challenger – not a wiry fell runner in tiny shorts but an exparatrooper in combat fatigues and big boots followed eagerly by a Jack Russell terrier. After some abrupt banter and a slug of black tea from a Thermos carried in his hand, he was off over the horizon.
Hay Bluff was busy with day trippers up from Hay on Wye. This was as stark a natural border as you could imagine. To the east the green, fertile fields of England; to the west the gloomy uplands rose ridge upon ridge, deeper into Wales. I imagined the Britons pushed west into this marginal land by Anglo-Saxon expansion. England is Lloegr in Welsh. The etymology is unclear, but it was a place very foreign from Cymru.
From Hay Bluff we turned south-west along the northern escarpment of the Black Mountains into lengthening afternoon shadows. A last Challenger limped past, foot-blistered agony etched on his face. Turning south once more we crossed Waun Fach and dropped down to the Grwyne Fawr reservoir for a chilly, starry camp in a dying woodland close to the dam. Next morning we walked the last easy miles over the moors back to the welcoming green of Llanthony.