free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I’d been spoiled by the late February heat wave having walked all day across the Black Mountains the day before in glorious sunshine. I’d seen the forecast before hitting the sack and wasn’t very optimistic of a repeat performance, I’d hope to wander across the Southern Black Mountains near Llanbedr. After looking out the window in the morning at the grey drizzly skies from my B&B room just outside Abergavenny, the top of the Blorenge was hiding itself behind the low clouds. Little point in heading higher I thought, visibility would be very disappointing, so what to do? I still drove to Llanbedr just to double check in the vain hope that maybe just 5 miles away a fresh microclimate would appear and all would be well. Folly indeed!! Table Mountain was covered in a table cloth so not much point in even stopping. I then headed up to Gospel Pass with a thought of a swift bimble up Hay Bluff and a Hewitt in the Black Mountains imaginatively called Black Mountain.
On arrival at the car park I was surprised to see it was a little clearer, the odd patch of blue fleetingly saying hello for a second then disappearing again. I couldn’t see the top of Hay Bluff partly due to the summit being hidden by the shoulder of the hillside itself but it looked from the car park that at that moment anyway it wouldn’t be shrouded in cloud. Decision made and off I set.
Heading north from the car park after only a few yards a foot path to the right heads on up the hill. Behind me Twmpa which was bathed in sunshine only yesterday was invisible today. With Hay Bluff being of similar height it didn’t bode well. Before too long the clag got lower and I got higher and we soon met and the rain started. The ground becomes less steep and soon a large white cairn emerges from the mist and I’m at the top of Hay Bluff at 2,221 feet. A swift pit stop and a chance to admire the view which on any other day would have probably have been worthy but today 100 yards visibility didn’t reveal much at all.
A cairn peers through the mist
Brew time at Hay Bluff
The path leading off from Hay Bluff
Taking the path from the cairn south east I headed towards Black Mountain itself. The path leads to a marker which appears more like a gravestone and announces that the walker is now on the Offa’s Dyke path. A slight rise up a few steps from here and I’m on the top of the ridge, the path rises and falls by probably no more than 75 feet and with no visibility and no views to admire is a little bit samey, bog and heather to the left, heather and bog to the right. I imagine it’s totally different when not walking through a cloud though.
Waymarker of gravestone? Here lay Offa's Dyke path ...RIP!
The path itself is excellent a mixture of asphalt and huge stone slabs, a lesser quality path would make it totally impassable at a number of places. I press on, head down trying to keep the rain off my specs looking for the summit aware that it’s only about a mile from Hay Bluff and shouldn’t take no more than 30 minutes to get there. 30 Minutes come and go, nothing looking like a high point anywhere, keep walking, it must be at that next high point just ahead…nothing… keep walking it must be at that high point ahead!! After about 50 minutes after leaving Hay Bluff I stumble across a collection of stones scattered on the ground, surely this can’t be it? GPS out, and it tells me I’ve over shot the ‘summit’ by about ¾ mile. Heading back I ponder how I missed the summit, my head had been mostly looking at my feet trying to keep the rain of my bins, looking further ahead every 50 yards or so. Is the summit off the path somewhere and I just didn’t see it. After re-tracing my steps for 20 minutes another assortment of stones lay scattered on the ground, surely this can’t be it. GPS says yes! Looking like a clump of stones that someone offloaded because they didn’t want to carry them any further I forgive myself for walking straight past it in the first place. It’s an easy miss. Black Mountain itself aka Twyn Lech at 2,308 feet is surely best visited without one’s head in the clouds when the views can be properly admired.
![DSC_0134.JPG]()
Some stones left behind marking Black Mountain!
The journey back given the conditions is a bit of a trudge, on reaching the cairn at Hay Bluff I see it’s now surrounded by a 3 foot wide moat. It hasn’t been heavy rain, just constant but still the wet type nonetheless! Heading back down the hill, as I come out of the cloud I can see the car park ahead of me and I’m glad to be heading back to the car where the rain is no more giving me a chance to wring out my clothing.
Twmpa, mostly out of the clouds now
Overall not a fantastic day, no commanding views similar to the day before. It’s still good to get out and about though. Sometimes you have to experience bad days to fully appreciate the good ones.
