Sugar Loaf and Ewyas Valley
Hewitts: Chwarel y Fan
Date walked: 01/07/2023
Time taken: 12 hours
Distance: 30km
Ascent: 1104m
A get together with pals on the first weekend of July to take in some fairly easy rambling.
Day 1: Sugar Loaf (Y Fal) and the Vineyard
Sugar Loaf map
We'd lodged ourselves in various guesthouses in Abergavenny and met up the evening before for a meal. The following morning, we gathered at the war memorial by the Baptist Church and set off up into the woodland southeast of Y Fal.
Out of the woods it was a simple stroll round through the bracken, with the hill permanently in sight, and a lot more chat than my usual walks.
002 Out of the woods towards Sugar Loaf
There seemed to be two or three runs going on, using the more popular routes up and down, so we did a fair bit of side-stepping to let the runners keep pace.
004 Runners and others for scale
The bracken is everywhere, really choking anything else, - one of the prices of OTT sheep-grazing in this neck of the woods.
005 Bracken from overgrazing and Ysgwryd Fawr
006 Through Deri Hill sea of bracken
007 Last pull to the top from E
A sunny day meant good views over to my lockdown-release walk on Waun Fach back in July 2020, and to our Offa's Dyke meet-up in 2021....
008 North to the Black Mountains and Waun Fach
... and therefore, to familiar views from different angles.
009 East to Ysgwryd Fawr again
It wasn't only runners and us lot up here today, but a coujple of unicyclists too.
010 SW over the Usk Valley to Pen y Fan
But all in all, not too busy and a nice enough place to be. (One of our party had suggested Pen y Fan, but two or three of us gave a big "no way" - me included. Unless my pals were willing to head up pre-dawn - and they weren't - I wasn't doing that again. I'd paid my dues a few years ago accompanying another friend up there through the crowds!)
011 Summit W ridge to Pen y Fan and Pen Cerrig Calch of Waun Fach
012 Zoom to Corn Du and Pen y Fan
015 Pen y Fan again on descent SW to Mynydd Llanwenarth
Our route down took us through the very pleasant woodland of Deri Fach, and on to the vineyard for a walk-ending G&T, wine-taste or lime and soda in my case.
017 Ancient oak wood of Deri Fach
019 Vines - The 1817 Pentre - Blorenge - Gilwern Hill with mast
020 Monmouthshire marketing
Back to the town, and out for a pretty dire Turkish meal in the evening!
Day 2: Llanthony Priory and the Ewyas Valley
Llanthony Ewyas map
The next morning we drove to Llanthony, crossed the Ewyas Valley for a climb through more lovely woodland to the ridge, and continued along north to the high point at Chwarel y Fan.
021 Loxidge Tump on Hatterall ridge above Llanthony Priory
In different circs it would have been good to walk here rather than drive maybe, but we were mostly grabbing a quick couple of days and one or two had complicated health issues going on, so that thought wasn't even rehearsed. Still, the views as we rose revealed just how close we were to our previous day's wander.
022 South to Ysgwryd Fawr and Sugar Loaf
024 Sugar Loaf from Ffawyddog Ridge
Our first port of call on top was Bal Mawr trig at 607m. It has a Goethe quote, translated as "On all the peaks lies peace." It bothered me - I felt it should say "over" not "on" (ref night) - but that's probably just me. Anyway, on we went, and soon a huge dam came into view.
026 Bal Mawr trig with Goethe mis-quote - uber not auf
027 Grwyne Fawr reservoir looking low NW
We'd had weeks of dry weather if I remember rightly, and we all peered at the reservoir feeling the water level could do with being higher. In truth, too hard to tell from this distance.
028 Grwyne Fawr dam
Just beyond the highest point was the cairn marked on the OS map as the Blacksmith's Stone, and here we turned right to descend to the monastery, but not before meeting some of the usual inhabitants of these uplands.
030 Cairn SE of Blacksmiths Anvil before our descent
031 Mountain ponies and foal
032 Towards the north escarpment with Wye Valley beyond
Hopes to stop for lunch at the monastery were scuppered by a sense of private-get-off-my-land, so we had a quick poke around and then slumped down in a graveyard nearby, where for some reason we ended up in a round-and-round joke-telling session. Then it was back along the north bank of the river, through bramble, farmland and on to the narrow lane, to Llanthony Priory, me finding wild strawberries along the way. Always a joy, just too rare a one!
033 Capel y Ffin Monastery church ruins
034 Looking back up to Capel y Ffin from noth side of Afon Honddu
035 Belted Galloways
037 Light at the end of bramble and head-high bracken
038 Looking back north towards Twmpas Darren Lwyd ridge
039 Sweet wild strawberries in hedge before priory
Out to a pub that evening for what ended up being a lovely meal in a really pleasant setting - Tafarn y Bont at Govilon - and the long drive home the next day.
Day 1: Sugar Loaf (Y Fal) and the Vineyard
Sugar Loaf map
We'd lodged ourselves in various guesthouses in Abergavenny and met up the evening before for a meal. The following morning, we gathered at the war memorial by the Baptist Church and set off up into the woodland southeast of Y Fal.
Out of the woods it was a simple stroll round through the bracken, with the hill permanently in sight, and a lot more chat than my usual walks.
002 Out of the woods towards Sugar Loaf
There seemed to be two or three runs going on, using the more popular routes up and down, so we did a fair bit of side-stepping to let the runners keep pace.
004 Runners and others for scale
The bracken is everywhere, really choking anything else, - one of the prices of OTT sheep-grazing in this neck of the woods.
005 Bracken from overgrazing and Ysgwryd Fawr
006 Through Deri Hill sea of bracken
007 Last pull to the top from E
A sunny day meant good views over to my lockdown-release walk on Waun Fach back in July 2020, and to our Offa's Dyke meet-up in 2021....
008 North to the Black Mountains and Waun Fach
... and therefore, to familiar views from different angles.
009 East to Ysgwryd Fawr again
It wasn't only runners and us lot up here today, but a coujple of unicyclists too.
010 SW over the Usk Valley to Pen y Fan
But all in all, not too busy and a nice enough place to be. (One of our party had suggested Pen y Fan, but two or three of us gave a big "no way" - me included. Unless my pals were willing to head up pre-dawn - and they weren't - I wasn't doing that again. I'd paid my dues a few years ago accompanying another friend up there through the crowds!)
011 Summit W ridge to Pen y Fan and Pen Cerrig Calch of Waun Fach
012 Zoom to Corn Du and Pen y Fan
015 Pen y Fan again on descent SW to Mynydd Llanwenarth
Our route down took us through the very pleasant woodland of Deri Fach, and on to the vineyard for a walk-ending G&T, wine-taste or lime and soda in my case.
017 Ancient oak wood of Deri Fach
019 Vines - The 1817 Pentre - Blorenge - Gilwern Hill with mast
020 Monmouthshire marketing
Back to the town, and out for a pretty dire Turkish meal in the evening!
Day 2: Llanthony Priory and the Ewyas Valley
Llanthony Ewyas map
The next morning we drove to Llanthony, crossed the Ewyas Valley for a climb through more lovely woodland to the ridge, and continued along north to the high point at Chwarel y Fan.
021 Loxidge Tump on Hatterall ridge above Llanthony Priory
In different circs it would have been good to walk here rather than drive maybe, but we were mostly grabbing a quick couple of days and one or two had complicated health issues going on, so that thought wasn't even rehearsed. Still, the views as we rose revealed just how close we were to our previous day's wander.
022 South to Ysgwryd Fawr and Sugar Loaf
024 Sugar Loaf from Ffawyddog Ridge
Our first port of call on top was Bal Mawr trig at 607m. It has a Goethe quote, translated as "On all the peaks lies peace." It bothered me - I felt it should say "over" not "on" (ref night) - but that's probably just me. Anyway, on we went, and soon a huge dam came into view.
026 Bal Mawr trig with Goethe mis-quote - uber not auf
027 Grwyne Fawr reservoir looking low NW
We'd had weeks of dry weather if I remember rightly, and we all peered at the reservoir feeling the water level could do with being higher. In truth, too hard to tell from this distance.
028 Grwyne Fawr dam
Just beyond the highest point was the cairn marked on the OS map as the Blacksmith's Stone, and here we turned right to descend to the monastery, but not before meeting some of the usual inhabitants of these uplands.
030 Cairn SE of Blacksmiths Anvil before our descent
031 Mountain ponies and foal
032 Towards the north escarpment with Wye Valley beyond
Hopes to stop for lunch at the monastery were scuppered by a sense of private-get-off-my-land, so we had a quick poke around and then slumped down in a graveyard nearby, where for some reason we ended up in a round-and-round joke-telling session. Then it was back along the north bank of the river, through bramble, farmland and on to the narrow lane, to Llanthony Priory, me finding wild strawberries along the way. Always a joy, just too rare a one!
033 Capel y Ffin Monastery church ruins
034 Looking back up to Capel y Ffin from noth side of Afon Honddu
035 Belted Galloways
037 Light at the end of bramble and head-high bracken
038 Looking back north towards Twmpas Darren Lwyd ridge
039 Sweet wild strawberries in hedge before priory
Out to a pub that evening for what ended up being a lovely meal in a really pleasant setting - Tafarn y Bont at Govilon - and the long drive home the next day.
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EmmaKTunskeen
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