Some Welsh Walks

Just come back from a very pleasant week in the Abergavenny region. The weather was perfect and the scenery was stunning. Wherever you looked from Abergavenny you saw beautiful vistas, a very nice town with all the things a walker could need (and non walkers too!).

We were staying in a cottage to the NE of the town towards Grosmont and on the Sunday afternoon I decided to go for a random amble along some of the local public footpaths. Well that was the plan! It seems that very few of these footpaths seem to exist on the ground. In fact I only found one public footpath sign in about 5km of walking. Even this one was buried under a mass of brambles and the path itself ran across a field of crops with no ploughed out line visible. The other paths did not exist on the ground at all, one vanished into a field of sweetcorn eight feet tall while the others just died out at farm properties. 

More successful were walks on Skirrid Fawr and Blorenge. 

A very straightforward walk up and along the ridge of the Skirrid culminated in sumptuous views across the Brecons with Sugarloaf and Blorenge surrounding the town of Abergavenny. A very popular walk yet there was space for everyone and it didn't feel crowded. The last part of the climb along the ridge is one of the nicest walks I've done for a long time as there is no worries about getting lost and the views to either side are stunning. 

Harry P. Otter on the summit of Skirrid Fawr

 

Nice and peaceful at the summit, that is until a low flying RAF fighter jet flew below us, around the southern end of he ridge then along the valley towards and beyond Sugarloaf. 

Also nearby is a very fine craft centre which is well worth a visit as the quality of art on display is very good. They also serve a welcome cup of tea and cold drinks. 

 

The walk on Blorenge has the highest view to effort ratio of any walk I've done. A gentle climb from a car park (not the Foxhunter one but the one slightly further along from the masts) to the summit gives you brilliant views across to Sugarloaf.  Lots of kites and kestrels soaring and hovering over us as we walked in the late summer sunshine.

Many more walks to do so we have to come back, soon.