Way to Hill - Wales Weekender Pt. 1

Arrived after a reasonably short and uneventful journey on the train in Abergavenny at around 8:30am. Wow. It's only an hour away from Bristol and you're right in beautiful countryside at the foot of the Brecon Beacon National Park.

We waisted no time since we had a long day ahead of us. The plan was to bag Sugar Loaf Mountain first, then head over to Table Mountain and start the long walk on the ridge from there all the way to Waun Fach before circling back to Grwyne Fawr reservoir and spend the night in the bothy there.

That was the plan. Of course, we ended up somewhere completely different. The forecast promised a mix of sun and heavy rain and hail showers with even some thunder and lightning involved. The perfect weather for a ridge walk, haha. Headed off for Sugar Loaf anyway and decided to just go and decide what to do when it hits us.

One of too few sign posts

The sun warmed us, made us even sweat a good deal as we climbed higher. We could just don our rain gear before the first hail shower hit us. What a difference! It even turned into snow and was over after like five minutes, which proves my theory that hail never lasts long. Kept on going uphill with the view back down getting better and better.

Sugar Loaf Mountain (596m)

Didn't linger long on the exposed top and made our way down heading for Table Mountain next. So far map reading was easy. Now there were much more paths than on the map. We should've checked back with the compass. Ross had been on Table Mountain before and was sure he could spot it in the distance so we went for it.
After at least an hour of signs pointing to villages we couldn't find on the map and roads that didn't really match either, we finally arrived down at the A40 at a campsite that shouldn't be there. Time for the mobile phone and GPS. Turned out we had walked straight south instead of straight west. Arg! Luckily there was a bus stop with the next bus picking us up just 10 mins later. Phew. Jumped off at Crickhowell to start for Table Mountain. The whole episode had cost us at least 1.5 hrs maybe more and we learned our first lesson of the day: Double check, if one of us got a funny feeling about the direction, even if the other is 100% sure we're right.

We were in good spirits still and after a short break hit the well-known Beacons Way that passes by Table Mountain. This one should be waymarked and easy to find. Not 10 minutes later it lead straight through a farm - which is not unusual. Unfortunately there was a group of cows just right where we were supposed to pass. They didn't even bother looking at us. For a good reason. They had a massive bull in their midst, almost twice as big as the cows with horns as long as a man's arm. Huh! Oh, and the gate was open. Huh!!!
Ross was hesitant. There was easily enough space to walk around that group, he seemed to consider walking by.
I respect cows, they're big and curious and normally very harmless. A bull is a whole different matter. The way he looked at us so lazily almost like saying "Guys, this is my herd and my property and I got a horn for each of you." There was no way I was taking just one step closer!

So we took another detour quite voluntarily heading over fields, through a small wood - thus dodging the next hail shower - finally ascending Table Mountain whose top the Romans flattened to build a fort up there, giving it its distinctive shape. Sometimes it took us a while to find the next stile but in the end it was not hard to find our way, now that we knew where we were going.

Ross was tiring quickly, having underestimated the level of fitness needed. When we finally arrived at Table Mountain I left my backpack with him at the foot of the final steep ascend and literally ran up being freed of the heavy weight. Took a few pictures from the top before we headed up the slope to the first peak of the ridge we originally intended to walk.

Looking back to Table Mountain

The first part of the climb to Pen Cerrig-calch (701m) was rather steep, the second bit a loooong stretch going slightly up. The wind picked up a good deal and the clouds darkened around the cairn as I was approaching it. Not good. I knew then for sure that we were never going to make that ridge. When Ross arrived he was knackered. Even if the rest of the ridge was a lot easier to walk, it was just too late being almost half 3 now. We had about 3 hrs of daylight left.

Then hail set in. With those strong winds up there: not funny! What should we do? Keep on going in this mayhem? Bag another peak or two and then descend down into a valley? The map showed no real escape route.

Part two coming soon. :)