Brecon Beacons

To explore the full length of the Brecon Beacons there is a trek of about four days between the Black Mountain and The Black Mountains.  Thats quite a hike just to acquire an 's'!  As thats a bit much for most people we'll take a shorter hike here, taking in the delights of Sugar Loaf and its often overlooked neighbour - Bryn Arw.

There are many ways up Sugar Loaf, and quite a few have stunning views. Perhaps the least interesting is the tourist route, so we won't do that, but instead start at the foot of St Mary's Vale round about SO279163 where the road takes a sharp turn.

The walk up the vale follows a stream through deciduous wood.  The path climbs out to the hill on the right, or you can just keep following the stream to the end of the woods - both are beautiful routes. Either way, they meet at a point where the climb can't be put off any longer - and the slope steepens towards the summit. From a distance this makes it look like a volcano, but no lava has ever flowed here.

The summit is a stone ridge, with the opportunity for a bit of boulder hopping at the far end.  Our route takes us down to the Northeast, keeping all the time to the leftmost path. We pop out by some trees at Fforest Coal Pit and follow the little road East. It turns to a trek, and then breaks out into open country, though covered in dense bracken - so we stick to the path until we find another that climbs the ridge of Bryn Arw.

At first its a fairly ordinary broad ridge, but it narrows with progress, and the view back on an autumn day can be quite spectacular. The rocks at the top make a fine place to break open the sandwiches and pour some tea from the flask.