Tuesday 25 July 2017

A Walk Up Sugar Loaf


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A Walk Up Sugar Loaf


Difficulty - Moderate
Parking - Free.

Sugar Loaf is a mountain near Abergavenny in South Wales. It is one of those mountains where the National Trust have a free car park half way up so this makes the walk less demanding. We walked it many years ago with our children, they were about three and eight. (The littlest did have a shoulder carry for a lot of the way). As long as the weather forecast is good then this is a great family walk. There are two car parks, this walk starts at the second, a National Trust car park at the end of the road.

This walk took us just over an hour going up and a little under an hour coming down. We walked much slower than those around us, especially coming down, but we are very unfit due to lack of walking for many years and Mr P is ten weeks post hip replacement surgery. We walked 5.68k.




This walk has really good views all the way. We could see as far as the Bristol Channel in one direction and Pen y Fan in the other. Remember if you are taking children that at the top it is much colder and very windy, even on nice hot sunny days. If you are thinking of pausing for a picnic (which we always do so we can enjoy the views) it can get quite cold.

The route is easy to follow, when we were here, the first Monday of the school holidays, there were lots of walkers. It was very easy just to follow them up or take the same route as those coming down. 

When you get closer to the mountain there are two obvious routes up from the path. One is more direct and shorter, but obviously a lot steeper. The other sweeps around and up a less steep side. We took the easier route.

Starting at the car park (1) there are two paths. The one at the left of the information board (which we took) is a gentler and more direct route. It was quite rutted and I would expect very muddy after rain. It was fine when we walked and we had just had two days of rain, so it must drain quickly too.


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Views from the car park are lovely too

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Take the path left of the information board (1)

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Follow the path with view on your left across the valley
Follow the path up hill until it divides and go left. (2) 

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Take the left path (2)

The views are amazing all along the route and Sugar Loaf quickly comes into view. The path divides (3), and again take the left path. The path continues past a wall and a wooden post, again stay left (4) uphill.


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Continue left (3)
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Go Left (4) past the wooden post
Soon the whole route is visible with a path branching off to the right (5) as a shorter, but steeper, ascent. We continued straight on. The path bends to the right and slowly climbs uphill.

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The shorter path is easy to follow through the bracken (5). It ascends the peak on the right hand, steeper side. Our path follows the gentler ridge on the left to the top 

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The view from near the summit. The path is wide, grassy and can be seen to bend gently to the left
The final part is very rocky (6) but easy to navigate and fine to walk. 

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The views are fantastic from the top but it's popular so quite busy.

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Pen Y Fan in the distance
We try to walk every week, depending on weather and add them here. They will start easy, and as we get fitter become more adventurous. We always check the weather forecast before setting out and never go regardless. I would hate to be caught in a thunderstorm on the exposed peaks.

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3 comments

  1. That looks like a fantastic walk. The views look amazing! x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done you - that's quite the walk! Well worth it for the views though :) Stunning!

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  3. This looks amazing! I would love this, but I know my boys would hate it and my hubby wouldn't manage it. I'll have to find someone to go with x

    ReplyDelete

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