Distance: 9km (5.5 miles)
Time: 3/4 hours
Start/Finish: Car park above Hay-on-Wye SO239373.
Paths: Clear footpaths across high mountains, quiet road to finish.
Maps: OS Explorer Series (1:25 000) OL13
Tourist Info: Hay-on-Wye TIC: (01497) 820144; National Park Visitor Centre: (01874) 623366.
The Black Mountains make magnificent walking country: high and airy, yet never too steep or exposed. The north facing escarpment is spectacular, and any walk linking a few of its summits is going to be special; with views that reach deep into mid Wales and beyond. This is a reasonably easy way to tread these peaks: starting high and maintaining most of its height as it tracks between Hay Bluff and the oddly-named Lord Hereford’s Knob, or Twmpa. The final stretch follows quiet lanes.
Your route…
From the car park, cross the road and join the clear grassy path that makes a beeline for the summit of Hay Bluff, which now towers above. You’ll eventually meet a good path that comes in from the left – Offa’s Dyke Footpath. Turn right onto it to follow it easily up to the top, where you turn left onto a well-surfaced path that leads to the trig point and summit. This is a wonderful viewpoint, with the Wye Valley stretched out at your feet and the mountains of mid Wales jutting into the skyline beyond.
Retrace your steps back to the top of the initial climb and keep straight ahead, along the edge of the escarpment, still with great views north and west. At Ffynnon y Parc, the path drops and eventually delivers you on the road at the very top of the Gospel Pass, which at over 500m is one of the highest roads in Wales.
Cross the road and take the obvious path up the other side, climbing steeply in places to the top, where you’ll pass between two piles of stones – ancient cairns – before reaching another cairn that marks the summit. At 690m, this is the highpoint of the whole walk and the views equal those from Hay Bluff, even if it doesn’t attract the crowds in quite the same way.
Continue along the escarpment edge towards Pen Rhos Dirion, and drop easily into the deep saddle. As the ground levels, keep your eyes open for an obvious path that drops sharply to the right, between spectacular sandstone outcrops. Take this and follow it steeply down towards easier ground where it’s split by a tall grassy bank. Immediately after the bank, where the main path swings left, keep straight ahead on a steep grassy path.
This soon levels off and meets a clear cross path about 200m from the fence that marks the edge of the open moorland. Your position can be confirmed by two small stands of trees divided by a large hump, which should be directly above you. Turn right onto the cross path, which climbs slightly to start with; and then follow it around the hillside with great views right to the steep, obvious nose of Twmpa. Keep ahead the whole time now and you’ll eventually join a broad track, where you need to turn right. Follow this easily to its end where it joins a narrow lane. Turn right onto the lane and now follow it over a ford and gently uphill back to the car park.
