Date: Wednesday 18th January 2023
Strava says: 17.72 miles
Elevation: 4,678 ft / m
Weather: Sunny & cold
Start: Abergavenny Scout Hut, Fairfield car park NP7 5SG
Route type: Recce, circular
Conditions: Hard snowy ground, ice in places
Website link: Rownd Mynydd Du (Black Mountains Round)
Describe the route in three words: incredibly rewarding views
4 summits of Rownd Mynydd Du (Black Mountains Round) - Sugarloaf, Gaer, Bryn Arw & Skirrid Fawr - Route Recce
I really enjoyed planning, preparing and completing the Gwynne-Harris Round last year and felt at a bit of a loss afterwards. I’d dedicated so much time to it and achieved what I felt at the start of the process had been the unachievable, I wasn’t really sure what to do next. I decided to repeat the process again this year, but with a different Round in my sights. I first met Brett from M&L Outdoors in October 2021 when I hired him to teach me how to navigate. We completed an FKT route known as the Black Mountains Circular, this covers a hefty chunk of the Round Mynydd Du which has a lot of ridgeway running - surely this Round will be the best way to view the Black Mountains?!
I parked up at the start point in Abergavenny and set off at 11.13am. I texted Brett to say I was on my way. We met up 20 minutes into my run and I was delighted to see that Brett had brought Bryn with him, his incredibly enthusiastic black spaniel who has been sprinting up and down mountains since his puppy days. The first climb of the day was Sugar Loaf - 596m, which we reached around 12.10pm, the views were spectacular. The snow dusted mountains rolled out all around me, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. What an absolute pleasure to be out today.
I was pleased that I did not get my poles out on the climb up to Sugarloaf. I have realised that I needed to use my poles a lot for the Gwynne-Harris recces and I think this has made me lazy up hills. I’ve decided to do as much of the recces as I can without the poles as I believe it will make me stronger. Even before the first summit, there are some noticeable differences between Round Mynydd Du (Black Mountains Round) and the Gwynne-Harris Round. The first section is on tarmac. The first summit is not even a mountain. In fact, this first part is really rather runnable.
The plan after Sugarloaf was to cut across through Forest Coal Pit and pick up the last section of the Round. I was really pleased that of all the recces I have planned, this was the one that Brett was able to join me on as this section is really twisty turn-y and Brett was able to point out loads of things for me to look out for. I did mention to Brett how I had planned to get my compass out at the Sugarloaf trig point to make sure I picked up the right path but...
...as Brett was here, a nav pro, on his own turf, on his own Round (and now officially on and in training for the Mountain Rescue team!)... I’d let him guide the way.
We followed the path and as we reached a more sheltered point we stopped so I could refold my map and put it away. “So where do you think we are?” asked Brett. I pointed at a triangular section of paths on my map, “Probably around here." Brett laughed, “That’s exactly where we are, you’re really good at this!” Hurrah!
We were heading for a point between Pen-twyn and Pant in order to pick up the trail again between Gaer and Bryn Arw. When we got there, Brett mentioned that the line down from Gaer could be a bit tricky. “Do you mind if we head there so we can do an out and back?” "No not at all." Gaer is a little mound but with no track and lots of bracken. Bryn bounded up and made it look all too easy. We reached the top at 1pm, we looked down from the pile of rocks that mark Twyn y Gaer - 427m and tried to spot the noticeable landmarks.
There is a fence line with a kink in it, the kink seemingly made by a chubby tree. Just further along to the right is the gate that we needed to pass through. Time can certainly be lost or made up here, a direct route delivering us to the gate is ideal. Bryn led the way and we scampered down after him, still managing to overshoot a bit. I know what I’m looking out for now though, so hopefully I’ll be able to go back for a super quick recce of this part, in fact it might be an idea to take a compass bearing as I expect I could well be doing this in the dark on the Round itself.
To the left of Brett (in the sunbeam) is the chubby tree that you need to head for, the gate is just along to the right of the tree
We retraced our steps, it really is twisty turn-y, left at a road fork, over a style, through a field... we headed off down the wrong side of a rocky mound so had to turn back. We found the footpath and headed down it. We passed through a lovely field with “Whale Pond”, a popular route for Duke of Edinburgh students.
We then reached a road crossing at Forest Coal Pit where some tree surgeons were at work. There is a boardwalk area that make for easy running, Brett pointed out that a few years ago, this area would have been near impassable. On the upward climb away from the boardwalk, I ate my guava bar, Brett and I had a short discussion on running and nutrition. These bars (Luchos) I find very easily digestible. Brett told me that on a vegan diet, he'd discovered he was eating too much fibre which sometimes led to stomach issues so he had swapped his oats with oat milk breakfast for white bread and peanut butter, a good tip I felt. We soon arrived at Bryn Arw - 384m at 1.45pm and tapped the stone pile.
Brett warned me that this is another area that I need to be wary of. It’s a bracken fest meaning super slow-go, however there is a gully, you just need to find it! We found the gate easily enough, passed through and then headed off to the right to find the gully. This was a real stumble-trip path (We’re Going on a Bear Hunt sprang to mind)! Brett flew down but I seemed to keep getting my feet through a tangled bit of bramble and by some miracle did not fall over.
Brett and I parted ways at the next footpath as Brett had a work meeting to go to, I was to navigate Skirrid solo but I felt confident as I have done it before. There’s a bit of road running along the Old Hereford Road and then onto the A464 for about a quarter of a mile. My tummy was beginning to rumble. As soon as I hit the slightly uphill trail I stopped to put my Trailshell on (thinking I’d get cold on the climb up Skirrid) and grabbed my sandwich and crisps from my snack pack. I overshot a style but my Garmin vibrated straight away to let me know. Time to cross a few fields with Skirrid right in front of me.
It was here I got REALLY confused. The footpath sign was clearly pointing straight ahead, Skirrid was straight ahead, but Brett’s gpx was going off to the left.
After a few circles in various directions (I was enjoying my sandwich and Hula Hoops and not in a massive hurry!) I decided that I was here to find suitable alternative routes where possible and this one seemed good.
However, knowing Brett’s knowledge of the area and his skill of map reading, I felt that I potentially was doing the wrong thing. But hang on, what’s that I can see? A gate? Perfect, little celebration dance ensued and I smugly trotted up to it. Oh. Not only was it chained shut, it had barbed wire on the top.
I clearly was in a private field now and not on a public footpath afterall. I was able to scale the barbed wire fence next to it (very carefully as I didn’t want to cause damage to private property… or injure myself for that matter!) and I was now directly opposite the footpath that would lead me to Skirrid Fawr.
I still have no clue what the right route was as whilst circling the field, I did not spot the line/footpath Brett had taken and the gate I found at the bottom of the field was not one for people to pass through. I think this perhaps is another part that I will try to have another look at, especially as it is easily accessible by road, I literally could just park the car and walk the part I need to do in under 30 minutes. I have since done exactly that and you can see my notes on the correct route at the bottom of the article.
I headed for Skirrid, remembering the way from when I did Abergavenny 3 Peaks. The weather however was very different today. I’d done right putting my Trailshell on, the climb was made frigid by the ice cold wind, I was on the sheer side and there was no sun to warm me here. The snow and the ice made it a really challenging climb, I’d got my poles out and was using them a lot as well as crawling on my hands and knees. Although steep, it’s not a big climb. It took less than 30 minutes from the wooden sign on the road to the trig point.
I’d like to mention that when I got my poles out, one of them would not open up properly. I must have not dried them out after the OTT Ultra and put them away wet. The pin that is supposed to pop out was rusty and stuck inside. I was able to come up with a solution through, the poles are adjustable and as they are Z poles (in three collapsible sections), I was able to retract the top section back into the shaft, thus shortening the pole, and then extend the adjustable part to its longest, resulting in the pole being the same length as my fully working pole. I do like it when I can think on my feet and come up with a solution! (A bit of WD40 later on fixed the issue and the pin is now working again.)
I popped out slightly to the right of the trig point and made my way over to it. The sun was shining down, the snowy landscape rolled out in front of me. My second time on Skirrid Fawr and it is a real beauty, perhaps one of my favourites in all of the Beacons. Coming up the sheer side is so rewarding because the views are withheld from you until you reach the summit, and then you get the real wow factor and the pleasure of running along the ridge line as you head along and down.
The mud made the descent a bit slippery so I had to be a little cautious. A group of school children and their teachers were heading upwards, the teachers kindly got everyone to stand to one side to let me pass, a boy towards the rear asked me if I was hiking or running… I called back to him that I was running and thought it was an odd question, especially as there was no mistaking that I was running when he had asked the question. I then realised it was probably because I was holding my poles in my hand, he’d probably only seen hikers with poles in the past.
I paused in the car park at the bottom to put my poles away as didn’t fancy holding them on the 2 mile road stretch back to the car. I remembered this section well from when I did Abergavenny 3 Peaks, there is no pavement at the start of the road so every time a car came I would stand on the grass verge to stay safe. Finally the pavement appeared and I could safely carry on with my run, Brett’s line takes a much better route then the gpx I followed from the 3 Peaks. It passes under a bridge, up some steps to a narrow footpath and brings you to the gateway to Bailey park which is adjacent to the car park. A lovely easy finish to the Round.
What’s in the snack pack?
Philadelphia cheese and cucumber sandwich
Hula Hoops
Luchos guava square
Natural bar
Mixed nuts
Sugar coated stemmed ginger
Mints
2x 500ml bladders water - 1 plain, 1 with Phizz
Spare 500ml bottle of water
Spare gloves
Salomon Bonatti waterproof over mittens
Inov 8 Trailshell waterproof jacket
Long sleeved spare layer
Vasaline
Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver
Petzl e+lite head torch
Whistle
Survival blanket
OMM Halo waterproof trousers
Fully charged mobile phone
Harvey’s map
Silva Expedition 4 compass
What I wore: Saucony Peregrine 12 ST, Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Stance socks, Ronhill merino long sleeved top, second long sleeved top, hat, gloves, Dirty Girl gaiters, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.
Summary
I was super pleased that I only used my poles for Skirrid. I do wonder if I can run the majority of this Round without poles and just get my crew to give them to me before Skirrid, I’ll need to see how the rest of the recces go first. Today certainly delivered on views and the terrain is not nearly as technical as it was on Gwynne-Harris Round so I hope that I have a good chance of doing this a couple of hours quicker than I did Gwynne-Harris Round.
Lessons learned
Ensure I put my kit away correctly, and check it before I use it (poles)
A great recce with lots of pointers taken from Brett and visual landmarks committed to memory
If I'd have hung around any longer at the top of Sugarloaf or spent longer on the Skirrid climb I would have got cold. I do not have a suitable wind proof and warm jacket for winter mountain runs.
Results
Elapsed time: 4 hr 35 m 28 s
Strava route: https://www.strava.com/activities/8412632430
Updated route information to reach footpath to Skirrid
I re-visited the field where I could not locate the correct path to start Skirrid on Sunday 26th February.
Pass through the 6 bar gate (pictured) but do not go directly across the field and through the next gate (which is what I initially did). Instead you need to head diagonally across towards the left corner of the field where you will see a narrow gate which takes you across a bridge, through a woodland area then through another gate into a field. Head up the field to the right corner. You will then come out on to a lane. Turn right and stay on the lane until you reach the footpath sign posted for Skirridd Fawr.
