Walk #96 Sugar Loaf, Monmouthshire

The prominent landmark - Sugar Loaf

Walk 17 out of 100
Walk #96 - Sugar Loaf

Monmouthshire

Overall Rating - ✪✪✪✪

Suggested Difficulty - Easy

My Difficulty Rating - ✪✪✪

Suggested Time - 3h 30m

Actual Time Taken - 2h 12m

Distance in book - 6.6km
Map my walk Distance - 7.27km

National Trust car park, start/finish

So much for not leaving it too long before the next walk... This teaching business is a bit full on aye it?! Anyway, happy summer to all those like me who are now on cloud nine with 6 weeks off. A year on from the Wales trip with work topped off with a walk in Beddgelert, we found ourselves back in Wales but this time in the Brecon Beacons. The start of the walk is a short but fairly scary drive from Abergavenny, some will appreciate the high starting point of this one so there isn't too much climbing.

I've given the walk a 4 star for it's great views, fairly simple route (which we totally did in the opposite direction on purpose...) and the small but pulse raising climb. As you can see your target right from the get go, you would think the route was easy to navigate, but apparently not! Thought we were ticking along nicely and then looked at the map and realised we were following the route backwards! The rest of the route was pretty straight forward, there are plenty of paths up the Sugar Loaf and really, you could follow any one of them and get the same end result.

The walk had a fair degree of difficulty despite the book claiming it is an easy one. The climb up to the top of the Sugar Loaf was quite steep along a pleasant ridge line and there is one of those notorious/annoying sections where you have to go downhill to go uphill again! I'm not really sure why you are given over 3 hours to complete the route, we weren't rushing and managed it in just over 2 hours.

One for the kids...

As you can see from the pictures, the views across the top of the hill were delightful. Thankfully, the clouds were high enough to give us good visibility from the top and provide me with another cheeky 360° photo opportunity!

After tackling the Sugar Loaf there is a steep descent down into a valley before climbing back up to the car park (or the ridge line walk if you do the route properly!).

I would recommend this one if you are in the Brecon Beacons but don't fancy one of the larger, more challenging hill climbs in the area. The views at the top are great and it offers a bit of difficulty getting up there.

Thanks to Ricky and Paul for the company and, as always, thanks for reading.

Stef.

Here's the link to the walk on 'Map My Walk'

And follow me on Twitter @stefanvilla1991

Walk #48 Cheviot Hills, Northumberland

Walk 16 out of 100
Walk #48 - Cheviot Hills 

Northumberland

Overall Rating - ✪✪✪✪

Suggested Difficulty - Moderate

My Difficulty Rating - ✪✪✪

Suggested Time - 3 h 30m

Actual Time Taken - 3h 11m

Distance in book - 10.9km
Map my walk Distance - 11.46km

Grass car park near Halter Burn, start/finish

Happy New Year! Slightly late reporting on this walk from new year's eve but that is what happens when you are a newly qualified teacher! I welcomed in 2017 whilst in the Scottish Borders and this walk was about a 40 minute drive from where I was staying near Hawick. It's a bit strange that it says Northumberland in the walking book when probably 95% of the walk is North of the wall in Scotland! 

I've given the walk a 4 star for it's great views, easy to follow route and for generally being a pretty peaceful place.




As the route partly follows the Pennine Way, it was pretty easy to navigate. There was only one small section which required a bit of a scramble to find a path where the directions went a tad vague. On the whole, thumbs up emoji.

The walk had a fair degree of difficulty as it involves climbing four separate hills, 3 of which are a bit of an up and down roller coaster along a ridge line. The walk was also made slightly more difficult by the gale force winds along the top of the hills. Thankfully, the paths along the grassy terrain were pretty easy to walk on.

Looking down on Kirk Yetholm 

Jiminy on top of Staerough Hill

Looking back at Staerough Hill 

About all the company you get up here!

As you can see from the pictures, the views throughout this walk across the top of the hills were fantastic. Even on a fairly dull, overcast day I was treated to some great panoramic views. In all honesty, the main reason I wanted to go on this walk was to try taking some 360° photos on my phone for my new VR headset (nerd alert!) it didn't disappoint.

Ruins of Old Halterburn Head

After tackling Staerough Hill, Sunnyside Hill, Wildgoose Hill and Latchly Hill there is a bit of shelter from the windy tops as you drop down into a valley before coming to the ruins of Old Halterburn Head.

Border control

After walking up a grassy track to meet the Pennine Way, the walk enters England for about 10 minutes, and of course I behaved like a child jumping from Scotland to England whilst there was nobody around...

Stob Stones

As you cross back over to the Scottish border there is a short photo stop at the Stob Stones. The book informed me that this is a spot where gypsy kings and queens were traditionally crowned, fun(ish) fact of the day.

After the Stob Stones, there is a straight forward decent back to the car park.

Decent back to car park

I would definitely recommend this one. The views throughout are outstanding and it offers a bit of difficulty with the numerous small hill climbs.

Hopefully I wont have to wait as long for the next walk, but until then, thanks for reading.

Stef.

Here's the link to the walk on 'Map My Walk'

And follow me on Twitter @stefanvilla1991