Table Mountain

Not the one in South Africa; this Table Mountain is in the Black Mountains, near the little town of Crickhowell.

The footpath starts just north of the town and is barely a mile long to the summit – hardly enough to justify a hour's car journey from home. To turn it into a 'real' walk we planned to follow the orange route in our book Walking in the Brecon Beacons. That would give us a 5 mile walk with a total climb of about 3000 feet, which felt like enough of a challenge to me.

I wanted to park Bluebird at the Start/Finish point (see map) but ever-sensible S-- judged that there wasn't really enough room. Reluctantly I agreed, so down we went into Crickhowell, leaving us a stiff climb back to the 'start' and a farm track to The Wern. But hey!, what's a bit of road walking to a pair of seasoned hikers? From this side the mountain really did look like a giant table.

After the farm we turned left, away from the direct ascent, and made our way up the pretty wooded valley of Cwm Cumbeth. At the top the paths diverged again – a short climb to Table Mountain on the right, and the steep ascent to Darren and Pen Cerrig-calch on the left. Our walk book sounded a cautionary note: If weather conditions are poor, the low-level alternative route can be taken. Well the sun was shining and visibility was good, so up we went, threading our way through thick bracken.

That's Crickhowell in the valley below

Darren Crags.  Not far to go now!

The view from Darren Crags was not a welcome one – thick mist shrouding Pen Cerrig-calch.  We toyed with walking towards the mist then making our way along the ridge and over to Table Mountain (roughly the 550 metre contour line), but decided to play it safe and descend to the main path (blue on the map).

Here's the view as we turned east, with not a wisp of mist in sight. If you click it to get a clearer view you'll see Table Mountain in the middle distance, just right of centre, the pointed peak of Sugar Loaf behind it and Skirrid in the far distance, with it's steep slope on the left-side.

The 'blue' route is part of the Brecon Way. From this side Table Mountain didn't look at all table-like.  By now, though, I was grateful that, whatever its shape, it was an easy climb to the top.

Looking east from Table Mountain with Sugar Loaf and the tip of Skirrid clearly visible.

One thing these photos don't show is the strong wind that blew across the mountain top... so how about these? Definitely two for the Rogues Gallery!

By starting and finishing in Crickhowell, and retracing our steps at Darren Crags, the walk turned out to be a shade under 5½ miles. The speed looks rather slow, but that climb to Darren was a stiff one, and much time was also spent photographing and simply drinking in the splendid views.