Abergavenny

Abergavenny, Y Fenni in Welsh, is a Monmouthshire market town built on the site of the Roman fort of Gobannium, at the meeting of the River Usk and the Gavenny, according to Wikipedia. The Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority files the town under towns near the park, calls it a gateway, and counts seven hills around it. Wikipedia names Blorenge at 559m, Sugar Loaf at 596m and the Skirrid among them. St Mary’s Priory Church, which the authority dates to the late eleventh century, and a market hall trading on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the reasons to stop in town between hills.

Why base here

Abergavenny is the base for a week that begins and ends on a train. Wikipedia places the station on the Welsh Marches Line from Newport to Hereford, with Transport for Wales trains that typically run hourly each way between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central on weekday daytimes. Hay-on-Wye’s nearest is Hereford, 21 miles away. The hills are the other half of the case, and they are modest: the National Trust owns both Sugar Loaf at 596m and the Skirrid at 486m, and the two walks listed here run to two and two and a half hours on the published figures. A week of long mountain days belongs elsewhere, at Brecon for Pen y Fan or at Crickhowell for Table Mountain.

On foot versus by car

Neither hill starts in town. The Trust gives the Skirrid car park on the B4521 as 1.5 miles along that road from the A465 turn, and puts Abergavenny bus station 3 miles and the railway station 4 miles from it. The park authority’s own route up Sugar Loaf starts at the Llanwenarth car park and states that the start is not reachable by public transport; all buses end at Abergavenny bus station. It also describes a longer walk from the town, 9 miles or 14.5km, for anyone arriving by public transport, and the Trust’s advice is the same: park at Fairfield in town and expect a longer walk than the car park route.

The Skirrid can also be walked out of Abergavenny on the Beacons Way, whose first day, the park authority says, runs from the town to Llanthony Priory over the Skirrid and Hatterrall Hill. The Trust also lists the X43 bus from Cardiff to Abergavenny. The Gospel Pass road to Hay-on-Wye leaves the A465 five miles north of the town, so Hay Bluff is a long drive up the Vale of Ewyas and belongs to Hay’s base, not this one.

Practicalities

Abergavenny station is southeast of the town centre, Wikipedia says, and the park authority lists a National Park visitor information point and shop in the town. Dogs are welcome on both hills, with the Trust asking for short leads around livestock on Sugar Loaf and close control on the Skirrid. The Abergavenny Food Festival runs every September, the park authority says, which is worth knowing before choosing dates.