Hay Bluff and Twmpa from the Gospel Pass Road

Hay Bluff stands at the northern tip of the Black Mountains, where, as Wikipedia describes it, the range’s north-east-facing escarpment meets the north-west-facing one, with the Wye valley and Hay-on-Wye below and Twmpa, also called Lord Hereford’s Knob, the next summit to the west. The Database of British and Irish Hills, through Hill Bagging, gives Hay Bluff as 677m, and Wikipedia gives Twmpa as 690m. Between them runs Gospel Pass, which UK Southwest records as the highest road in Wales at 549m, managed by the national park authority; the same source says one tradition ties the name to a visit by Saint Paul, while a band of twelfth-century crusaders is the likelier origin.

The Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority lists the Hay Bluff car park at SO 239373, and the circuit starts there. 10Adventures describes it as a climb south-east straight up the steep slope of Hay Bluff, a descent west to the valley floor at Gospel Pass, a second climb to Twmpa, then a way north down the hill across several streams and fields. The Offa’s Dyke Path makes a steep ascent of Hay Bluff’s northern slopes, Wikipedia says, and National Trails counts about 11 miles of ridge from the Black Mountains’ high point to this summit. Wikipedia also records both hills as open country, so there is no single path to keep to, and UK Southwest calls both tops flat, which matters because the ground falls sharply away on Hay Bluff’s north and east sides.

10Adventures measures the circuit at 5.7 miles (9.2km) with 456m of ascent in three to four hours, and grades it moderate. It suits walkers who want two Black Mountains summits in half a day and can navigate a flat top with a steep edge beyond it, and anyone who cannot should keep off it in cloud. It is not for anyone wanting a short outing: UK Southwest gives the shortest walks from the pass as a mile out and back to Hay Bluff or 0.8 mile to Twmpa, with the pass five miles south of Hay-on-Wye. For one summit and a car park the National Trust runs on the hill itself, the Sugar Loaf, which the Trust gives as 596m, is the alternative.