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Photos © N.D. Pugh 2005
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| Andy and Neil, together with Whiz and Abby, took a stroll
over Black Hill to Hay Bluff. We parked at Black Hill car park and climbed
the ridge to Black Hill, and then across the Black Mountain to the Hay
Bluff triangulation point. Andy had brought a packet of cooked sausages up
for the dogs, so they dined well. I had a bit of chocolate, which I had to
share with the dogs, well the poor little darlings still looked hungry.
The last time I was on the Black Mountain Offa's Dyke footpath was a peat bog, you knew you'd be in poo all the way and that only the depth would vary. All has changed! Some heroic soul has laid miles of massive slabs along the hilltop. It's like a stroll to Waitrose now. Now I don't accuse the Ordnance Survey of being wrong; I'm a great admirer of their maps. All I will say is that there is a footpath shown clearly on the maps from Offa's Dyke path to the ruined farm at Upper Blaen. I've never found this path on the ground. The map, compass and GPS all tell me I'm in the right place, somebody has even erected a mini cairn, but any sign of a path.... no. Still it's only a three quarter of a mile struggle through knee high heather, falling into the odd hidden stream to the edge of the escarpment over the Olchon Valley. Length of walk 13.5 km (8.5 miles) - Ascent 480 metres (1600 feet).
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