Our Visit With Ron & Maurene IX: Climbing the Sugar Loaf (Pen-y-Fal)

It was time to bid England adieu, briefly, as Ronald guided us discretely across the border into a country which boasts "Williams" as it's second most popular surname. That would be the country in which "Jones" claims the top spot, otherwise known as Wales.


One of the first things visitors are likely to notice upon crossing over into Wales is that all the highway signs are in both English and Welsh. Our first stop (which turned out to be our only stop) was Abergavenny. This charming town is located in the Usk Valley and is considered to be the gateway to the Brecon Beacons mountain range. It was in Abergavenny that The Old Curmudgeon became enthralled with the hand sanitation facility of the public restroom. There were no sinks. Imagine, if you will (and I believe you will) a stainless steel portal installed into the wall in which you place your hands, palms up. A dollop of soap lands in your palms and as you begin to rub your hands together, water flows over them. As soon as they are rinsed, warm air begins to blow onto them until dry.

But the Curmudgeon digresses. His sources inform him that Abergavenny means "Mouth of The River Gavenny" and that it was originally the Roman fort called Gobannium. It later became a walled town under the Normans. In the 21st century, they have a very nice visitor's center, which we immediately explored. Spying some trail guides displayed there, we spontaneously decided to take "a very pleasant 9 mile (14.5 km) walk to the summit of Sugar Loaf through woodland and across heath, exploring where human activity has left its mark on the landscape." Thus we innocently began our gradual climb to the toppermost of the poppermost of Pen-y-Fal, which is 598 meters above our starting point. Sugar Loaf is in the Black Mountain range . It is owned by the National Trust which manages the grazing of the Welsh Sheep on its slopes.

*NOTE* For pictures of this trek taken by Ron, please click here


As we began our walk through town, Bobbie noticed a Welsh dragon a nearby roof.


Lauren is already having second thoughts about this trek. Grif tries to be supportive.


We begin to leave civilization behind.


A view of our destination. At this point, apparently Bobbie is unaware that we going to the top and makes a joke to Grif about the fact that we will be climbing this mountain. As Cool Hand Luke might have said, "What we have here is a failure to communicate."



The lower region of the mountain is deciduous.

Bobbie leaves the the forested slopes behind.

Ron just prior to bursting into a bracing performance of "The Sound of Music.

There was a small heard of wild ponies. Here is one of them keeping his eye on us.

A representative of the Welsh sheep greets us as we get closer to the summit.


Hey, I can see your house from here! Actually, at one point on our climb we saw a military jet fly by below us. We are not used to seeing the tops of planes while standing on the ground!

Grif & Lauren take a break.

The Old Curmudgeon, somehow still on his feet.

Almost there!

Grif & Lauren, at the summit, claim Wales for New Palestine. The thing is, now that we have gained the summit, we have to walk back down. Hey, why didn't somebody tell us about this part? Where's the escalator?

The trail down.

"The Road Goes Ever, Ever On." Extra credit to name the composer.


"The Sheep" Collection of Photos:




Back below the tree line:

Princess Lauren of the Woods.

Our path followed a mountain stream for a while close to the end.

Tired but happy, we emerged from the wilderness and wandered the streets of Abergavenny in search of a good pub. Not being successful in that enterprise, we settled for a pub.

Next: The Grand Finale -- Liverpool.