All walks › Hay & the Black Mountains
Hay & the Black MountainsCapel-y-ffin
A climb from a tiny chapel in the Vale of Ewyas onto the ridge above, in one of the quietest valleys in the Black Mountains.
- Distance
- 5.0 mi / 8 km
- Time
- 3 hr 10
- Ascent
- 420 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Shape
- Circular
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Climb steeply from the valley onto the ridge, follow it for a stretch with big views either side, then descend by a parallel track and return along the lane. Steep in both directions.
Worth knowing
- The chapel seats about twenty people and is usually open. Eric Gill lived at the monastery nearby in the 1920s.
- The lane in over the Gospel Pass is single track, steep and closed by snow in winter.
- Genuinely remote. Carry everything you need.
What you’ll see
The Vale of Ewyas, the ridge line, ponies and buzzards, and a chapel barely bigger than a cottage.
Background
Father Ignatius founded a monastery here in the 1870s in an attempt to revive Benedictine life in the Church of England. The ruins survive; the artist Eric Gill later occupied the buildings.