All walks › Hay & the Black Mountains
Hay & the Black MountainsWaun Fach
The highest point of the Black Mountains, reached over long grassy ridges. Historically a peat bog of legendary awfulness, now largely paved with stone slabs.
- Distance
- 7.5 mi / 12 km
- Time
- 4 hr 30
- Ascent
- 620 m
- Difficulty
- Strenuous
- 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 onto the ridge from the valley and follow it north to the summit plateau, returning by a parallel ridge to make a circuit. Long, open and committing.
Worth knowing
- The stone flagging has transformed this walk. Older guidebooks describing waist-deep peat are out of date.
- There is nothing at the summit but a small concrete stump. The walking is the point, not the top.
- Extremely exposed. Do not attempt in poor visibility without navigation skills.
What you’ll see
Miles of open ridge, the Wye valley to the north, and the whole Black Mountains system.
Background
The summit was for decades notorious as one of the worst peat bogs in Wales. Path repair work using stone slabs has made it accessible without destroying the ground.