A short day needs a short walk and this one is a local classic. Start high and a nice horseshoe around the southern flanks of the distinctive Sugar Loaf overlooking Abergavenny.
Weather looked to have some promise when we set off but the clouds were quickly gathering with showers and drizzle cloaking the hills to the south
Not sure what they use the rolls of bracken for (animal feed, fuel to burn?)
Ever darkening skies
Gorse still in flower
Approaching the summit
TJS on the summit
We had some decent views and managed to find a sheltered spot on the top (it was exceptionally windy). The summit was remarkably windy for a cloudy and windy day. Many people seemed somewhat under-equipped, a poor decision as luck ran out and it started drizzling heavily as we left the summit and we got quite a soaking
It stopped on the way down and we dried out a bit before we had to sit in the car for the drive home
Decent stroll on a hill we know well, no need for navigational thoughts, just enjoy the panoramas and being outdoors in the hills and fresh air
surfnslide 
Ah…I know this hill very well. In fact I’ve looked at it at least 3 times from the luxury of http://www.thehardwick.co.uk/ on non-walking trips. Wondered what the views would look like. Thank you – saved me a lot of effort! 🙂
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Still never been to the Hardwick – we never remember too book early enough to get a table on a weekend. Sugar Loaf is worth the effort and you can park at 300m so already halfway up 🙂
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We used to try to time our trips to stay there midweek (or a Sunday I think it was) when they had significant reductions in their rates for DBB. Food was excellent! Remember, one visit, talking to the chef in the carpark about his TV exploits.
Carpark only half way up 😦 . The days I would be looking for a summit parking space 🙂 .
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Someday that will be me when my knees and hips eventually give up the fight
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Useful to have a decent hill close by, a good local outing to keep fitness up (almost flat as a pancake here). Quite a good view considering the drizzly weather.
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Its one of those hills that’s quite isolated so it gives expansive views and has a couple of different routes up. I’m lucky to have several of these short walks relatively close to home (30 min drive)
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A lovely area, it is several years since I have visited. Those rolls of bracken, a while back a farmer, whose wife happened to be a scientist, hit on a procedure that can convert bracken into excellent compost. A win win for farmers who wanted rid of of bracken. A scheme was set up to encourage local farmers to cut and bail it and sell it on to the farmer making the compost. That may possibly be something on the same lines?
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Interesting that both you and Bob below, have heard different things about what it’s used for. I can say there is loads of the stuff down here! Shame they can’t find a use for and cut it dow when it’s green. It’s a real pain to walkthrough in mid to late summer
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Always like a sugarloaf hill. They used to use bracken for animal bedding years ago and recently the Malvern Trust compact it into bricks and sell it to households to burn. I suppose anyway you can make use of it is a bonus.
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I assumed that whatever it was being used for it wouldn’t be used for food seeing as nothing seems to eat it when it’s green. My guess was some kind of fuel although when it’s gone brown it never looks dense enough to burn for anything more than a few seconds. I must do some research on it.
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I’ve heard of bracken being compressed into ‘logs’ for fuel too and just about anything can be composted. Nice to think that they’ve found some use for the stuff. (I’m not all that fond of bracken).
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Bracken is horror stuff, oppressive when its green and prickly and ugly when its died back. Also hard to ski over when its under the snow. It looks like fuel could be its main use
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What a lovely short walk albeit with a shower of rain. All the comments re the bracken have been very interesting. I had no idea it could be useful. When we struggle through it, we are on high alert for snakes.
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That would really add a new dimension to walking through bracken! We have one poisonous snake in the UK (Adder) that lives on heathland with bracken but they very shy and encounters and bites are rare (I’ve never seen one)
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