A Guide to the Sugar Loaf Monmouthshire Mountain Wales Walk
In the Brecon Beacons National Park, 2-miles from Abergavenny, you will find the wonderful Sugar Loaf Mountain Wales walk – also known as Pen Y Fal in Welsh. It is in the Black Mountains in Monmouthshire in South Wales and offers fantastic views from the summit if you are lucky enough to visit on a clear day.
There are many routes up, but this is a guide to an easy Sugar Loaf Monmouthshire walk that is slightly longer than the usual up and down, as it incorporates the beautiful, mystical oak woodland and open moorland. The ridge at the top is flat, and there are rocks and a trig point that are perfect for photographs!
Interestingly, it is not a mountain as it is sometimes thought because it is 4m short of the 600m needed to be classified as one, and it is not a volcano either, although it has a conical outline, as it is made out of old red sandstone. It is 596metres or 1,955 feet high and can be seen from the town of Abergavenny, which is pretty impressive!
Sugar Loaf Monmouthshire Walk Details
Distance: 6.6km
Time: 2.5-3.5 hours
Elevation Gain: 346m
Walk Type: circular
Difficulty: moderate – although some steeper parts of the Sugar Loaf walk can be challenging.
How to Reach the Sugar Loaf Monmouthshire
You can access the Sugar Loaf Mountain Car Park from Abergavenny the A40. It is just over an hour from Cardiff or Bristol and 1 hour and 20-minutes from Swansea.
The Sugar Loaf Mountain Wales Car Park
The car park is called the Sugar Loaf National Trust car park or Llanwenarth Car Park and can be found on Google Maps here. The roads leading up to the car park are single lane narrow roads with some passing spaces, so take your time as you head up. There are no facilities, including no toilets at the car park, so you will need to bring everything you need with you. The nearest toilets are in Abergavenny, so we suggest using them before you head up!
Sugar Loaf Mountain Wales Postcode: NP7 7LA
Cost: free to park, no machines (see below picture).
Top Tips for the Sugar Loaf Monmouthshire Walk
- The Ordnance Survey Map for the walk is OL13 Brecon Beacons. Alternatively, you can follow the route on the OS App or the All Trails app to make sure you do not get lost.
- Some of the paths can be overgrown with ferns, but as they are usually quite well-trodden, you should be able to navigate using your map, these instructions and the pictures. However, there are many different routes up and down, so you can easily find your way if you fancy something more straightforward or if you go on a slightly different path.
- Complete the walk-in in late August and early September to see the blanket of heather over the moorland.
- There are no facilities at the start of the walk, so you will need to get inventive if you need to use the toilet or use it before in Abergavenny.
- Remember to bring layers and a waterproof coat with you – the top is exposed, and the temperature can be much colder on the summit.
- Wear suitable shoes, as although the path is grassy, it can get very muddy, and there is plenty of sheep faeces.
- Get there early to get a car parking spot and avoid weekends if you can, as it can be hectic at times.
- The Sugar Loaf walk is a dog-friendly walk, but they must be kept on leads because there are many sheep grazing on the moorland. There are no stiles on this walk but some large rocks at the top.
- Check the Met Weather Forecast here.
Sugar Loaf Mountain Wales Walk Directions
1. From the car park, walk towards the. National Trust information board which has vital details about the area that you can read before you start. From here, take the left path to begin going uphill. There are some rocks on the grassy path, so take care of your footing as you head up. The track is straightforward and wide.
2. After 0.5km at the first fork, turn left, and you will have Sugar Loaf on your right. Follow this wide grassy track for 100m and then take a right at the second fork to continue straight along the trail. Please keep going straight, even at the next crossroads. You will see many paths heading up Sugar Loaf Mountain, but this route takes the peak from the left side of the hill. Therefore, roughly 1.2km into the walk at the crossroads, take a left towards Mynydd Llanwenarth.
3. If the day is clear, then the tracks will be very obvious to follow. Keep right as you head up on your Sugar Loaf Mountain walk, but it does not matter what path you take as long as you walk uphill because they all go to the same place as you contour around the mountain.
4. The track begins relatively steady, but as you approach the summit, the inclination becomes much steeper. There is not an official path but a wide rocky trail with a bed of green that takes you to the top. As you approach the large rocks, follow the track as it curves right. You are almost there!
5. Once you reach the top, turn left, and you will see the Sugar Loaf trig point! It is also a great time to walk along the flat ridge and take in the views (if it’s clear, of course)! Last time, we were greeted with a cloud, but it adds to the mystery of the area.
6. From the trig to head down, turn right, or you can turn left to take some epic pictures scrambling on the rocks or use them as a shelter for a picnic. Once you’ve got the ‘Insta shot’ head back right and go past the trig again, heading south-east to take the first stony track down, you will come across.
If you wanted to shorten the walk here, you can head directly back down to the car park. If not, continue following the southeasterly direction down curving around the mountain.
7. After roughly 600m down from the summit, you should turn left and walk over the stream, Nant Lago. Keep following the path straight down and do not turn at the first crossroads but take a right at the fork just after.
8. Continue until you arrive at the giant oak tree (pictured) and turn right on the small trail. Be careful of the low tree branches and follow the path underneath the tree with the fence on your left as you go down. When you reach the crossroads, turn right.
9. Follow the path for roughly 900m through the woodland, over Nant Lago (the stream), through further woodland, and going slightly uphill until you reach a sharp left going uphill in a south-westerly direction. This track is much steeper. After 200m up, you can shorten the route and continue straight to rejoin the path you started on.
Turn around to see the impressive Sugar Loaf Mountain behind you!
10. Alternatively, turn left and continue for 300m until you get to a fork, where you should head right and go uphill. After roughly 300m at the crossroads, continue straight, and you will see the car park directly in front of you. Walk downhill, and you have completed the Sugar Loaf mountain walk! Well done!
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