Sunday 22nd May 2011 Hay Bluff to Pandy, Abergavenny, Gwent

This was a charity walk for Help for Heroes, organised by Al, the landlord at the Old Pandy Inn at Pandy, near Abergavenny. The route was from the bottom of Hay Bluff, up onto the ridge, following Offa's Dyke Path all the way back to Pandy and the pub where sausage and mash, plus Wye Valley beers would be waiting - try HPA if you can find it. The walk was 'sold' as a 14 miler, but Al confided that he had clocked it at 12.4 miles and we would walk for about 5 hours.


Offa's Dyke Path

Robin, Lorraine & Paul

We (Robin, Paul, Lorraine and myself) left Cheltenham at around 0800 and arrived after a manic 'Robinesque' drive (the boy knows nothing of speed limits) just after 0900 to be greeted by Al, the landlord at the Pandy Inn.


The Old Pandy Inn, Pandy nr Abergavenny


Wye Valley Brewery

Setting off - Hay Bluff

At the pub we had lovely fresh brewed offee, used the facilities and boarded the minibus with other walkers for the shortish drive to Hay Bluff. We finally got out of the bus and onto the trail at about 1015 to be greeted by high winds and bright sunshine. Robin was off like a flash on the harder of the two possible ascents, with a few clueless souls chasing behind him - including me. Those better informed took the path to the right which is a little more approachable. Our party was off and running and I thought to myself that this was more of a race than a charity walk.

Up Hay Bluff...

We started the ascent to Hay Bluff with Robin in the lead, setting the pace. I must say I found the pace and the gradient a bit of a challenge but kept at it until we all reached the first area where it flattened out. All the time the wind was howling and it promised to be a very challenging time on the top of the ridge. We eventually met the other ascent path but saw nothing of our fellow walkers. We climbed the final section aided by a strong tail wind and reached the cairn at the top. The ridge path lay before us and so Robin responded by setting an electric pace along the ridge. We responded and all kept up along the long, windy track towards Pandy.

Wild Horses

The track is really well maintained and large slabs have been laid where the terrain might be boggy in winter. We saw several other groups of walkers heading in both directions with some, dropping left and right into the valleys below. We stopped briefly for liquid intakes and snacks but didn't linger as there was absolutely no shelter from the wind on the ridge. There were many cairns and piles of stones along the way as the track moved from slabs to rough track to almost gravelled sections of the path. The views to either side are wonderful and my photos don't really do the views justice - which is normally the case - you have to be there! We saw two herd of wild horses on the top of the ridge - fantastic really, considering the terrain and the weather.

A modest portion!

Eventually, we started to drop down into the valley with knees creaking with the sharp downward gradient. We passed Robin's take off area for hang gliding at Pentwyn and quickly passed farms and cottages as we aimed for the Pandy Inn. We got to the Inn at 1445 and when I checked the GPS we had done 12.6 miles and been actually walking at just under 4 hours with the rest of the time spent on breaks - quite a pace & thank you Robin! We ordered pints and waited for other walkers to arrive. As soon as the sausage & mash was ready we piled in and then set off, still waiting for others to arrive - we must have been so quick! We checked out, got into the car for another 'Whacky Races' blast by Robin to Cheltenham where we rounded off the day with a quick pint in the Somerset.


The walk is actually in 8 sections of OS maps. I've included the first and last below - if anyone wants the full set, let me know.


An OS view of the walk is below, courtesy of QUO digital mapping/OS: