The ‘Abergavenny 3 Peaks’ are a group of stunning mountains, which includes the Blorenge, the Sugar Loaf and the Skirrid, all in close proximity to the town centre, which makes it a brilliant 3 peak circular challenge, and made I’d say 3 times harder when done in the winter.
We started out at 7am, all 10 of us, meeting in the Bailey Park car park opposite Morrisons, paid for the pay and display and made our way through the town to the Blorenge via these streets:
- King Street
- right onto Lion Street
- short walk along Frogmore Street
- along Neville Street
- then walk-through Lind Vista Gardens, and head towards the main road that crosses the River Usk
- just after crossing the bridge, cross the road go through the lane on the opposite side of the road
- stay on the path and after a while turn left and head towards the ‘Heads of the Valleys Rd’
- cross the road, walk through the park
- the last road to cross is the B4246
- then when you’re ready cross the road and head up the Blorenge via the canal bridge and up you go
In the rain this is a very tough climb, there is mud everywhere, its gloomy and very, very slippery, and so many ways to create your own path but we set off to the left along to the ‘punch bowl’ pond. Walk to the left of that and then follow the path up and around to the peak of the Blorenge. I’ve said it before but in bad weather please be careful, you are very isolated, and there rocks everywhere and its very boggy and the wind really does whip up at the top.
Then around the mountain and down to the bottom and back along part of the route you came to the Blorenge on, but this time when you get to the River Usk, head along the A4143, cross over at the roundabout, walk up ‘Mount Street’, right at ‘Orchard Street’ and then left onto ‘Chapel Road’ and off you go up to the ‘Sugar Loaf’, again pick a circular route and around and again head back to the bottom of the lane where you started your walk up to the ‘Sugar Loaf’.
The next stage is to head over to the Skirrid mountain, this is a very long road walk, and in the winter its best to stick to the roads as walking that far through farm land will not be a good idea, and it’s now starting to get dark, so again make sure you have your head lamp handy and always eat as much as you can on your journey, fatigue will start to set in now and its cold and wet and the thought of jumping in the car at this point is massive, but keep going, and complete the challenge.
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This is the way I took to the bottom of the Skirrid.
- Walk along ‘Avenue Road’, a lovely road with some very nice houses
- Walk left along ‘Park Cr’, heading towards ‘Hereford Rd’
- Cross that main road and look out for a right turn along the ‘B4521’
- This is a long slog especially after the last 2 mountains, but keep going and it it’s also known as ‘Ross Rd’ then onto ‘Old Ross Rd’
- Eventually a car park appears on your left for the ‘Skirrid’, try and take the left before that if you know it
- You are now on the lane up to the ‘Skirrid’, it’s going to be very dark, very slippery and very muddy and cold
Please be careful at this point, it can be very dangerous in the dark, so take your time. So, then it’s an up and down and you’ve then completed the 3 peaks.
Then another long walk back to the main car park where you are parked, and by this time I can’t speak I’m so tired, cold and wet and believe me it’s a slog and not to be taken lightly in the winter.
Stats:
Approx. 24 miles
Time taken around 12 hours
Total Elevation approx. 5000ft
