Blorenge Circular Walk, from Llanfoist nr. Abergavenny – via the Punchbowl & Keepers Pond

Hike Profile

• Distance: 8m / 13km
• Duration: 4 hours
• Highest point: 1827ft / 556m
• Difficulty: Moderate (steep short climbs), sometimes loose terrain through the woods, and some rocks to navigate.
• Route conditions: Well-worn pathways all the way around, good walking shoes are a must really.

Hike Description & Pics

Let’s get going – If you need help organising this trip, see links below.

My ‘Bannau Brycheiniog Resource Kit‘ at the bottom of this page, will help you organise your travel, trips, food and accommodation when planning your visit to Wales, it’s all there to help you plan, give it a go.

Best place to start is at the ‘Llanfoist Crossing Car Park‘, there is limited car parking and it does get busy, and from there you can set off across the main road and up towards the tunnel underneath the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, which we will walk up and see at the end of the walk, it’s a very special place as you will see.

So, once outside the car park cross the main road and head straight forward up the lane, and on your left you will see ‘Saint Faith Parish Church Llanfoist‘, continue up the lane and you will see the tunnel under the canal. This tunnel is very damp, and so very slippery and is very dark, so please be careful.

Once on the other side, you will see a set of beautiful cottages and a path in front of you heading up through the woods. This part of the walk I think is the hardest bit, it is quite steep and if its wet it can be very muddy and so again very slippery as a lot of water comes down this way when it’s raining.

As you head up there is a large tree to make your way over, and then 4 sets of stiles to go over before you are out of the woods and onto the open land. After the 4th stile, you need to carry on walking up and then on your left the 5th stile will appear and that is the end of that climb. You will then follow that fence path all the way making your way around the mountain to the left.

Along the path the views to your left are beautiful, and in the summer the ferns grow pretty high, so you feel like you’re walking through a passageway, and it’s very peaceful. The paths lead on further until it slowly opens up onto the first lake which is called the ‘Punchbowl‘.

The unusual shape of the Punchbowl was formed by glacial erosion during the last Ice Age. As the ice retreated, it left behind a circular, bowl-like depression called a cwm (the Welsh word for valley). The lake you see today is not a natural feature but was added later by people.

There is evidence of charcoal hearths among the trees, dating back to the site’s history as a working woodland. It’s thought that the beech trees were last pollard around 1900. An old dry stone wall also lies along the western boundary of the site.

To continue the walk, keep the lake on your right, and in the far-left corner a path will appear and that will take you back into the woods, and you will start to gently move up hill, as you follow a brick wall around. You will eventually join a road, only very briefly, before you make a sharp right turn at the edge of the manmade wall, and then the path ahead will take you up to the top of the bowl, where we sat and had some lunch.

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After a little rest and taking in the incredible views, we set off in the direction of the trig point, the highest point of the Blorenge. It can get very windy up here, and if it’s raining it can be quite brutal, so make sure you take some extra layers and a warm hat.

We got the standard trig point pic in, and then pretty much in line with the peak there is a well-worn path, that is leading you in the direction of 2 large ariels sticking up in the distance, this is the way to ‘Keepers Pond’.

On the way there you will see a large brick seat facing back towards the peak, then you walk past the aerials, and follow the road to ‘Keepers Pond‘.

To leave Keepers Pond and continue on with the walk, we crossed over a very little bridge on the other side of the lake, and then followed that path along the side of the mountain for a little while, and a bit into the walk you will see a way marker and a sign that points to turn left and go to Llanfoist.

This walk and what it has to offer hasn’t finished yet, but we need to get to almost the start point to see the next beauty spot, so continue on this path and you will eventually join an old tram road and ahead of you a tunnel will appear on your right, it stands out and looks out of place, but it will re-assure you, you are on the way down.

After a short while you will turn a right bend and then the path will bend left and down and back to the stile you got to after the first climb. You now keep walking down and walk back through the tunnel beneath the canal, and then we can go and take a look at what I was talking about.

Once you have made your way down and have gone through the tunnel, on your left are a set of steps to take up and onto the canal, and at the top you will hopefully see some beautiful barges, and three homes on the canal that are stunning, and I hope the owners don’t mind people looking at them, as you can’t not look and admire them and where they are.

That is an awesome walk, with loads to see, and it’s best to do on a really sunny day as it all seems to come alive, and the beauty is right up there.

To head back to the car, just go back down the steps, follow the lane down and cross the road.

That’s it, you’re all done, back at the car and hopefully the weather has been good, and you have had a great experience.

It is worth downloading this route onto the Outdooractive app, it’ll re-assure you time wise and that you’re not heading in the wrong directions. There is so much space up there and lots of alternative paths you could accidently join.

Hope you enjoy this walk, and I’d love it if you could share this post either with the social media buttons that follow you down the screen on your left, or below in the footer. Also, comments are very welcome, I love meeting new people and talking and you never know we could meet up on one of our walks.

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