8 June 2022 Caephilly castle, Sugarloaf mountain in Usk Valley and the Old Rectory Country Hotel in Crickhowell

From Cardiff Innkeeper, we moved northwards to the Black Mountains. 

Since the hotel check in is  3pm, the great plan is to do the Caerphilly castle and then a walk up to  Sugarloaf (Abergavenny). 

Thereafter, we will loop to the Old Rectory in the Black Mountains. The objective of the day : to set up shop and capture the Milky Way if that is possible.

Here's the great plan:

There is only a niggling worry that the single lane Pentre Farm Road to and from the National Trust spot in Usk Valley will pose a problem.

The night before, I tweaked the plan a little. I made a pit stop at Morissons, Caerphilly just before heading out to  Sugarloaf.

Caerphilly castle visit was abandoned, though we had a great breakfast at Morissons Caerphilly. We did a little walk about town before resuming our drive to Sugarloaf.

My worries came true. The narrow Pentre Farm Rd was a hassle and we had to reverse to make way for bigger vehicles to pass, both on the way up and down.

But eventually we got to the day's highlight : We parked at the Usk Valley carpark, rolled up our socks and walk we did! The trail wasn't busy but enough for us to follow the hikers before us without consulting Maps.me

The 1st part was easy but the last part was lung bursting. I almost tripped and almost smashed my hand to break the fall on a bunch of horse dung. Huff and puffing for a good 30 minutes, we touched the summit. It was grey with rain clouds and wind was whipping our hair left,right and center.

Descent was easier by another way but still it took some time to get down. We took in the scenery at the carpark and were reluctant to leave the scenic spot.

Another nerve wrecking descent to A40 later,  we did a short break at Beaufort for sandwiches (gf). I had gf sandwich (egg mayo and chives - yum!) and Pat had his first Welsh rarebit.

The Old Rectory hotel was a 5 min drive down the road. The room was nothing I expected, small, old, run down. It was a ripoff. There was this stone cold toilet floor and a towel rack that could not heat up. It also broke the record for having the dirtiest hotel toilet in my entire traveling experience.

Full of grievances, we went for a walk along the nearby canal. Interestingly there were lots of walkers. We exited at bridge 115 in Llangattock for a quick photo. Then we retrace our steps and went back to the hotel via a private path owned by the hotel.

Dinner was a fancy affair of lamb and pork belly for Pat in the conservatory. Food was great, service so-so but the view of the mountains made everything a bit better.

We waited for the Milky Way that never came because the sky was overcast and total sunset did not happen until past midnight. Too cold, too tired, we gave up on the stars that night.