Crickhowell to Table Mountain

A short but steep walk up the mountain to admire the views from the hillfort which crowns it.

Get your pulse pounding as you walk through some wonderful countryside, the breathtaking views from the top make the climb worthwhile. This walk offers a short, sharp ascent of 380m to the flat topped Table Mountain above Crickhowell, named after the Iron Age hillfort called Crug Hywel – Hywel’s fort in English. A popular town in the Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons National Park.

This is a grade 4 route: Routes with narrow sections, steep gradients or muddy and stony surfaces. Gates are narrow or there are stiles. There are no seats.

Of interest

From Crickhowell, Table Mountain looks as if it slopes at a slightly tipsy angle but from the top you’ll be able to look back at the stylish town on the site of an ancient crossing point over the River Usk.

After following a tree lined path up beside Cumbeth Brook you will emerge onto open hillside. The town will be a distant memory as you make your way along the mountain wall to the back of the hillfort which crowns the mountain. It is this Iron Age hillfort called Crug Hywel – Hywel’s fort in English – which gives the town below its name. Once you arrive you’ll see extensive remains of this ancient stronghold in the form of ditches and ruined stone defences. Beneath you stretches the broad-bottomed Usk Valley whose far side rises towards Mynydd Llangatwg and beyond to the industrial valleys of South Wales. Meanwhile the brooding Mynedd Du/Black Mountains loom over your shoulder o the north.