We've just returned from a week in the Black Mountains in Wales, having rented a converted barn in the wilds of the Usk Valley above Crickhowell.  A lot of the roads are single track, very steep and with few passing places, offering some serious challenges to both man and machine.  The walks and scenery, however, are breathtaking.  The climb to Table Mountain was, for us unfit types, as challenging as we could undertake but the reward at the top was some great views, chilled air and sharing the skies with a couple of fighter jets.  Considering all this is just three hours from where we live, we came away very impressed and determined to return.

I took very few photos, but here is a representation of where we were.  You really had to be there!

Mon-Brec Canal, bridge number 118.  This is a little known, high level canal of great beauty



Sheep trail, somewhere in the Usk Valley



Big tree, Mon-Brec canal



Usk Valley, precarious trail up to the quarries and caverns



The easy part of the trail to Table Mountain (there was a long, long, way left to go)



At the top of Table Mountain



Poppit Sands beach near Cardigan



At our cottage right in the Usk Valley, a few miles from Crickhowell



Our heroic little car