The Sugar Loaf Walk is one of the best places to watch the sunrise or sunset near Abergavenny. The panoramic views are spectacular, yet it takes less than 45 minutes to reach the top. At 596m high, it’s just a smidge below the 600m requirement for it to be classed as a mountain, but the views hold their own with the bigger peaks.
There are a couple of different options to get to the top, but in this guide we’re focussing on the quickest, easiest route, which works best if you want to hike up or down the trail in the dark.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Sugar Loaf Walk.
The easiest route up the Sugar Loaf
Distance: 3.4 miles (5.4km return)
Elevation gain: 260m
Difficulty: Easy - moderate
The walk to the top of the Sugar Loaf is on a well maintained track for the most part. However, it does get rougher as you near the top.
The last quarter of the walk has some rocky track and steep grassy sections, with no clear trail. When dry, the route on the ascent is not slippery, but there is one slippery section on the descent - which we’ll detail in the notes below.
Starting the trail
We started the trail at the National Trust Car Park for the Sugar Loaf, the closest car park to the peak. As with many of the walks in the area, the trail is not signposted, but you can’t really go wrong.
From very early on, you’ll see the Sugar Loaf and all the possible walking trails that take you to the top. Most tracks run parallel to each other and there aren’t really any surprises.
The first 500m are along a grassy track, which heads very gently uphill. So gently, that it pretty much feels flat, so it’s a leisurely start to the walk.
The views are already pretty good - even the view from the car park is lovely, but it doesn’t compare to the top, so it’s still very much worth doing.
You’ll pass plenty of sheep and depending on the time of day, plenty of walkers too. At sunset we hiked alone, but normally it’s a busy walk.
Starting the climb
We made our first turn at the 500m mark heading right and then left 50m later. We chose to head up the path that approached from the south west (or the left ridge of the Sugar Loaf as you look at it from the trail). You can choose to take any of the paths, but this route looked direct, but not overly steep.
After another 400m (900m into the walk), you’re on the path that you can see takes you all the way to the top.
There’s another 300m of virtually flat track before the climb begins.
It’s still a grassy path for a while, but once you get to the 1.6km mark it heads uphill much more steeply and the terrain changes a little.
There are some rocky patches and also sections where there are almost footholds cut into the mud from years of use. In the dry it was very grippy, but I could imagine when wet and churned it could become a little slippery.
Roughly 450m later the ‘track’ (because now you are really just choosing your own path) gets even steeper. As we climbed we noticed a path on the right which was more gradual and also less eroded.
It’s a narrow path on the side of the hill but it didn’t feel precarious in any way. The views get better and better and I couldn’t stop looking behind me where several light rays cast a gorgeous light over the distant mountains.
Reaching the top
Approximately 600m after the path has significantly steepened you’ll reach the top. There’s a stone marker and a whole lot of summit to explore.
The views are fabulous in every direction, taking in the Brecon Beacons, the rolling hills of South Wales and beyond to the West Midlands in England.
As you walk past the marker you’ll see a collection of precarious looking rocks. The closer you get you’ll see they’re not actually as precarious as they look and they’re easy to climb (when dry).
It’s the perfect place to watch the sunset which happens directly in front of the rocks.
The only downside to this spot is that it’s incredibly windy.
In the end, it was so ferocious that we had to walk back a little earlier than planned. If you luck out with a day where the winds are low, you are going to be in for a real treat!
It would also make a great spot for stargazing; although, unless it’s unseasonably warm we’d recommend heading up in the night time, rather than waiting around after sunset.
It takes a while to get dark enough to see the majority of stars and it’s very exposed to the elements.
Heading down
To get back, you can head down the same path, or you can take a slightly different route to change it up a little. We took a different path heading downhill on the south eastern side of the Sugar Loaf.
To be honest, I think I’d recommend just going back the same way, as the path on the south western side is in better condition for descending.
The south eastern path isn’t awful, but it does have one fairly long rubbly section with loose soil which is quite slippery.
I would use the other route next time. The views are very similar, so you don’t really gain anything by taking the rubbly track.
On either route you’ll probably want to do that initial 600m in the twilight, if you don’t like descending on unmaintained trails.
All the rest is very easy and doable in the dark. It doesn’t take long to reach the flat path again, and it’s a relaxing finish to the walk.
Getting to the The Sugar Loaf
Getting to the National Trust car park for the Sugar Loaf involves negotiating a very narrow stretch of road for roughly two miles. It’s perfectly fine if you don’t meet anyone head on, but if you do, passing can be very tricky and even a little hairy.
It’s another reason we’d recommend doing this walk when it’s less busy - ie avoiding the middle of the day, especially on a sunny day which happens to be on a weekend, or in the school holidays.
We’d got quite used to driving these narrow roads having just come from Dartmoor, but even then we were very grateful to have gone when the roads were quiet!
The car park is located just three miles outside the town of Abergavenny and it’s free to use and has no time limit.
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