GPS Cycle and Walking Routescycle iconwalk icon

Pen Cerrig Calch Walk

5.5 miles (8.8 km)

Ordnance Survey Map Open Streetmap This walk climbs to Pen Cerrig Calch from the town of Crickhowell in the Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The hill is a subsidiary summit of Waun Fach which lies a few miles to the north.
The walk follows a section of the long distance Cambrian Way from the pretty riverside town to the summit.
Start the walk in Crickhowell and follow the waymarked trail north east towards Table Mountain. Here you will find some interesting geology and the fortification of Crug Hywel, a presumed Iron Age hillfort.
You continue north to the Pen Cerrig Calch summit which stands at a height of 701 metres. From here you can enjoy some wonderful views over the surrounding mountains of the Brecon Beacons including Sugar Loaf and Blorenge. There's also more interesting geology with limestone rock formations to see.

Pen Cerrig Calch OS Map Ordnance survey map - Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking

Pen Cerrig Calch Open Street Map Open Streetmap - Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking

Photos

Table Mountain - geograph.org.uk - 820885

Table Mountain

Part of Pen Cerrig Calch from Crug Hywel - geograph.org.uk - 2480459

Part of Pen Cerrig Calch from Crug Hywel

Footpath through the entrance to Crug Hywel hillfort - geograph.org.uk - 2480450

Footpath through the entrance to Crug Hywel hillfort

From Trwyn Ysgwrfa towards Crug Hywel - geograph.org.uk - 369369

From Trwyn Ysgwrfa towards Crug Hywel. The path descending Pen Cerrig-calch drops away at this point as the tough quartzite which forms much of the upper part of the hill gives way to the softer 'Brownstones' - sandstones and mudstones. There is evidence of quarrying having taken place here in the past.

Pen Cerrig-calch Trig - geograph.org.uk - 3364000

Pen Cerrig-calch Trig

Cerrig Calch - geograph.org.uk - 222150

 Some of the "cerrig calch" (lime stone) that gives Pen Cerrig Calch its name. The whole top is scattered in lumps of this bright white rock of all sizes. Pen Cerrig Calch is the southern end of the western Black Mountains ridge. Sugar Loaf and Blorenge are in the background. The summit and the ridge linking it with Pen Allt Mawr pretty much fills this square. The vegetation is scrubby grassland interspersed with those rocks. It's a lot drier ground than most of the Black Mountains.

Video

GPS Files

GPX File

Pen Cerrig Calch.gpx (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold>Download Linked File)