Thu 15 July, Pontypool to Abergavenny

I left Ty Scon Jacob at 9:30am and found a quiet path down to town, via a reputed Old Roman Road and a short path through the forest. I the went up a very quiet country lane to meet up with Tony Drake's route a few hundred yards past the folly. A bit tricky finding the route across a river, behind a farm but after that it was simple contour walking just to the east of the ridge. I had extensive views, and it was quite windy, but at least the morning rain had cleared. I lost the track about a mile or two from the road and it was very hard going underfoot until I picked it up again. I stopped to rest at the road crossing and met up with 4 men out walking for the day. After moving off, one of them, a fellow Yorkhireman, came back to tell me that I should turn off the road onto the path at a small horse trough. That was very useful information and I had a long, if uneventful climb, up to Blorenge. The first part of the descent to Abergavenny was well marked. Then I followed a long tricky descent through high bracken before I eventually found the path which leads down to a tunnel under the canal. Walking down Blorenge was harder than walking up!