The Three Peaks
3:52pm, 31st Mar 2025 | South Wales Three Peaks Trial Gold 20m | 14 Comments
Blog by ♪♫ Synge ♪♫
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Well, not the British Three Peaks (blog loses ten readers here), not even the Yorkshire Three Peaks (five more peel off here), but the South Wales Three Peaks. If you want to be pedantic at this point, you could legitimately call this the Abergavenny Three Peaks, but I am going with the event name, which is the South Wales Three Peaks Trial.
By the time you finish this, you know that you have climbed three peaks. No namby pamby Lake District ridges, this is up and down, up and down, up and down. Here's the elevation chart:
This is a popular event which is staged each year by Cardiff Outdoor Group and supported and marshalled by Longtown Mountain Rescue Team (spare a thought for Hanneke here; Longtown is where she lived). I came across the event while browsing LDWA lists and it fitted perfectly into a gap in the calendar. This would be a proper hike with no running planned. Dr S would participate - what better way for her to spend her birthday weekend? - and we would also be joined by younger daughter, keen to accumulate some miles before we return to The Lap in May.
There are a number of different route options. We go for Gold, which involves visiting all three summits in the course of a 20-mile circuit, but there are also Silver (Blorenge and Sugar Loaf only) and Bronze (just Sugar Loaf) routes on offer, along with a Platinum variation which involves being bussed to Llanthony Priory somewhere on the other side of Offa's Dyke and walking back.
There is a rolling start and we see some walkers and runners passing by on their way out of the town while we are still sitting at breakfast in the pub where we are staying. We head to race HQ and meet up with our daughter who has driven across from Bristol. A quick flurry of distributing required kit between our packs and we go to register and to receive wristbands which contain our timing chips. (They may be trackers too, I don't know?) Abergavenny is a small town and we are soon crossing the River Usk on our way to the foot of Blorenge. Into a tunnel we go - this feels a bit like the Fellowship of the Ring entering the Mines of Moria - but in fact it is quite short and enables us to get to the other side of the A465 in safety.
This is the toughest climb of the day. It has a Fetch gradient of 17.7% and provides us with over 500 metres of ascent.
We climb across the closely-spaced contours and reach a transmitter hut, from where there is a short gentle ascent on to the trig point. Members of the Longtown MRT are there at the checkpoint ready to scan our chips and we start the descent to Govilon.
As we drop, I listen to a couple behind me, trying to identify the language they are speaking, which sounds rather eastern European or possibly even Russian. I decide to ask them. They tell me they are from North Wales and that they are speaking Welsh! Oh! Then they admit that it isn't. I think they say it is Dutch. Oh, I say, feeling surprised that I didn't recognise it. We chat about the event and the route. They tell me that there is a pub, The Crown, between the second and third summits where many people stop for a pint. (I knew about this already, as one of the bar staff where were are staying told me that he had set out to do the Gold last year, but that he stopped at The Crown for three pints and walked no further.)
Later, I say to Dr S and to younger daughter that I was surprised to hear that they were speaking Dutch, as it really did not sound like Dutch. I wonder whether they might have been speaking a different language, but maybe hadn't wanted to admit to being Belorussian/Russian/Ukrainian/insert-your-own-idea-here in order to avoid political chat on a nice day out. My theory is shot down fairly quickly, though; Dr S says that she also heard them say "Dutch", but younger daughter corrects us both and tells me that they said "Polish"! That is odd, but at least it clears up my confusion!
We reach Govilon and it is time for first lunch on a memorial bench in the village centre. There are some flat miles here, including along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, and soon we can see Sugar Loaf ahead.
This ascent is also over 500m, but Fetch calculates it as an easy 12.8% gradient this time. There are walkers all over the place, as the Silver and Bronze routes join and leave us again. This event has no "official" route and participants can follow whatever course they choose as long as they visit each of the six checkpoints (three of which are on the respective summits). There is another posse of Longtown MRT members here to check us in.
There is a cold wind, but the rain which we anticipated when looking at midweek forecasts seems to be holding off. We drop to The Crown and it seems impolite not to take part in the ritual of a quick pint while we are there. So we do.
Now for Skirrid Fawr. This really does rise from the flat farmland, but we are going to climb it from the northern end along the length of the summit ridge, and a gradually rising minor road takes us some of the way up. The last few hundred metres really are steep and Fetch gives the 300m ascent a 13.6% gradient.
Once we reach the top, we feel as if we are nearly at the finish, but we still have four miles to go. No more ascent and we come off the southern end of the ridge and work our way past campsites and golf courses back to the town.
We finish in a fraction over eight hours and maintaining 2.5mph feels quite respectable given that amount of ascent.
This is a very well organised challenge event and evidently popular locally; nearly everyone we spoke to on the Friday asked whether we were in town for the Three Peaks and there were lots of mixed-age family groups on Sugar Loaf in particular. Quite a few runners too judging by the results, although we seem to have started later than most of them, as only a couple came past us all day. Verdict: we probably won't do it again, but I'll give it a strong recommendation. (Hmm, I see that Longtown MRT stage a "Big Black Mountains Challenge" ... but it is already full for 2025.)
By the time you finish this, you know that you have climbed three peaks. No namby pamby Lake District ridges, this is up and down, up and down, up and down. Here's the elevation chart:
This is a popular event which is staged each year by Cardiff Outdoor Group and supported and marshalled by Longtown Mountain Rescue Team (spare a thought for Hanneke here; Longtown is where she lived). I came across the event while browsing LDWA lists and it fitted perfectly into a gap in the calendar. This would be a proper hike with no running planned. Dr S would participate - what better way for her to spend her birthday weekend? - and we would also be joined by younger daughter, keen to accumulate some miles before we return to The Lap in May.
There are a number of different route options. We go for Gold, which involves visiting all three summits in the course of a 20-mile circuit, but there are also Silver (Blorenge and Sugar Loaf only) and Bronze (just Sugar Loaf) routes on offer, along with a Platinum variation which involves being bussed to Llanthony Priory somewhere on the other side of Offa's Dyke and walking back.
There is a rolling start and we see some walkers and runners passing by on their way out of the town while we are still sitting at breakfast in the pub where we are staying. We head to race HQ and meet up with our daughter who has driven across from Bristol. A quick flurry of distributing required kit between our packs and we go to register and to receive wristbands which contain our timing chips. (They may be trackers too, I don't know?) Abergavenny is a small town and we are soon crossing the River Usk on our way to the foot of Blorenge. Into a tunnel we go - this feels a bit like the Fellowship of the Ring entering the Mines of Moria - but in fact it is quite short and enables us to get to the other side of the A465 in safety.
This is the toughest climb of the day. It has a Fetch gradient of 17.7% and provides us with over 500 metres of ascent.
We climb across the closely-spaced contours and reach a transmitter hut, from where there is a short gentle ascent on to the trig point. Members of the Longtown MRT are there at the checkpoint ready to scan our chips and we start the descent to Govilon.
As we drop, I listen to a couple behind me, trying to identify the language they are speaking, which sounds rather eastern European or possibly even Russian. I decide to ask them. They tell me they are from North Wales and that they are speaking Welsh! Oh! Then they admit that it isn't. I think they say it is Dutch. Oh, I say, feeling surprised that I didn't recognise it. We chat about the event and the route. They tell me that there is a pub, The Crown, between the second and third summits where many people stop for a pint. (I knew about this already, as one of the bar staff where were are staying told me that he had set out to do the Gold last year, but that he stopped at The Crown for three pints and walked no further.)
Later, I say to Dr S and to younger daughter that I was surprised to hear that they were speaking Dutch, as it really did not sound like Dutch. I wonder whether they might have been speaking a different language, but maybe hadn't wanted to admit to being Belorussian/Russian/Ukrainian/insert-your-own-idea-here in order to avoid political chat on a nice day out. My theory is shot down fairly quickly, though; Dr S says that she also heard them say "Dutch", but younger daughter corrects us both and tells me that they said "Polish"! That is odd, but at least it clears up my confusion!
We reach Govilon and it is time for first lunch on a memorial bench in the village centre. There are some flat miles here, including along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, and soon we can see Sugar Loaf ahead.
This ascent is also over 500m, but Fetch calculates it as an easy 12.8% gradient this time. There are walkers all over the place, as the Silver and Bronze routes join and leave us again. This event has no "official" route and participants can follow whatever course they choose as long as they visit each of the six checkpoints (three of which are on the respective summits). There is another posse of Longtown MRT members here to check us in.
There is a cold wind, but the rain which we anticipated when looking at midweek forecasts seems to be holding off. We drop to The Crown and it seems impolite not to take part in the ritual of a quick pint while we are there. So we do.
Now for Skirrid Fawr. This really does rise from the flat farmland, but we are going to climb it from the northern end along the length of the summit ridge, and a gradually rising minor road takes us some of the way up. The last few hundred metres really are steep and Fetch gives the 300m ascent a 13.6% gradient.
Once we reach the top, we feel as if we are nearly at the finish, but we still have four miles to go. No more ascent and we come off the southern end of the ridge and work our way past campsites and golf courses back to the town.
We finish in a fraction over eight hours and maintaining 2.5mph feels quite respectable given that amount of ascent.
This is a very well organised challenge event and evidently popular locally; nearly everyone we spoke to on the Friday asked whether we were in town for the Three Peaks and there were lots of mixed-age family groups on Sugar Loaf in particular. Quite a few runners too judging by the results, although we seem to have started later than most of them, as only a couple came past us all day. Verdict: we probably won't do it again, but I'll give it a strong recommendation. (Hmm, I see that Longtown MRT stage a "Big Black Mountains Challenge" ... but it is already full for 2025.)
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♪♫ Synge ♪♫
PBs are a thing of the past.51 marathons completed (and 13 ultras and 4 LDWA challenge walks of over 26 miles). PB of 3:12:58. Love Berlin, dislike London.
70% WAVA is an occasional thing and still much desired.
South Devon is better for trail running than road running.
Standards (before the 2020 devaluation):
2025 Bluefish Tuna (63)
2024 Wahoo (68)
2023 Tunny (66)
2022 Wahoo (68)
2021 Quarter Horse (67)
2020 Cape Hunting Dog (64)
2019 Quarter Horse (67)
2018 Springbok (69)
2017 Wahoo (68)
2016 LION (72)
2015 THOMSON'S GAZELLE (71)
2014 Quarter Horse (67)
2013 Wahoo (68)
2012 Springbok (69)
2011 Springbok (69)
2010 Wahoo (68)
2009 Springbok (69)
2008 Swordfish (57)
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