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The Black Mountains fall within the Brecon Beacons National Park, a dark, brooding wedge of hills running from Abergavenny to Hay-on-Wye, beginning about 15 miles northwest of Monmouth. The long-distance Offa’s Dyke Path trundles across the range, but hiking opportunities are limitless. The main access for campers is the Vale of Ewyas, with its Abergavenny-Hay-on-Wye road bisecting remote countryside below the ridges. Sites are simple and small-scale.
The Brecon Beacons is a national park of four parts. Its eastern area lies west of the Black Mountains, south of Brecon and north of Merthyr Tydfil. It is the park's most-visited area, with the highest peak (the 2,907-foot Pen y Fan) and easy access from the region’s bigger towns, including Monmouth, about 20 miles southeast. Campsites in this rugged expanse are typically in the verdant valleys around the edge.
Being close to major population centres means Monmouth and the Wye Valley AONB’s tourist season extends a little beyond the conventional Easter-September window, with March and October also seeing many visitor facilities open, and weather mild enough to camp out. Sites near Monmouth often open year-round. In the Brecon Beacons National Park, though, sites are shut outside Easter-September. April and May are delightful, uncrowded camping months in the Wye Valley.