Backpacker's Britain – Wales, UK

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Further Reading

The mountains of Britain encompass surely one of the richest, most diverse landscapes to be found anywhere in the world and this great richness that we enjoy throughout the country can be seen mirrored in miniature in Wales. Only in Britain can the hillbound walker leave his home in the city and be among hill and mountain ranges of such wonderful openness and scale within such a short space of time. Indeed most of our major cities are within an hour’s drive of the nearest mountain range or national park. This closeness to our main conurbations has led to the great British ‘weekend away’ among the hills. Some people go in search of rock to climb, birds to watch, rivers to canoe or summits to reach, while many others are happy to pursue all of these activities, and more, to an equal degree. The wild mountains and moorland areas of Wales enjoy more than their fair share of this ‘accessible inaccessibility’.

The major mountain ranges of Wales are all easily reached from the main road systems of England. Snowdon, the Glyderau and Carneddau can all be easily reached from Liverpool or Manchester via the main A55 coast road, while the cwms of the southern ranges – the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains, Fforest Fawr and Mynydd Du all ring to the happy talk of folk from the Midlands, the Welsh Valleys and the south west. Perhaps the only truly inaccessible parts of Wales are those around the Elan Valley Reservoirs near Rhayader, and even these hills can give a simple days expedition if all you want to do is to reach the two mainsummits between breakfast and supper from your home just over the English border.

Many areas are best explored over a period of time, and so the weekend walker will often take a tent and sleeping bag with him on his forays into the wilderness. This is surely the best way of getting to know a particular part of the country. Crossing a range from end to end, or climbing a set of peaks around a desolate valley will introduce the walker to hitherto unknown regions, and where such a trip involves the commitment of an overnight stopover, so much the better. To spend a night in a primitive but comfortable way among our mountains, waking to a dewy dawn of croaking choughs on crags high above your bed, or neighing fell ponies racing around grassy slopes is one of life’s great pleasures, and one that is only open to those with a will to discover these quiet places, and to make an albeit temporary home among our mountains and wild shores.

Of course, there is much to be discovered within the various mountain ranges of Britain, though indeed, some of our coastlines and lesser hill ranges deserve mention in this book too, for they are just as vital a component of our natural heritage as any of our higher but no more grand regions. There is a limitless variety of possible backpacking routes throughout the country, all as good as each other in terms of sense of achievement to be had from a successful trip, and for this reason alone this volume covers only Wales. The first book in this series covered northern England, and others to follow will detail backpacking routes in southern Scotland, northern Scotland, southern England, and Ireland respectively.

Twenty-five of the greatest backpacking routes within the boundaries of Wales are described here, all but two taking only two days to complete, with an overnight stop wild camping or spent either at a bothy, a youth hostel or a campsite. These routes should all be suitable for a weekend away among the hills, and as the other two longer walks take just three days to complete, they too should be achievable for those who enjoyed the two-day walks. Here I feel it necessary to emphasise that although this book contains what are in my opinion the very best backpacking walks in the region covered, there is endless scope for further exploration. This guide should be seen only as an introduction, an aperitif perhaps, for other longer routes that can be planned and tackled by those who have gained experience through following the routes described here.

This book is laid out along simple lines. Each chapter covers one route, and begins with a fact file and walk summary. These give details of where to start the walk, the number of days needed to complete it, the distance of each day’s walk, and where to stay overnight. This latter note will help you decide whether to carry equipment for camping, youth hostelling, bothying, or staying in a bunk barn. The Ordnance Survey maps needed along the way, and a brief area summary are given at the beginning of each walk description.

The sketch maps are intended to be used only as such – it is strongly advised that the relevant OS map is used during the walk, and that steps are taken beforehand to learn the complexities of navigation. Many useful books have been published which can help with this, and navigation courses are regularly organised by the author (see Appendix 2 for the address). Descriptive text is given in green type to distinguish it from the route directions, and place names from the sketch maps are highlighted in bold type to aid orientation.