Backpacker's Britain – Wales
Backpacker's Britain: Wales
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12 – Exploring the Ridges around the Tanat Valley
Total Distance: 53km
Daily Distances: 1) 30km 2) 23km
Maps: OS Landranger, sheet 125 Bala and Lake Vyrnwy, Berwyn
Starting Point: The charming little village of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant is a great place from which to walk. Start here in the village square (grid ref. SJ 124 261).
Transport: There is no public transport to the start of this route.
Accommodation and supplies: There are good B&Bs in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. Try Rose Cottage (tel 01691 780398) or Plas-y-Llan (tel 01691 780236). There are shops here, from which you can buy limited supplies, and also a couple of good pubs.
Overnight Options: Try the Bryntirion Inn (tel 01678 530205) just outside Llandderfel, or camp at Bryn Melyn just down the road to the east.
Area Summary: The western Berwyns, or Hirnants as they are invariably known nowadays, are among the hardest hills to walk in Wales. Here we scratch the surface by taking a long approach up to one of the remotest summits in the entire group, Cyrniau Nod. The Tanat valley cuts deep into the range and has the B4391 running along its length and over the hills themselves towards Bala.
Walk Summary: A surprisingly difficult walk over very tough ground. The going is mainly through thigh-deep heather throughout, much of it pathless, other than a few sections of road walking along quiet lanes. Although over moorland rather than mountain terrain, this is not a walk to be underestimated. I personally think it is possibly the toughest walk in this book, but then I have had a long association with these hills and have time and time again vowed never to go back. You have been warned! That said, I do keep going back, for here you’ll find a solitude and beauty not easily witnessed elsewhere in Wales, and for those seeking a challenge of a different kind, there’s no better place. The route leaves the lonely valley of the River Tanat and makes a gentle way onto the hills to the west, turning north from Cyrniau Nod towards the River Dee. Day Two is slightly easier and more often trod, taking you over the summit of Post Gwyn and back into the Tanat after yet more deep heather.
Day One: The Wilds of the Hirnants
Start the walk by heading west from Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant on the road to Penybontfawr. This takes you up past the chapel and climbs gently for just over 2km to the farm at Plas-Du. A lane opposite the farm should then be taken heading north-west to another little chapel on the left. Just beyond this point take the next left at the junction and follow the lane through to Mochnant. Continue along this heading north-westwards to a public footpath that leads through a delightful wood, over a stream and on to the farm at Llwyn Onn. The path goes on the uphill side of the farm, passing beneath another fine deciduous wood, then via the farm at Ochr-glan-hafon to a narrow lane at Tai-uchaf. Turn right along the lane and walk down this into the little village of Llangynog.
Throughout this part of the walk you have been keeping to north bank of the Afon Tanat, a fine river where you can see dippers, grey wagtails and even the illusive otter. Buzzards can be seen circling above while peregrine falcon may be nesting on the crags above on Craig Rhiwarth.
Turn left into the village, cross the bridge and take the next left into Cwm Pennant. This is a superb valley, thought by many to be one of the most scenic in the whole of Wales.
Walk along the narrow lane right up into the head of the valley, passing the small community of Pennant Melangell and continuing to the road end where a public bridleway leads up on the right. Take this for 200m, looking for a track on the left that you should follow north-westwards up the side of the hill to a point above the fine waterfalls that fill the head of the valley at Blaen y Cwm.
This track goes westwards, and then turns to the north-west before heading south to cross a little stream. At this point you are about to leave the track altogether and make your way across the rough heathery moorland to the summit of Cyrniau Nod. Take a compass bearing for the summit which is 1½m away. At 666m Cyrniau Nod is the highest summit in the Hirnant range. Its name translates as ‘mark cairns’.
A fence runs close by the summit and you should follow this north-west for 700m to a wide bull-dozed track. Turn right here and follow it to a big bend to the west. Just north of this a post marks the top of a little knoll. Walk over to this then on over very deep, pathless heather to the Bwlch y Dwr, a broad, boggy col.
I passed this way during a two-month backpack in 1998 when I climbed all of the 2000 foot summits in Wales in one continuous expedition. It was a very wet and cold day and I traversed all of the Hirnants after a bad night camping wild in the Arans to the west. At one point on this crossing I sat down for a rest in the heather and awoke quite a while later freezing cold and close to hypothermia. These wild hills are not for the faint-hearted.
A vague ridge rises from here to the north-east, leading you eventually to the ling-covered summit dome of Foel Cwm-Sian Llwyd. This, the ‘bare hill of grey Jane’s valley’ is arguably the best summit in the Hirnant range. It gives fine views northwards over towards Foel Goch in the Arenigs. The summit is marked by an OS trig pillar and stands at 648m above sea level.
Walk from the summit north-westwards along a vague and very broad ridge leading over to a group of little knolls at Rhiwaedog-is-afon. You will see the dense forests of Cwm Hirnant to your left as you walk. Continuing over the tops of Rhiwaedog-is-afon the way leads down to Bwlch-y-fenni where a good track passes over the col. Turn right here and follow the track just east of north down to Ty Cerrig on the B4391. Turn right on the road, crossing a bridge on a sharp bend left and continuing to a sharp right after 500m. Here a public footpath leads downhill to join the B4402. Turn right along this road and you will find yourself coming to the bridge just outside Llandderfel where you will be spending the night.
Day Two: Post Gwyn and Glan-hafon
Start the day by turning back along the B4402 then immediately left up a steep little lane past Caecynddelw. Follow this up to a junction with the B4391 by a conifer plantation. Turn left again along the B road until the plantation on the left ends. Here a public bridleway heads east over the moor to a broad col between the small hills of Rhanneg and Carnedd Wen. Follow the path to the col, then straight over to the gurgling Afon Dinam. Cross this and make for the woods to the east, following the bridleway through around a long spur and down into Cwm Pennant. Turn right along the minor road that leads up the cwm and follow it to its end at Blaen-y-cwm. The route continues as a track leading up along the eastern side of the Nant Sgrin and out onto the open moorland below spot height 434m. Stay on the track until you get to the main road at the Milltir Gerrig.
The rough flanks of Post Gwyn lead away to the south-east from the road, but the way starts as a fairly good track making towards the distant ridge of the Berwyns. Follow the track for 2km, and then branch off to the right over open moorland to gain the ridge of Post Gwyn. Here the going is very difficult through thigh-deep heather, cotton grass bogs, and mossy mires. Post Gwyn has two summits and you should aim to the north side of the first one, and then make directly for the second which is the higher of the two. Post Gwyn translates as ‘white pillar’, which is odd given the very brown, heathery nature of its slopes. The summit is marked by a small cairn atop a grassy mound at 665m.
Continue along the ridge from the summit towards the distant hillside of Y Clogydd where the going gets a little easier underfoot, then down to a col where tracks pass over from Llangynog to the west into the Afon Rhaeadr to the east. Ignore these and keep to the heights to the summit of Glan-hafon, marked by a trig pillar at 607m.
The route continues eastwards towards a junction of tracks and from here you should take the one going eastwards down to Cefn-coch, turning right in the hamlet, passing the telephone box, the turning left at the T-junction. This lane will take you easily downhill back to Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.
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