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Category: Wales

Cader Idris – The Autonomous Mountain

Cader Idris – The Autonomous Mountain

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Cader Idris is not the name of a single mountain, but of a mountain range, which was once thought to be amongst the highest in Britain, a remarkable assertion considering that its neighbour Aran Fawddwy is taller, although neither even reaches three thousand feet in altitude. The misconception derives from the powerful, independent presence of the Cader Idris massif, rising boldly to monopolise the skyline. The public perception of height and significance led to guides being available from the mid-1700s…

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Black Mountains: The Whales of Wales

Black Mountains: The Whales of Wales

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The Black Mountains comprise the most extensive upland range within the Brecon Beacons National Park, casting broad, grassy ridges projecting like the fingers of an arthritic hand. Collectively, the ridges stretch for fifty miles, with thirty miles of this above the 2,000ft contour.   The culmination of these whale-backed elevations is at Waun Fach, an unpretentious mass amidst the whole, yet second only in altitude to the celebrated twin tops of Pen y Fan and Corn Du. However, unlike those…

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Nantlle Ridge – High Adventure on the western skyline

Nantlle Ridge – High Adventure on the western skyline

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The Nantlle Ridge is frequently recommended as an alternative to Snowdon without the crowds, although this is to undersell an entirely independent massif that warrants recognition, not as a quieter surrogate, but because it is one of the finest standalone ridge walks in Wales. Furthermore, the Nantlle Ridge provides not just the mountain grandeur of its own composition, it is accompanied by commanding views of mighty Snowdon itself, and the walk across its summits is additionally embellished by stunning vistas…

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Preseli Hills – An enigma of blue stones and golden roads

Preseli Hills – An enigma of blue stones and golden roads

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There is something special in the air amidst the Preseli Hills, a pervading atmosphere of antiquity that captures the imagination, elevating this ridge of gently undulating moorland into a quest for adventure. Wherever you wander, there is a sense of an ancient past, from the prodigious quantity of prehistoric remains to the powerful links with Stonehenge, Britain’s most-prized megalithic monument, for it was from here that the inner stones of the henge were sourced, either by man… or nature. As…

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Snowdon – The Monarch of Eryri

Snowdon – The Monarch of Eryri

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Snowdon is majestic in its glacially sculpted profile, exuding undisputed dominance as the fundamental nucleus of the national park that bears its name. The mountain well deserves its plaudits and is all things to all people, a multifaceted giant, friendly in benign conditions to all abilities, yet with a ferocious reserve for those who stray from sound judgement. Snowdon is the most-climbed mountain in Britain with over 600,000 walkers and a further 140,000 attaining the summit by train every year….

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Brecon Beacons – The high life of South Wales

Brecon Beacons – The high life of South Wales

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Pen y Fan is the highest point in South Wales and a mecca for its denizens, with two million people living within an hour’s drive of the national park and seemingly born with the innate desire to stand on its top. The mountain also attracts walkers from far and wide, the National Trust now estimating that half a million people attempt to climb the mountain every year, visitor numbers having doubled in the last five years. The summit may be…

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Clwydian Range – The Welsh Frontier

Clwydian Range – The Welsh Frontier

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On the face of it the Clwydian Hills have a lot going for them. The range extends in an attractive, defined ridge for twenty miles from close to the North Wales coast, running south towards Llantysilio Mountain above Llangollen. The highest point reaches a respectable 1818 feet (554m) and the views possess pleasing variety. It forms part of an AONB, boasts six substantial Iron Age hillforts, colourful heather moorland and a rich diversity of wildlife. The crowning top, Moel Famau,…

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Black Mountain – Beacons for the connoisseur

Black Mountain – Beacons for the connoisseur

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Y Mynydd Du is a landscape to inspire folklore, legends and myths. There is the tragic tale of the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach and temperature inversions forming swirling valley mists are locally purported to be dragon’s breath. You may take this frivolous lore with a pinch of fairy dust, but you will nonetheless be arrested by an undeniably magical atmosphere amidst the sculpted skyline, whose rugged apron plunges precipitously into glacial cirques. Glossing over the fact that a…

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Yr Eifl – Snowdonia’s Miniature Rival

Yr Eifl – Snowdonia’s Miniature Rival

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Commonly called ‘The Rivals’, rather appropriate for this group of three pointy peaks thrusting from the ocean and jostling for attention, the name is merely an anglicised adaptation from the pronunciation rather than a direct translation. In the modern Welsh language, there is no such word as Eifl and it perhaps derived from olden days when it is thought to have described a Trident or Fork, which is certainly an apt physical description. The hills form the highest land on…

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Arenig Fawr – The Belvedere of Snowdonia

Arenig Fawr – The Belvedere of Snowdonia

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Arenig Fawr gains its place on the Worthy list principally through the attractive combination of altitude, isolation and the consequent superiority as a viewpoint. As an ascent, the route via Llyn Arenig Fawr is a rewarding walk and the summit is a fine place to be. Beyond that, the mountain’s other faces are less distinguished, although this quiet, unpretentious slice of Wales definitely deserves to be on your to-do list. Located towards the eastern fringes of the Snowdonia National Park,…

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