Cambrian Way: the Cambrian Mountains

Friday 16th and Saturday 17th August 2024

At the end of the day before this walk I had arrived at the most remote hostel in Wales, Ty’n Cornel, soaked to the skin, which reveals that my waterproofs were clearly not good enough in heavy, prolonged rain. Fortunately I received a warm welcome at the Elenydd Wilderness Hostel and enjoyed a lovely evening with a fabulous group of people and in the morning my clothes were a lot drier. On stage ten of the Cambrian Way I set off from the Ty’n Cornel Hostel initially on the access track soon emerging out of the mist that lingered around the hostel to good weather and brakes in the cloud. When the track crossed the river I turned north along wet, faint paths that improved as I reached the top of a low ridge, Esgair Wynt, with a vast wilderness to my right and Cwm Berwyn Plantation to my left. The boggy ground continued in the gap before climbing back up to Esgair Cerrig where I enjoyed the feeling of being remote from civilisation until the isolated farm of Nantymaen was revealed on the other side of the hill with a road running across the valley of the stream Camddwr. After negotiating the bogs on the descent, I followed the farmer’s track towards the farm buildings before taking a diversionary route around and onto a phenomenally boggy path that meandered across the slopes of the shallow valley. Even though the sun was shining this was proving to be a very wet day as I toiled through the waterlogged ground, but fortunately, unlike the day before, it was now only my feet that was getting wet.

My trial continued as I moved away from the Camddwr and past the marsh of Talwrn where I could see a steep sided valley ahead of me, which the Groes Fawr flows through, a tributary of the Afon Teifi, but after a moment’s confusion I realised that my way doesn’t lie through there and instead I turned north again to head uphill and up to the top of Garn Gron where I had extensive views in all directions. This was such an amazing vantage point I stopped beside the summit to have my lunch and linger over the view. Far to the south I could see the silhouette of the Bannau Brycheiniog where I had been earlier in the week, but it was the views to the north that were the most mesmerising for me and extended all the way to Eryri, Snowdonia. I was in between those National Parks in a sparsely populated area of Wales that has been cruelly ignored by everyone. This range of hills is known as the Cambrian Mountains, or in Welsh the Elenydd, and I was standing in the middle of them with a view across the entire area. I have hardly done any walking here before, with a just fleeting visit to the Elan Valley in 2019 and an ascent of Plynlimon, the highest point in the Cambrian Mountains, in 2006, which I could see now in the far distance and would be crossed in a couple of days. It was wonderful to see my onward progress mapped out before me as I relished being at the top of a hill with extensive views all around.

After the disappointments and saturation of the day before, it was fabulous to have good weather again and I enjoyed this as I slowly meandered down the northern slopes trying to find my route despite having no paths to follow. Eventually I found my way into a conifer plantation where I negotiated my way along a network of paths and forestry tracks that were sometimes blocked by bracken, fallen tree branches or bogs until I finally emerged from the wood taking a delightful little path beside a stream that led me to Strata Florida where there are the ruins of an abbey. I didn’t want to linger amongst this sudden intrusion of civilisation, so I rushed past on an extended stretch of road walking until I eventually turned off onto a well-made path that climbs beside Nant Egnant through a picturesque landscape of crags and heather that took me past the signpost that marks the halfway point of the Cambrian Way. Eventually I reached Llyn Egnant and a tarmacked road that led me through the group of lakes and reservoirs that make up the Teifi Pools and to the point in the middle of nowhere where stage ten of the Cambrian Way technically ends. In practice, the stage ends at Claerddu Bothy which is not far away along a rough track nestled amongst the hills and looks just like any Scottish bothy, except that it has a flushable toilet since it is within the catchment area for the Elan Valley reservoirs. I was reluctant to stay there since it was still quite early and on a Friday evening I expected the place to become busy so I headed off along the trail until I eventually stopped and put up my tent.

The following morning it was cold and misty which obscured my view from the top of Domen Milwyn, so I soon headed downhill and into the valley of Cwm Ystwyth, and climbed up again beside a pretty stream before crossing a horrendously boggy field to reach a conifer plantation just as it started to rain, though this was short-lived. Soon I reached an arch built to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of George III and from there the walk picked up as I took an easy, level track that traversed the hillside with fantastic views into the Mynach Valley while the weather began to clear. I wished more of the Cambrian Way was like this path as far too much of it was boggy. Eventually I descended to Devil’s Bridge and the railway station for the Vale of Rheidol Railway where I caught the train that took me into Aberystwyth and spent the night there. This gave me a chance to relax after the excesses of the last week and also to restock and buy new waterproofs to replace those that had clearly failed to keep me dry on the walk to Ty’n Cornel.

This was also a good time for me to reflect on my walk so far on the Cambrian Way. While I enjoyed being at the top of the hills in good weather, including on Garn Gron where I had extensive views in all directions, a lot of it was exceptionally tiring. It is astonishing that I thought I could do the Cambrian Way as it is very strenuous and much more difficult than anything I had attempted before. August may not be the best time of the year to do the trail as the bracken was overgrown and sometimes blocked or obscured my way. Another problem I was having was due to the large amounts of rain that we have had this year which had left the ground so wet there had been many difficult moments crossing bogs, which wouldn’t have been such a problem if we had enjoyed a dry summer. However, I wasn’t about to give up even though the Cambrian Way wasn’t going get any easier.