All walks › Cardiff and the Vale
Cardiff and the ValeGarth Mountain
The hill that was allegedly measured and found wanting in the film about an Englishman going up a hill and coming down a mountain, with four Bronze Age barrows on top.
- Distance
- 3.1 mi / 5 km
- Time
- 1 hr 50
- Ascent
- 250 m
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Shape
- Circular
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Go up steeply out past the church onto the ridge and along to the summit barrows, returning by the tramroad or the open hillside. Short but steep at the start.
Worth knowing
- The film was loosely inspired by this hill, though the story is fiction and the geography moved.
- The four round barrows on the summit are Bronze Age and clearly visible.
- Cardiff, the Channel and the Bannau are all visible in clear weather, which is remarkable for a modest hill.
What you’ll see
Bronze Age barrows, Cardiff and the Bristol Channel south, the Bannau north.
Background
The barrows are around four thousand years old. The hill was quarried and mined at its lower edges but the summit ridge is undisturbed.