All walks › Tywi Valley and Carmarthen
Tywi Valley and CarmarthenThe Tywi Forest at Ystradffin
Forest tracks above the upper Tywi below Llyn Brianne, in country where the red kite survived when it was gone everywhere else.
- Distance
- 4.3 mi / 7 km
- Time
- 2 hr 35
- Ascent
- 280 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- 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
Head up from the valley into the forest and loop back to the river. Steady climbing on good surfaces.
Worth knowing
- Twm Sion Cati’s cave is on the RSPB reserve just downstream and is a scramble to reach.
- Red kites, buzzards and ravens are all common overhead.
- The road up the valley is long and single track.
What you’ll see
Conifer forest and regenerating broadleaf, the upper Tywi, and raptors overhead.
Background
These valleys held the last British red kites through the twentieth century, protected by one of the longest-running conservation efforts anywhere.