All walks › Eryri: Rhinogydd and Harlech
Eryri: Rhinogydd and HarlechRhinog Fawr
Possibly the roughest walking in Wales: heather to the knee, boulders under it, and no paths worth the name. Empty in a way almost nowhere else is.
- Distance
- 5.6 mi / 9 km
- Time
- 5 hr
- Ascent
- 650 m
- Difficulty
- Strenuous
- Shape
- There and back
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
From the Roman Steps at Bwlch Tyddiad, strike south over pathless ground to the summit. Retrace your steps. There is no easy line and route finding is the whole difficulty.
Worth knowing
- Progress here is measured in hours per mile, not miles per hour. Plan accordingly.
- Feral goats are common and are often the only living thing you will see.
- Not a first mountain, and not one to attempt in poor visibility.
What you’ll see
Llyn Du below the summit, a chaos of rock and heather, and the sea beyond Harlech.
Background
The Rhinogydd are Cambrian grit, among the oldest rocks in Wales, and their resistance to erosion is why the ground is so broken.