Aran Fawddwy

Breathtaking views, peacefulness and tranquility are what this walk is all about. Much better than climbing nearby Cader Idris with less people, noise and better surroundings. Rather than heading straight up like you do at Cader, this climb ascends along the side of a hill, along the valley for 70% of the climb, giving you great views and making it easier on the legs. Boggy plateau two thirds of the way up isnt easy to negate but once you hit the ridge it is fairly simple to the top. Would make an ideal summer walk as shards of sunlight hitting the sides of the green valley is a sight to be seen, as is the wildlife. I began my walk at the ford near the carpark at Cwm Cywarch which is signposted in the village of Dinas Mawwddy.

(Written by: markyx447)

there is something very special about the aran. it could be the rocky slopes juxtaposed with the grassy hills. it could be the solitude. it could be hidden gems. here's what i think.. i started a mighty traverse from llanymawddwy. there is a path which climbs steeply from behind the chapel903190. this snakes up cwm dyniewyd easily until in front of you a huge waterfall blocks your progress. a path skirts it though on the right hand side (as you look at it), climb this and onto wide open moorland... follow the stream as far as the end of the forestry plantation where you cross over and head for the summit of pen yr allt uchaf. by now the views are making you grin so much you get face ache. head over waun goch and steeply up dysgol. follow the top of this ridge, to the memorial cairn. the views of aran fawddwy from here are awesome but its the view of afon yr hengym and the house roof like gwaun y llwyni that really catch the eye. head up onto the summit of aran 900m+ and a serious contender to any hill in wales. from here, after having lunch, i descended then along to aran benllyn for the best views of llyn tegid. retracing my steps to the minor top of erw y ddafad ddu before descending the one chink in the armour of arans eastern cliffs. drop down to creiglyn dyfi for the best perspective of the how high aran fawddwy really is. this is a pretty reasonable wild camp spot too. from here it is possible to return to civilisation along an ancient track which runs to the bottom hairpin on the bwlch y groes road. its mainly pathless but quite doable. my route continued up and onto foel hafod fynydd then onto esgeiriau gwynion. the descent alongside the fence was steep but the pull onto e.g. was torturous, it could have been the heat, it could have been the miles under foot. all i know is it hurt!!! the terrain changes dramatically at this point, its all peat hags now! continue along to the vague top of llechwedd du then continue folowing the fence to the top of the bwlch y groes. that may be enough.. i had my second meal, of sorts, here before climbing onto moel y cerrig duon. the next stretch proved to be a bit of a challenge, thick heather and the odd boggy section led to the indistinct summit of carreg clap 919258. if ever there was a pointless excercise in box ticking this was it!! all that was left now was the descent to lake vyrnwy. i followed the course of nant eiddew fawr through challenging terrain to the top of pistyll rhyd y meinciau then picked up the path on the right of the falls (looking down) before meeting my lift at the car park at new bridge 964241

(Written by: stigofthenest)

Massively underrated and underpopulated mountain. I climbed it on a weekday in March and did not see another soul all day! Not a particularly technical mountain but it is a fairly strenuous walk, so due to the lack of people on it you should try to pick a day with good visibility. The day I went up (alone) the weather turned very bad very quickly and I was very concerned for my safety for a time. It was however, despite the weather and poor visibility, a very rewarding climb and I look forward to doing it again in good weather.

(Written by: pudnlou)

as we began our walk from the full car park i thought this was going to be like walking snowdon.then a mile into the walk im looking all over for people? no one the aran ridge was quiet .. we checked the map 4 times in the space of 10 mins to make sure we was on the right walk .. then a couple coming down we stopped and chatted for a min or two as they confimed we were on the right path ... on the full walk we must have seen only 6 people all day and what a walk its a nice easy ish trail all the way to the summit though a bit boggy in places its worth it , the skies were clear the views outstanding .. would highly rate this route to people who want to get away from the ant trails following each other up snowdon and want piece views and a walk that just takes enough out of you ... fantastic day enjoy

(Written by: goodylad)

Starting just south of Llyn Tegid at the village of Llanywchllyn, the walk in is quite long and boggy in places, albeit quite pleasant. The character of the walk changes after a short pull up a red scree slope to gain the ridge proper. Views open up in all directions and the ridge traverse from nearby Aran Benllyn over to Aran Fawddwy is great: Easy, high level ridge walking over lovely knobbly ground leads to a short rocky ascent to the summit of Aran Fawddwy. On a good day there are stunning views to all the main mountain groups of Snowdonia. Return by the same route is not as tedious as you'd expect, with new views opening up as you go. The complete walk is around 10 miles in length and should be saved for a day of clear weather.

(Written by: Dudie)

The forecast was for wet and windy when me and my mate Phil decided to walk this on Saturday 8th March 2008.However,the gales forecast for Sunday night made an early appearance and we almost flew back down!Love to go up again in the summer!

(Written by: tates1878)

Excellent walk from the foot of Craig Cywarch following up the stream to the pond and heading over the boggy ground to Fawddwy and descend via Drysgol and Waun Goch. Good steady walk of around 4-5 hours outstanding scenery and solitude pure heaven.

(Written by: smurphyneil)