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Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys

Difficulty Leisurely

Walking time 3 hours

Length 9.4km / 5.8mi

Route developer: Fiona Barltrop

Route checker: Walker

Start location Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys
Route Summary A special quality of remoteness characterises this area – the landscape largely a mix of upland plateaux and narrow valleys, where you can walk all day and not meet a soul. This route should whet your appetite.
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Getting there

By train: Llanwrtyd Wells is on the scenic Heart of Wales railway line between Swansea and Shrewsbury.

By bus: buses no 48 from Builth Wells and X14 between Llandrindod Wells and Carmarthen stop at Llanwrtyd Wells (0871 200 2233, www.travelinecymru.info). 

Description
[1] With your back to the Neuadd Arms Hotel (SN879467), turn right along Dolecoed Road, which is signed for Abergwesyn. 
 
[2] As you approach the former Dol-y-Coed Hotel (now the home of Charcroft Electronics), leave the road and keep ahead through the parking area and along the drive (a public footpath) past the left-hand side of the building. Go through a gate and bear left along the footpath beside the Afon (River) Irfon. In the grounds on your right is the site of a spring, whose waters one Rev Theophilus Evans claimed in 1732 cured his scurvy. From then on the fame of such treatments spread, with other wells in the town also opening up to the public. Ignore the first footbridge on your left and continue to the next one – just after you go through a kissing gate and before the path joins the road. 
 
[3] Cross the bridge and turn immediately right. A few yards on, turn left up beside the fence to the houses. Turn right, soon going through a gate, and continue along the path through a field. Bear right when you reach a track that soon becomes a lane passing Dinas Mill, leading to old Llanwrtyd and the attractive 14th-century St David’s Church.
 
[4] Bear right in front of the church and follow the road across the river, heading back towards Llanwrtyd Wells. Soon, turn back sharp left and walk along the lane, which leads past a drive to Kilsby on the right. There are some lovely views here up the Irfon valley, the hillsides cloaked in trees. At a fork, keep right and continue uphill. Go through a gate and carry on to the end of the road and a pair of gates. Go through the one on the right and head on up the stony track, which takes you onto open moorland. 
 
[5] At the edge of the forest, it’s worth making a detour right to climb to the top of Garn Dwad to enjoy the views. There’s a fence at the top but you can get over it at its left-hand end by the trees. Turn right a short distance to the cairn atop the 440m/1,443ft summit.
 
[6] Retrace your steps to point 5 and go through the gate, heading down the bridleway through the forest. Turn right at the next junction along a forestry track and right again along the bridleway beside Nant Cerdin. Continue on the lane from Gilfach farm to the A483. 
 
[7] If of interest, the Cambrian Woollen Mill (with shop and restaurant) is just along the road to the left. Turn right along the pavement, back to Llanwrtyd Wells.
 
 
POI information

Situated at the foot of the Cambrian Mountains, Llanwrtyd Wells lays claim to being the smallest town in Britain, and is renowned for its wacky bog snorkelling championships and man versus horse marathon. More conventional events include an annual walking festival and various other organised walks. Llanwrtyd Wells became famous as a spa town during the Victorian era, when thousands flocked to ‘take the waters’ from the mineral springs. Today, it’s an ideal base for walkers, with the Cambrian Mountains to the north and the Epynt to the south. At one time it was proposed that the Cambrian Mountains be made a national park, while more recently a campaign has been running to have the area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (to read the full story, visit the Cambrian Mountains Society website at www.cambrian-mountains.co.uk. It is the special quality of remoteness that characterises the area – the landscape largely a mix of upland plateaux and narrow valleys, where you can walk all day and not meet a soul. This route should whet your appetite.

Notes No details available.
Acknowledgements

Route devised by Fiona Barltrop for Walk Magazine.

  • Irfon Valley
    Irfon Valley
    By - Fiona Barltrop
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