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I'm sure that there are people out there who have completed the Welsh Hewitts in 48 days, but my progress was a bit more sedate, at 48 years. I blame the job. And having kids. And living mostly in east London and Essex. None of which I'd change, but ...
Finally, retirement helped. In the mid 2010s the view slowly crystallised that it might be nice to have a hills target, and that Wales should be where that target was. And post-lockdown, I put on a spurt, travelling along the M4 or up the A5 several times a year. The question was, where to finish?
I'd completed all the big hills but the biggest single hill left was Cadair Berwyn, so it seemed sensible to reserve that and its companions for the final push. The only question was how to pick up my last six Welsh Hewitts.
This was the weekend. I wanted Cadair Berwyn to be last. That meant tomorrow's round from Tyn-y-ffridd couldn't finish on Moel Sych, as common sense would dictate. So today I had to link Moel Sych with the outlier of Post Gwyn. But how?
WalkHighlanders seem to have several solutions, and I could think of more. Usually, I've uber-planned my route before I set out; today, I left with options.
The start though was not an issue. From the car park at Tan-y-pistyll (I was early enough for a free spot - use the car park at the café and (in 2022) it's a fiver). A signposted path at the loo block heads upwards through trees.
- A rocky path heads uphill from Tan-y-pistyll
Soon though you're in open country, with geat views up the valley of the Nant y Llyn to the heart of the Berwyn. Drop down to a bridge, cross the stream, and zig-zag up to a clear path that gains height slowly beneath the crags of Cerrig Poethion.
- The bridge over the Nant-y-llyn. Don't cross the stile.
- The path beneath Cerrig Poethion
Eventually the stream catches up with the path and has to be crossed. It's a bit boggy here, even in a dry July. The path continues, turning a broad semi-circle from north to west, with Llyn Lluncaws away to the right. It didn't look to be too inviting to be honest, with something invasive casting a nasty brown smudge across almost the whole surface.
- Llyn Lluncaws with the nasty brown surface, Cadair Berwyn above
The path clings to the side of the cwm holding the llyn towards the bwlch between Cadair Berwyn and Moel Sych. I had to veer off left as Cadair Berwyn was tomorrow's target, not today's!
The summit of Moel Sych had grand all-round views. South-west, the Arans were particularly well seen, with the Rhinogs next door and then the Arenigs, before Snowdon, the Glyders and the Carneddau. The Moel Fammau ridge, which I remembered from Offa's Dyke Path many years ago, rose to the north, while I could make out the Radnor Hills, Drygarn Fawr and Plynlimon in mid-Wales.
- The summit of Moel Sych, with the Arans to the left of the cairn
Now I had a decision to make: how to get to Post Gwyn. There are two broad options. Shortest is to drop down 1000ft or so to the Afon Disgynfa and then find a way up from there. Other WalkHighlanders have done this, and it was my first thought.
To do so, I wondered about dropping down the south ridge of Moel Sych, or using one of two cwms, Cwm-Rhwiau or Cwm yr Eithin. But much of the going would be trackless, stumbling through heather almost certainly, and given this was high summer, maybe thick bracken lower down too.
It's maybe a mile longer to follow the watershed round, but there's a path marked on the map most of the way, so I decided not to drop down and instead follow the path heading WSW with the fence on my right. It gave up quite soon, but I could see a better path the other side, so I hopped over the fence to gain it.
It's a decent enough path, with the caution that in wetter conditions it would be much worse. But railway sleepers with plastic mesh topping have been laid across many of the more heathery sections, and these make life much easier. Note though that this path is not marked on either Landranger or Explorer map, and runs to the north of the orange dashed line on the Explorer.
Just under two miles from Moel Sych there's a significant cairn, or more properly wind shelter, at SJ040309.
- Railway sleepers lead to the cairn at SJ040309
The path turns a bit more south-westerly here. The next task is to know where to turn off left towards Post Gwyn. In around half a mile, the path climbs a bilberry bank, and there seemed to be an indistinct path heading left at its base. It proved to be a chimera, for there was nothing when the bank ended, but after only a 100 yards or so of heather bashing, not only was there a path coming in, it was heading towards Post Gwyn! I guess I should have continued up and over the bilberry bank to find it.
- The bilberry bank, probably the wrong side
- The faint path heading towards Post Gwyn
The path seemed to peter out on the approach to Post Gwyn, but that was no problem as by then there's little heather to impede you.
Post Gwyn has quite a nice little summit, but as mentioned it's a bit of an outlier, and I wasn't expecting to see anyone. Indeed today I'd only met two blokes of about my age, one crossing Nant y Llyn and the other just before Moel Sych. They both had to listen to me saying that tomorrow I would complete the Hewitts of Wales, but they were genuinely very appreciative. Now, the much younger couple on Post Gwyn, I didn't think would be too impressed. Heavens, she was even on her phone. Youngsters these days! Phones phones phones! What's wrong with a bit of appreciation of the natural world, especially in all its splendour on a beautiful summer's day like this one?
The young man told me he was Digby ("My parents had a sense of humour") and that Rachel hadn't managed to find a phone signal before she got to the summit. I told them that tomorrow I would have climbed all the hills and mountains of Wales. I didn't want to use a technical term like Hewitts.
Wow, said Digby. That's what Rachel wants to do too. Not me, she just brings me along some times.
Rachel's call ended. Yes, she was ticking off the Welsh Hewitts, about 26 so far. She was looking forward to it, other than all the little bitty ones that you can't fit into a round. Well, I said, you could check out my website (guessable from my username, and of course WalkHighlands is a great resource too!).
So an absolute gift of a hill encounter, and just goes to show you should never judge people making phone calls on hills. I did ask whether they fancied being on Cadair Berwyn about lunchtime tomorrow, but alas she'd already climbed it. They did kindly pose for a photo though.
- Digby and Rachel on Post Gwyn
- They head off down the broad SE flank of Post Gwyn
I'd rather enjoyed my route to Post Gwyn so far, but the way back to Tan-y-pistyll is a bit scruffy in places by comparison. There's a bit of track above a patch of forestry in about a mile but otherwise it's a case of make the best path you can. A fence junction at SJ067284 promises both track and right-of-way but both seem to be mythic. I just headed down through tall grass to the prominent track that runs above Craig y Mwn.
- The path above the forestry
- Looking across into the valley of the Nant y Llyn
It's time to come off the hill now. Take the steep rocky track that plunges down the hillside from SJ073289; it's worth taking care over this section.
- Looking down the valley of the Afon Rhaeadr
- The steep path down to the valley floor
This meets up with an old miner's path, and soon after veer left onto a path by a wall that at this time of year means brushing through bracken for half a mile or so. Later, keep an eye out for the right turn that heads to the bridge at SJ072294. I didn't, so I ended up scrambling down to the stream and hopping across it, to the amusement of the day trippers who were enjoying the beauty of the Pistyll Rhaeadr.
- Pistyll Rhaeadr, the tallest waterfall in Wales
One day left to go. Cadair Berwyn was waiting.